Alas, not really. Granted, I may have been predisposed to dislike Moonchild because I have little interest in the occult, at least in its hardcore form that actually requires study. The name “Madame Blavetsky” is a surefire way to get me to fall asleep. And while the main plot, indeed, is about two magicians trying to create a messiah, most of that story is articulated through Aleister Crowley’s thoughts on Magick, with occasional side trips of thoughts on Spiritualism, thoughts on Taoism, rather revolting thoughts on women and cat torture.
The events in Century: 1910 are clearly meant to take place before the events of Moonchild. It's actually implied that our usually-not-very successful heroes end up setting off the events which lead to the events of the story. Almost all the principal characters appear in Century: 1910, but their appearances are brief and not very fully explained or realized. Moore appears to be mixing the events with the events of W. Somerset Maughn's The Magician as well, so an Aleister Crowley analogue Oliver Haddo is the head of the plan, rather than Simon Iff as the leader. I re-read 1910 in anticipation of this review and was surprised at how much they figured into said subplot. They get drowned out by the doings of the League and the subplot with Jenny/Janni.
Coming to the book Moonchild was interesting. Crowley has such an outsized reputation as a mysterious, wicked type in pop culture (particularly heavy metal songs) that it was kind of interesting to read the book realize he’s just something of a kooky philosopher.
What he is not, though, is a good writer. Did he have to open a book like this?
London, in England, the capital city of the British Empire, is situated upon the banks of the Thames. It is not likely that these facts were unfamiliar to James Abbott McNeill Whistler, a Scottish gentleman born in America and resident in Paris; but it is certain that he did not appreciate them. For he settled quietly down to discover a fact which no one had previously observed; namely, that it was very beautiful at night. The man was steeped in Highland fantasy, and he revealed London as wrapt in a soft haze of mystic beauty, a fairy tale of delicacy and wistfulness.
It is here that the Fates showed partiality; for London should rather have been painted by Goya. The city is monstrous and misshapen; its mystery is not a brooding, but a conspiracy. And these truths are evident above all to one who recognizes that London’s heart is Charing Cross.
I showed the passage to my best friend, who is way more knowledgeable about art than I am, and the WTF faces she made while reading the passage were priceless. It’s not much of a hook. It’s long, digressive and lumbering and doesn’t have much to do with what follows.
Still, the central characters are compelling, if often irritating and unlikable. The plot concerns a woman, Lisa La Guiffira, who falls in with two magicians: the professor-like Simon Iff and Cyril Grey, who … well, I’ll let him explain himself.
Some people… have one brain; some have two. I have two. … It seems as if, in order to grasp anything, I were obliged to take its extremes. I see both sublime and ridiculous at once … I am never happy until I have identified an idea with its opposite. I take the idea of murder – just a plain, horrid idea. But I don’t stop there. I multiply that murder, and intensify it a millionfold and then a millionfold again. Suddenly one comes out into the sublime idea of the Opening of the Eye of Shiva, when the Universe is annihilated in an instant. Then I swing back, and make the whole thing comic by having the hero chloroform Shiva in the nick of time, so that he can marry the beautiful American heiress.
This all sounds very nice, but most of his time this translates to “Cyril Grey can say whatever he wants and be a complete jerk, especially to women, but he gets away with it because he’s so darn smart and special.” I’m simultaneously surprised this character hasn’t had more of a role in League due to his strong personality and am glad he hasn’t.
Simon Iff is likable, and while Cyril Grey seems like the Gary Stu Crowley would find comfortable to slip into the skin of, it was Iff who would go on to appear in other Crowley works. Alas, in Century: 1910 Simon Iff spends more time being mentioned than having lines of his own.
Sister Cybele is also a character who appears in Century: 1910, but she doesn't have much personality in the book other than Lisa/Illiel's caretaker. The villains of Moonchild, hasn't appeared in LoEG and are fairly forgettable, but if Moore doesn’t somehow manage to link the name of their organization, The Black Lodge, in some way to Twin Peaks I will be terribly disappointed.
I’m being fairly hard on this book, I know. It feels unfair because it’s honestly very different from any book I’ve read, but so much of it is digression punctuated by something disagreeable. Lisa’s, also known as Illiel, is the mother of the Moonchild and she's a character that clearly comes from a man’s brain. She has some intelligence, but she’s flighty and matches up perfectly to the bad portrait of women that Grey paints. I can’t imagine any female reader relating to her.
Then there’s the aforementioned cat torture.
I also hate how the book doesn’t end so much as fizzle out. Don’t read any more of this entry if you don’t want to be spoiled. After the Moonchild is born, Lisa abandons it and it’s whisked away. Then World War I happens and the male characters go off to fight. Crowley wrote the book during the war and was interested in getting America involved, but it’s still a hell of a way to end and one that doesn’t seem to fit with everything that came before. I suppose you could say that the Moonchild ushered in the war, but that seems incredibly generous and I may be affected more by how Moore interprets the Moonchild than what Crowley wrote.
Before I close this entry out, I do want to show you guys something. As much as I’m convinced that Harry Potter is LoEG’s Moonchild, here’s Crowley’s description of the baby.
She was a beautifully made baby, with deep blue eyes; and she was born with four teeth, and with hair six inches long, so fair as to be silvery white. Like a tattoo-mark, just over the heart, was a faint blue crescent.
Okay, so it would be better if the crescent birthmark were yellow/gold and on her forehead, but Sailor Moon is the anti-Christ. You heard it here first.
Is This Book Worth Reading? It has its moments, but I’d say in general no.
Will This Book Enhance My Reading of League? At this point, not really, although it could explain a little better who some of the minor characters are and why they weren't able to create the Moonchild right away. You can probably just work from the concept of “evil child must be born.” I may change my mind depending on what happens in Century: 2009, however.
For Further Reading:
Moonchild
by Aleister CrowleyStop #4: Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson
No comments:
Post a Comment