This is unexpected, but very welcome! Thanks, Caroline, for noticing my abstract and making me aware of the list. I've looked through some of the past discussions, and this seems like a great community of scholars.
> would be interesting to see if the presenter contrasts AC's grief about Lola with his attempts to have
> his auntie bombed by Zeppelins to ensure she died ASAP :)
> Dave E
No mention of the Zeppelin mischief, I'm afraid! The specific "Daughter of the Beast" here is Poupée. Crowley offers an explicit account of his coming to terms with her loss, which includes some emotional observations that are rare for the time. The paper discusses this within the context of grief scholarship and histories of death/grief in modern Britain. I also give a short comparative account of occult conceptions of death, briefly situating Crowley among luminaries of the hereafter like Annie Besant and Arthur Conan Doyle.
I've only recently begun to look into Crowley - my area of "expertise" is interwar Spiritualism and psychical research, on which I've been researching and writing for two years now. If anyone knows of any extensive writing by Crowley on death and grief (so far, I've worked through the Book of the Law, the Book of Lies, the Equinox, the Confessions, and several issues of the International), I'd love to hear about it!
Anyway, glad to be here, and I look forward to reading the list's discussions and learning from you all.
All the best,
Ben
On Wed, 2 Nov 2011 09:12:44 +1100, Caroline Tully <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>Thanks.
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>From: Society for The Academic Study of Magic
>[mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Charlie Farrow
>Sent: Wednesday, 2 November 2011 1:29 AM
>To: [log in to unmask]
>Subject: Re: [ACADEMIC-STUDY-MAGIC] The Daughter of the Beast: Grief and
>Death in the Thought of Aleister Crowley
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>
>http://unimelb.academia.edu/BenMcDonald
>
>https://plus.google.com/112179743407664132860/about
>Charlie Farrow
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>On 1 November 2011 00:44, Caroline Tully <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
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>I can try.. When I find out who he actually is.
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>~Caroline.
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>From: Society for The Academic Study of Magic
>[mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Dr Dave Evans
>Sent: Tuesday, 1 November 2011 11:35 AM
>To: [log in to unmask]
>Subject: Re: [ACADEMIC-STUDY-MAGIC] The Daughter of the Beast: Grief and
>Death in the Thought of Aleister Crowley
>
>
>
>wow, can you get him on this list? sounds like a great take on AC
>
>DaveE
>
>On Tue, Nov 1, 2011 at 12:30 AM, Caroline Tully <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>
>I noticed this abstract (below) amongst the University of Melbourne School
>of Historical and Philosophical Studies 'Work In Progress Day'
>presentations. I don't know this guy, but thought it was interesting that he
>was doing something on Aleister Crowley as that is _very unusual _ at
>Melbourne Uni. I will try to get to it - he's on straight after me, in
>another room.
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>High on the British Empire
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>November 3 2011
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>9.15 - 10.45 am Old Arts Lecture Theatre B
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>The Daughter of the Beast: Grief and Death in the Thought of Aleister
>Crowley
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>Ben McDonald
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>Aleister Crowley is mostly remembered as a mad egoist, a sexual fiend, and a
>fascist thug. To an extent, the self-styled "Beast" deserves this
>reputation, which he earned for himself through a life of drugs, debauchery,
>and debt. It was not, however, the legacy that this earnest occultist hoped
>for, nor is it a legacy that says much about the content of his thoughts and
>writings.
>
>For the first time, I consider Crowley within the wider context of attitudes
>towards death and grief in interwar Britain, a period commonly characterised
>as one of unhappy emotional restraint. I examine his often lurid thoughts on
>life and death, his attempts to conquer his rampant love of self, and his
>reaction to the death of his infant daughter - a moment of profound grief
>and a rare moment of human tenderness for the "wickedest man in Britain."
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