This work tells the story of Jason and his quest for the golden fleece from Greek mythology. It was written into five acts, and while people can recognize that it follows certain patterns of traditional Greek plays, it also breaks away by being more humorous than the typical serious plays. It doesn’t deviate from the original version in terms of events. It is just Crowley’s version of it.
This is volume 1 of the Collected Works of Aleister Crowley, and since the volumes are in chronological order these are some of his earliest works. They mostly contain poems and plays, and the preface explains that the editor did not put all the works of Aleister Crowley in here. Instead, he focused on the most important or successful works.
This is a novel that Crowley said was based on a true story, and that the names were changed to protect certain identities. It tells the story of a man and his wife struggling with their various addictions and adventures. Interestingly, at the end of the story, the couple goes to the Abbey of Thelema where they finally find the answers and the way to correct themselves. Themela is the religion that Crowley founded, and given his own well-known drug history it would seem that this story could be about him and the overlap between his religion and his recreational drug use.
This book was dedicated to a romantic interest of Aleister Crowley named Lola Bentrovata. He had just met Lola shortly before he was planning to divorce his first wife, Rose Kelly, mother to his two children. This is a collection of verses and poems that demonstrated Crowley’s writing prowess. Each poem/verse is unique and has no overlap or reference to the others. Half of the collection is centered around life, and the other is centered around death.
This is a collection of Crowley’s poetry he wrote in his early years. Most of the material had already been released to the public though newspapers and magazines. However, he wanted them all together in a book format along with some unpublished poems. Crowley did this because he felt that if people wanted to read his poems they would have to spend an unnecessary amount of money on different papers, that were printed on poor quality paper. The majority of the poems are humorous and lighthearted.
This is a collection of dramatic poems that Crowley dedicated to an Algernon Charles Swinburne. Swinburne was a very famous English writer who covered many taboo subjects. The first thing in the collection is actually a short play, followed by sonnets and other prose.
This is a small set of short stories by Crowley that are humorous and acted as a way for him to share some of his philosophical ideas. There’s a character shaped after him clearly called Bowley. There are also parodies in this collection. The title of one of the stories is Ali Sloper, or, the Forty Liars, bears an uncanny resemblance upon the classic Ali Baba and the 40 Thieves. One of the stories seems eerily similar to Alice in Wonderland.
Once again Crowley was doing his own retelling of the ancient Greek story of Orpheus who went to Hell to retrieve his wife. He followed the format of Greek plays in these two volumes. Volume 1 covers the first half of the story, while volume 2 provides a brief overview of the events in vol. 1 and then finishes the story.
The Star & the Garter appears as a long single poem, that is very symbolic. It tells the story of a man and a woman and their unrestrained love. There are quite a few references to the moon and stars throughout the entirety of it. What’s interesting about it, is that it was written at a time in his life when he was planning to divorce his wife and had other romantic interests. However, unlike many of his works, this story does not have a preface or dedication for anyone in particular.
This is a poem written in a play format and tells the story of Tannhauser. He was a figure in German mythology, a poet, and had already had a famous opera made about him by Richard Wagner. The story tells how Tanhauser was on a pursuit for ultimate knowledge, and it is symbolic due to Crowley’s own quest for true knowledge (and that Crowley was himself a poet).
