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Amazon.co.uk Review
The legendary Aleister Crowley (1875-1947) is a tantalising and bizarre subject. As an occult leader, heroin addict, sexual adventurer, misogynist, and visionary, he is the inspiration for many vile Gothic protagonists. Author W. Somerset Maugham even devoted a novel, The Magician to this chilling figure of indulgence and religious mockery. Like any good biographer, Lawrence Sutin set out to discover the man behind the myth. After considerable research, Sutin admits that Crowley was "a shameless scoffer at Christian virtue" and "a spoiled scion of a wealthy Victorian family" but he also sees him as a 20th century figure as "protean, brilliant, courageous, and flabbergasting as ever you could imagine".
Consider these facts about the man who named himself "The Great Beast": he was one of the first Westerners to seriously study Buddhism and Yoga. He radically redesigned the traditional Tarot deck (thus the "Crowley deck"). Contrary to common belief, he was never known to participate in satanic ritual--to do so would acknowledge the Christian church, which he was loathe to do (although he nicknamed his son "The Christ Child"). These are but a few of the surprising morsels one can glean from this excellent biography. Don't expect to find Crowley a likeable figure. Do, however, expect to meet a flamboyant man who challenged all forms of religious, sexual, and social oppression and hence became a revered visionary and a reviled demon. --Tara West --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Product Description
An exploration into the life and works of a modern mystic, occultist, poet, mountaineer, and bisexual adventurer known to his contemporaries as "The Great Beast"
Aleister Crowley was a groundbreaking poet and an iconoclastic visionary whose literary and cultural legacy extends far beyond the limits of his notoriety as a practitioner of the occult arts.
Born in 1875 to devout Christian parents, young Aleister's devotion scarcely outlived his father, who died when the boy was twelve. He reached maturity in the boarding schools and brothels of Victorian England, trained to become a world-class mountain climber, and seldom persisted with any endeavor in which he could be bested.
Like many self-styled illuminati of his class and generation, the hedonistic Crowley gravitated toward the occult. An aspiring poet and a pampered wastrel-obsessed with reconciling his quest for spiritual perfection and his inclination do exactly as he liked in the earthly realm-Crowley developed his own school of mysticism. Magick, as he called it, summoned its users to embrace the imagination and to glorify the will. Crowley often explored his spiritual yearnings through drug-saturated vision quests and rampant sexual adventurism, but at other times he embraced Eastern philosophies and sought enlightenment on ascetic sojourns into the wilderness.
This controversial individual, a frightening mixture of egomania and self-loathing, has inspired passionate-but seldom fair-assessments from historians. Lawrence Sutin, by treating Crowley as a cultural phenomenon, and not simply a sorcerer or a charlatan, convinces skeptic readers that the self-styled "Beast" remains a fascinating study in how one man devoted his life to the subversion of the dominant moral and religious values of his time.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Aleister Crowley was a groundbreaking poet and an iconoclastic visionary whose literary and cultural legacy extends far beyond the limits of his notoriety as a practitioner of the occult arts.
Born in 1875 to devout Christian parents, young Aleister's devotion scarcely outlived his father, who died when the boy was twelve. He reached maturity in the boarding schools and brothels of Victorian England, trained to become a world-class mountain climber, and seldom persisted with any endeavor in which he could be bested.
Like many self-styled illuminati of his class and generation, the hedonistic Crowley gravitated toward the occult. An aspiring poet and a pampered wastrel-obsessed with reconciling his quest for spiritual perfection and his inclination do exactly as he liked in the earthly realm-Crowley developed his own school of mysticism. Magick, as he called it, summoned its users to embrace the imagination and to glorify the will. Crowley often explored his spiritual yearnings through drug-saturated vision quests and rampant sexual adventurism, but at other times he embraced Eastern philosophies and sought enlightenment on ascetic sojourns into the wilderness.
This controversial individual, a frightening mixture of egomania and self-loathing, has inspired passionate-but seldom fair-assessments from historians. Lawrence Sutin, by treating Crowley as a cultural phenomenon, and not simply a sorcerer or a charlatan, convinces skeptic readers that the self-styled "Beast" remains a fascinating study in how one man devoted his life to the subversion of the dominant moral and religious values of his time.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
34 of 35 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
Crowley has always been a figure deserving of a good biography but untill now he has only ever been portrayed as a charlatan and a pervert. Sutin has tried to draw up a picture of the man without exaggerating or overdramatising him. He never mocks Crowley's vocation and reports on his rituals and experiments with admirable impartiality, giving more credibility to the man as a whole. Overall, Crowley does not come across as a likeable person; he is arrogant, misogynous, intolerant, xenophobic etc But he is also shown as intelligent and capable and, in some cases, justified in his arrogance. Importantly the book never becomes boring, Sutin does not dwell on the more lurid details nor does he resort to reporting anecdotes or rumours. Some well known stories about the man are notably absent from the book. Probably the main problem about with this biography is the lack of concrete fact about Crowley. A good deal of the information in the book is drawn from Crowley's own autobiography and, as Sutin points out, Crowley is not always to be believed.
Overall the book is an enjoyable read, although those looking for sensational and lurid stories may want to look elsewhere, those with an interest in the magickal philosophy of Crowley, will be glad to see that it is presented with the respect that maybe it deserves.
Overall the book is an enjoyable read, although those looking for sensational and lurid stories may want to look elsewhere, those with an interest in the magickal philosophy of Crowley, will be glad to see that it is presented with the respect that maybe it deserves.
17 of 18 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
Having read nine other biographies of A.C. I consider this to be in many regards the best. Sutin has here managed a thorough and fair treatment of the head spinning character that is Crowley, whom we follow up mountains, through deserts, into psychedelic discombobulation and beyond. Sutin has a great style which carries the reader smoothly through A.C.'s incredible life, never relying too much on extracts from the 'Confessions' as others have done. I feel Sutin's dedication to this book was immense; it really is a superb addition to the library dedicated to Crowley, oozing high quality research and sanity.
9 of 10 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Perhaps you are a member of the Fine Madness Society that keeps you interested in Crowley, or perhaps you just want to understand the motivation behind the man that was Aleister Crowley. In either case this is the best biography to date. Lawrence Sutin has done his homework and has researched through letters and interviews the whole of Crowley's life. In particular the section on his childhood and adolescence is longer and better researched than John Symonds. Symonds was a friend of Crowley's and in his book The Great Beast he seems to have written what he was told or known through others. Sutin has read all of Crowley's work and magical workings to give us a greater sense of the real Crowley. He distinguishes the real Crowley from the media image and Celebrity image Crowley himself was apt to spin around him. He puts the flesh on the skeleton Symonds has offered us. I was particularly glad that Sutin has been at pains to reveal the reality behind the myth of Crowley's link to the Third Reich. He was not acknowledged by Hilter, though Hilter may have read a book of Crowley's - nor was he a spy during World War II. It seems that underneath his malevolent claptrap Crowley was a patriot and as photos have shown, a supporter of Winston Churchill. His friend and a great support in Germany, Germer had to flee to New York after a time imprisoned by the Nazis. Crowley's homosexuality is here revealed by Sutin during his long sexual career when he was as attracted to men as to women. In particular his great love at Trinity College and his bond to Victor Neuberg and their magical workings. The loyalty of Leah Waddell is described as well as the fact that he was not involved sexually with Frieda Harris who was 60 when he first met her. Crowley died in 1947 and you are aware at the end of how he might have lived for another 20 years if it were not for his drug addiction and deteriorating health due to this. Like a dead Star he burnt out early.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
For Thelemites and Crowley scholars
Whether you think this is the best Crowley biography or not it's certainly a "must read" for anyone seriously interested in the man and/or his magick .... Read more
Published 21 months ago by Tempestas
widely regarded as an excellent book and I agree
Very very well written -- apart from some minor proof-reading errors which are obviously not the author's fault. Read more
Published 22 months ago by frodo
overlong
An exhaustive biography but suffers from too much detail over minutae. Could easily be 100 pages shorter
Published on 23 July 2009 by Nick Hindley
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