“First of all, you must never speak of anything by its name—in that country. So, if you see a tree on a mountain, it will be better to say ‘Look at the green on the high’; for that’s how they talk—in that country. And whatever you do, you must find a false reason for doing it—in that country. If you rob a man, you must say it is to help and protect him: that’s the ethics—of that country. And everything of value has no value at all—in that country. You must be perfectly commonplace if you want to be a genius—in that country. And everything you like you must pretend not to like; and anything that is there you must pretend is not there—in that country. And you must always say that you are sacrificing yourself in the cause of religion, and morality, and humanity, and liberty, and progress, when you want to cheat your neighbour—in that country.”

“Good heavens!” cried Iliel, “are we going to England?”

— Aleister Crowley, Moonchild (1917), Chapter XX

Poets and Lovers has been living for two years, in an epoch where freedom of art is increasingly under attack. CONTINUE READING / CONTINUER LA LECTURE…