Revolt Against the Modern World By Julius Evola Original Italian Edition 1934 Revised 1951, 1970 Inner Traditions International 1995 (Translation by Guido Stucco) 375 Pages, $29.95 ISBN 0-89281-506-X

Summary & Notes on the Author Traditional Spirituality State, Kingship, Empire Castes and Traditional Economics Traditional Time and Space Historical Decay A Mythological World History Degenerate Religions The Decline of Antiquity Church versus Empire The Post-Medieval Collapse The End of this World A Critique and Anathema

Summary & Notes on the Author One way to look at “Revolt Against the Modern World” is as a readable version of Alfred Rosenberg's “Myth of the 20th Century.” The authors of both books were mythographers for fascist governments, Rosenberg for the German National Socialists and Julius Evola (1898-1974) for Mussolini's regime. Both Rosenberg and Evola had ambiguous relationships with their governments. Rosenberg was often ignored as an eccentric. Evola sometimes excited substantive opposition, particularly to his attempt to define “race” as a spiritual property of elites. Although Rosenberg and Evola differ on many points, the mythological systems they articulate both belong to the modern theosophical tradition. The origin of the Aryan race in Atlantis is important for both. Evola was one of the great underground notables of the 20th century. A Sicilian baron living in Rome, he studied engineering but never took a degree. He served as a cadet artillery officer in the First World War. Afterwards, Evola became a major figure in dadaism and other radical post-war artistic movements. He used hallucinogenic drugs. Evola is chiefly remembered, however, as a scholar of the Hermetic tradition and as a practicing occultist. He was also an important theorist of the Conservative Revolution. Evola advised and criticized the Mussolini regime from its beginning to its end. Some stories say that Mussolini always spoke of Evola with respect; other say he was terrified of Evola's magical powers. In Nazi Germany, Evola was officially disfavored but still influential. A Russian bombardment permanently crippled Evola at the very end of the war, while he was doing research in Vienna for the SS into the history of secret societies. After the war, he became a gray eminence in the international neo-fascist network, for which he further developed his theory of “direct action” anarchism as a kind of spiritual initiation. Softer versions of his ideas later found favor in the New Age movement. Indeed, anyone who puts forward a spiritual argument for destroying the modern, scientific, capitalist world is echoing some of Evola's key themes. "Revolt Against the Modern World" is usually cited as the best general introduction to Evola's thought. Generically, Evola's ideas are an adaptation of René Guénon's philosophy of Tradition. In this context, the Tradition in question is not so much the historical heritage of the West, or of any particular society, but rather of the archetypal forms of society, the state, and spirituality. Evola uses particular histories and particular myths chiefly to illustrate these ideal forms. The result is not so different from the cross-cultural medlies produced by C.G. Jung and Mircea Eliade. This comparative method is open to criticism, but Evola's use of it is as accessible as Joseph Campbell's. Generally speaking, “Revolt Against the Modern World is sparing of citation. However, the authorities the author does cite are usually familiar enough. There is Johann Jacob Bachofen on the matriarchal nature of the pre-Aryan world, for instance, and Fustel de Coulanges on the ritual-based legitimacy of the ancient Roman patriciate. Evola's authorities are not always so authoritative as one might wish, but he tells us that he is not interested in mere facticity: legends often contain the more important truth. Evola claims to have little use for "apocalypticism," which he regards as an example of spiritual degeneration that is both demotic and demonic. He also has little use for the principle of historical determinacy; for him, whatever happens in history is at least proximately the result of someone's will. Nonetheless, one cannot help but notice that this book describes a model of history in which the modern world is at the very end of a dark age, the Kali Yuga. He offers the hope, though not the assurance, that an elect might come through the final collapse. They might even achieve god-like illumination in the next creation. The book is divided into two parts: “World of Tradition” and “Genesis and Face of the Modern World.” The first is chiefly concerned with describing the archetypes that inform the world and history. The second describes how these forms have decayed over time, but with occasional revivals of “tradition” that interest the author keenly. The first half is by far the more plausible and interesting. The “polar” and “Atlantean" past that the second part describes is implausible. Also, his account of the more historical parts of history will strike many readers as tendentious. Nonetheless, the particulars of Evola's system are worth considering in detail. Next

The sections of this review may be read sequentially. Please note that the sections do not correspond to the divisions of the book. See also: Men among the Ruins The Hermetic Tradition.

Copyright © 2002 by John J. Reilly