William Buehler Seabrook discussion

Promotional photo from the jacket of Asylum

Dedicated to discussion of the life and works of William Buehler Seabrook (1886-1945), as well as to modern research and news in those areas which he held dear. Lost Generation occultist, explorer, traveller, and journalist, William Seabrook might be best described as a Herodotus of the early Twentieth Century. His friend Man Ray once wrote of him, "In earlier days he might have been a sort of Marco Polo. . . . It is rare to read facts that sound like fiction -- most writers strive for the reverse effect." Born in Westminister, Maryland, Seabrook spent much of his life traveling to exotic locales and studying everything he found interesting. A chronicler of the odd, he loved everything from bondage to chess and from occultism to science, and hobnobbed with surrealist artists like Man Ray, writers like Upton Sinclair and Gertrude Stein, and occultists like Aleister Crowley and Gurdjieff. He is well known for having introduced the modern usage of the word "zombie" into the English language.

Feel free to join. Since, due to some bizarre quirk of lj, some people have been unable to do more than become watchers, even non-members can post. Spam will of course be deleted.

This community is meant not only to discuss the man and his works but also to keep his vision alive by posting links and stories that community members feel he himself might have found interesting.

Seabrook's books include:

1917 -- Diary of Section VIII (Edited from his log of the ambulance corps with which he served in WWI)
1927 -- Adventures in Arabia (Arabian travelogue)
1929 -- The Magic Island (Haitian travelogue)
1930 -- Jungle Ways (African travelogue)
1933 -- Air Adventure (African travelogue)
1934 -- The White Monk of Timbuctoo (biography)
1935 -- Asylum (memoir of time as an alcoholic in a mental hospital)
1938 -- These Foreigners: Americans All (profiles of immigrant groups in the U.S.)
1940 -- Witchcraft: Its Power in the World Today (occult journalism)
1941 -- Doctor Wood: Modern Wizard of the Laboratory (biography)
1942 -- No Hiding Place: An Autobiography (Chapters X-XI)

Online foreign language editions:

Роберт Вильямс Вуд. Современный чародей физической лаборатории§
Robert Vil'yams Vud. Sovremennyj charodej fizicheskoj laboratorii

Please also consider joining the william_seabrook Yahoo! group, founded by exolinguist and moderated by paul_pipkin: