About this Item
viii+483pp. Pictorial b/w illust. front cover, red spine with black floral design, b/w plts., portrait, endnotes, bibliog., index. Moderate shelf wear, o/w very good. Born in 1875, Crowley the aspiring poet gravitated towards the occult. Obsessed with reconciling his quest for spiritual perfection with his secular hedonism- Crowley developed his own school of mysticism. Devotees of Magick, as Crowley called it, embraced the imagination and glorified the will. Sutin treats Crowley as a cultural phenomenon, not simply a sorcerer or charlatan. This is the study of how one man devoted his life to the subversion of the dominant moral and religious values of his time. Size: Octavo. Seller Inventory # 000371
Bibliographic Details
Title: Do What Thou Wilt: A Life of Aleister Crowley
Publisher: St Martin's Griffin, New York
Publication Date: 2002
Binding: Soft cover
Condition: Very Good
Edition: 1st Ed. Thus.
Book Type: Book
About this title
Aleister Crowley was a blustery coward, an arrogant, misogynistic racist with fascist leanings, and a callous user, as often threatened by his sexuality as he claimed to be liberated by it. But he was also a groundbreaking poet and an iconoclastic visionary whose literary and cultural legacies extend far beyond the limits of his reputation. This controversial individual, a frightening mixture of egomania and self-loathing, has inspired passionate--but seldom fair--assesments by historians. 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 eccentricity.
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 likable 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
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