Aleister Crowley: The Beast In Berlin
NEW––BroDart Dust Jacket Cover
Author: Tobias Churton
©2014 Tobias Churton
Inner Traditions
CAB Comment––For anyone who has a deeper interest in Aleister Crowley in the real functioning world (beyond his magickal/occult identity), this book is for you. Although complex with characters (a very helpful Who’s Who glossary is provided), “The Beast In Berlin” is jam packed with Crowley’s day-to-day struggles with his art (paintings and sketches, and the promotion of them) during his short foray in Berlin (1930-1932)––a very volatile time as Hitler and his Nazis were rising to power, and immediately before ‘Der Fuhrer’ became Chancellor of Germany in 1933. Even so, the book does not focus on the rise of the Third Reich, but is more of a behind-the-scenes journey into the fabric beneath. In other words, “The Beast In Berlin” delves into the bizarre plethora of lifestyles that defined the genuine artistic community as they navigated though what was becoming an unstoppable new world order: Nazi Germany. Hitler and his regime were not fond of what they labeled ‘Entartete Kunst’ (Degenerate Art), the modern artists that created it, nor the liberal sexuality and homosexuality that pervaded the eclectic underworld that did support the new, and varying, artistic visions. Also, it was this climate that creates an intensity––unfolding on the cusp of a hostile oppression––that gives Crowley’s efforts in Berlin an edge of danger that adds profound meaning to his infamous ego and genuine artistic passion. “The Beast In Berlin” is also loaded with some rare and amazing full-color art by Crowley and others. An excellent addition to any Crowley collector’s library.
“Aleister Crowley: The Beast In Berlin”––Amazon Synopsis:
“A biographical history of Aleister Crowley’s activities in Berlin from 1930 to 1932 as Hitler was rising to power
“• Examines Crowley’s focus on his art, his work as a spy for British Intelligence, his colorful love life and sex magick exploits, and his contacts with magical orders
“• Explores Crowley’s relationships with Berlin’s artists, filmmakers, writers, and performers such as Christopher Isherwood, Jean Ross, and Aldous Huxley
“• Recounts the fates of Crowley’s friends and colleagues under the Nazis as well as what happened to Crowley’s lost art exhibition
“Gnostic poet, painter, writer, and magician Aleister Crowley arrived in Berlin on April 18, 1930. As prophet of his syncretic religion “Thelema,” he wanted to be among the leaders of art and thought, and Berlin, the liberated future-gazing metropolis, wanted him. There he would live, until his hurried departure on June 22, 1932, as Hitler was rapidly rising to power and the black curtain of intolerance came down upon the city.
“Known to his friends affectionately as “The Beast,” Crowley saw the closing lights of Berlin’s artistic renaissance of the Weimar period when Berlin played host to many of the world’s most outstanding artists, writers, filmmakers, performers, composers, architects, philosophers, and scientists, including Albert Einstein, Bertolt Brecht, Ethel Mannin, Otto Dix, Aldous Huxley, Jean Ross, Christopher Isherwood, and many other luminaries of a glittering world soon to be trampled into the mud by the global bloodbath of World War II.
“Drawing on previously unpublished letters and diary material by Crowley, Tobias Churton examines Crowley’s years in Berlin and his intense focus on his art, his work as a spy for British Intelligence, his colorful love life and sex magick exploits, and his contacts with German Theosophy, Freemasonry, and magical orders. He recounts the fates of Crowley’s colleagues under the Nazis as well as what happened to Crowley’s lost art exhibition--six crates of paintings left behind in Germany as the Gestapo was closing in. Revealing the real Crowley long hidden from the historical record, Churton presents “the Beast” anew in all his ambiguous and, for some, terrifying glory, at a blazing, seminal moment in the history of the world.”
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