The Writings of Austin Osman Spare is a collection of three books written by the famous artist and occult author. The three books included in this publication are Anathema of Zos: The Sermon to the Hypocrites, The Book of Pleasure: The Psychology of Ecstasy and The Focus of Life: The Mutterings of Aaos. This compilation of three of Spare's most popular works is a must read for those that are fans of his writings and those interested in books on the occult.
Book Description
Product Details
Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
|
Customer Reviews
|
Share your thoughts with other customers:
|
||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Disappointing edition,
By Walter Five (13th Floor Elevator, Enron Hubbard Bldg. Houston Texxas) - See all my reviews (VINE VOICE)
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: The Writings of Austin Osman Spare: Anathema of Zos, The Book of Pleasure and The Focus of Life (Hardcover)
This is a rather disappointing edition of Spare's collected writing. Extremely sparse on illustrations and inferior bookbinding means this book is overpriced. The paper isn't that great, and gloss cover (no dustjacket) doesn't even have the book's title written on the spine. An inferior edition that is only desirable to the student because of the relative unavailability of these works.
11 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Allow a Grenade to be thrown into your psyche (then work with it),
By
This review is from: The Writings of Austin Osman Spare: Anathema of Zos, The Book of Pleasure and The Focus of Life (Paperback)
Potentially devestating, potentially illuminating, potentially frustrating (it is kind of obtuse, but charting the mury waters of consciousness is not always a crystal clear task)...
Much sought after and widely unavailable (which raises prices drastically, making this collected volume an even better deal), these three works of Spare collected into one volume are each a gem in their own right... particularly the sandwhiched in middle "Book of Pleasure / Self Love", which offers a dynamic method and theory for exploring your psyche. One of the most difficult things about practicing Spare's methods, is that they are so simple. The trappings of Western ceremonial magic(k) are largely intended to train the mind's focus onto a specific task/meditation. Spare's methods largely and dramatically strip magical practice of it's paraphernelia and accessories, paring it down to basics. Ultimately, what is offered here is a shamanistic approach that utilizes various approaches to trance-work and magic: outgoing (overstimulating the mind/body to point of _____) and ingoing (withdrawal and stillness) and artistic (sigils and automatic drawing). Pervading these writings are a philosophical stance of anti-dogma, skepticism, and demand for personal investigation over faith. Revolutionary, this book is written by a man who was working with and writing about Automatic Drawing technique 10 years before the Surrealists apparently "discovered" it (though, they had never heard of Spare). The writings can be difficult and definitely abstract, but are definite masterpieces of magical literature. Also helpful- Ramsey Dukes' essay "Spare Parts" is a great exploration of the Book of PLeasure.
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Poor Plates and editing.,
By Grendal "Noah" (Massachusetts) - See all my reviews
This review is from: The Writings of Austin Osman Spare: Anathema of Zos, The Book of Pleasure and The Focus of Life (Paperback)
It is nice to have many of Spares most famous writings in one place, but to put them together as haphazardly and in such a poor binding is a shame.
The pictures are of the very worst quality and there are many misspellings and words just plain left out of the text. Did these folks even hire an editor? Didn't they realize that they were focusing on a niche market that is well educated and demanding? I give it three stars because this info is hard to get. I just wish they had put more thought into it. If the publisher reads this please let me edit for you. At least fire your old one.The Writings of Austin Osman Spare: Automatic Drawings, Anathema of Zos, The Book of Pleasure, and The Focus of Life
Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
|
|
Inside This Book
(learn more)
Browse and search another edition of this book.
Browse and search another edition of this book.
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Suggested Tags from Similar Products(What's this?)Be the first one to add a relevant tag (keyword that's strongly related to this product).
|
Sell a Digital Version of This Book in the Kindle Store
If you are a publisher or author and hold the digital rights to a book, you can sell a digital version of it in our Kindle Store.
Learn more
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
