Category: Essay

The Cult of the Child, by Ernest Dowson

Elliott & Fry – Minnie Terry as Daisy Desmond
Elliott & Fry – Minnie Terry as Daisy Desmond (1889) – National Portrait Gallery

In 1889, the Parliament of the United Kingdom passed the Prevention of Cruelty to, and Protection of, Children Act. An amendment had then been proposed to ban children under the age of 10 from acting on stage, which provoked a widespread opposition in public opinion. Dowson entered into the debate, arguing that children are natural actors, that their performance is always artistic. Moreover, they have a wonderful charm, of which spectators should not be deprived. CONTINUE READING / CONTINUER LA LECTURE…

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Moonlight magick: love and war

Aleister Crowley
Aleister Crowley (c1912) – from The Equinox, volume 1, issue 10 (1913)

In a previous post, I described a surrealistic walk that I made in 2015, starting with Ernest Dowson’s passion for absinthe, then meeting other poets, MoonCCat, Bertolt Brecht and Jim Morrison, and finally ending at Dowson’s great passion, little girls. Throughout this path I encountered the moon, which presides over the impermanence of all things.

Now I will relate my mysterious journey in the shadow of a fearful and scandalous magician: Aleister Crowley, whom the British journal John Bull called “the wickedest man in the world” and “a man we’d like to hang.” It is a secret world, which must be evoked in metaphorical language. CONTINUE READING / CONTINUER LA LECTURE…

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Censorship of nude art: greed and lust for power in the name of child protection

Removal of photographs of works by Duchamp, Michelangelo and Caravaggio from an exhibition
Removal of photographs of works by Duchamp, Michelangelo and Caravaggio from an exhibition – from Newcastle Herald (1984)

What spirit is so empty and blind, that it cannot recognise the fact that the foot is more noble than the shoe, and skin more beautiful than the garment with which it is clothed?
— Michelangelo

In recent years, Pigtails in Paint suffered repeated attempts at censorship, and Poets and Lovers became a “collateral damage” of these attacks. Today I will discuss the first source of censorship, so-called “child protection” organisations. CONTINUE READING / CONTINUER LA LECTURE…

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Who loves working class children?

Lewis Hine - Little Lottie
Lewis Hine – Little Lottie, a regular oyster shucker in Alabama Canning Co. She speaks no English. Note the condition of her shoes caused by standing on the rough shells so much. A common sight. Bayou La Batre, Ala. (22 February 1911) – from National Archives (Identifier 523398), via Wikimedia Commons

One seldom finds persons who really love all children. Most people show themselves selective in their affection, while some don’t like children at all. Usually it is a family affair, one loves one’s own children, but not those of other people, and this attitude gets a wide support in society, since children are implicitly considered as their parents’ property, and too much love for other people’s children is seen with suspicion. CONTINUE READING / CONTINUER LA LECTURE…

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Kids have gifts—when one trusts them

Russian TV - Bella Devyatkina
Russian TV – Bella Devyatkina

All too often, adults think that children by their nature should do childish things and be left in their childish world, rather than imitating adults and their activities; this is the motto “let kids be kids.” Thus they are left in ignorance of what one considers as “beyond their age,” and if they show too much interest in such “beyond” things and inquire too much about them, they will be answered “don’t touch,” “stay away,” “this is not of your age,” “you are too young for that” or “anyway you can’t understand.” This makes future adults who will be ignorant, backward, immature and dependent on authority. CONTINUE READING / CONTINUER LA LECTURE…

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Les personnes âgées et l’amour

Couverture de Strasbourg Magazine, n° 226, Octobre 2011

Cette photo, extraite de la couverture d’un magazine distribué gratuitement par la municipalité de Strasbourg, montre des enfants âgés de 11 ou 12 ans s’avançant pour donner chacun une fleur à une vieille dame, la gratifiant de leur plus beau sourire. L’enthousiasme de ces personnes âgées saute aux yeux. CONTINUE READING / CONTINUER LA LECTURE…

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No good work of love goes unrewarded with blood libel

Does our epoch love children? All children? Official opinion will answer “yes,” but we can look behind this façade. Rather than love for real children, it is rather a worship for an idealised image of childhood innocence. Behind it lurks a pornographic obsession with defilement and sadism. We can see this through the accusations raised by various authors against known men of the past who were known for loving children. CONTINUE READING / CONTINUER LA LECTURE…

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Aleister Crowley parodies Lewis Carroll

John Tenniel - The White Knight, In Through the Looking-Glass
John Tenniel – The White Knight, In Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There (1897)

Crowley’s The Sword of Song (1904) consists mainly of two long poems, ‘Ascension Day’ and ‘Pentecost,’ both critical of Christianity; they are preceded by an Introduction and followed by lengthy notes. The title, with its subtitle and long dedication, is itself rather ironic: CONTINUE READING / CONTINUER LA LECTURE…

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