Urth Net
Edward Kelley; Crowley
↰ answers Adam Stephanides
· by quotation
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For those who are interested in the historical background to the Aegypt books, there is a five-page article in the April 19, 2001 issue of the LONDON REVIEW OF BOOKS on Edward Kelley, John Dee's partner, dealing both with his years with Dee and his subsequent career. I just skimmed the article (and I don't remember that much about Kelley from the books, to be honest) so I can't say how relevant it is to the books.
It will be relevant. It will give what is known of the facts of Kelley's life and then it will speculate on whether he was a scam artist or someone genuinely given to hallucinations. I predict that with confidence--there's no other reason to do a piece on Kelley. And that, of course, is what Crowley is also playing with. He leans toward presenting Madimi as real, since his thesis is that during a "passage time" reality is stretched so thin that it is frayed, but he never quite asserts it; he also lets you know that Kelley is lying at least twice.
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The LRB has a website (www.lrb.co.uk), but the article isn't online, at least not yet.
I would very much like to read this piece when it goes up; if anyone notices, please post. BTW, my interview with Crowley (somewhat different from the chapbook, though they overlap) is in the new Locus. Charlie Brown claims to have added to it, but in a quick skim through it I can't see where. It looks just what I turned in. Hmm, I guess that's what we call a seamless edit.
-alga