Revolt Against the Modern World

Revolt Against the Modern World, cover to the 1995 English translation

Revolt Against the Modern World: Politics, Religion, and Social Order in the Kali Yuga (Rivolta contro il mondo moderno) is a book by Julius Evola, first published in Italy, in 1934. Widely seen as his magnum opus, it is an elucidation of his Traditionalist world view.

The first part of the book deals with the concepts of the Traditional world; its knowledge of the bridge between the earthly and the transcendent worlds. The second part deals with the modern world, contrasting its characteristics with those of traditional societies: from politics and institutions to views on life and death. Evola denounces the regressive aspects of modern civilisation (using Tradition as a normative principle).

Rivolta contro il mondo moderno was published in Milan by Hoepli in 1934. In 1969 a revised and augmented edition was published. Translated into English by Guido Stucco (from the 1969 edition), it was published by Inner Traditions in 1995 and as a 375-page hardcover (ISBN 089281506X). It has also been translated into German, Spanish, French, and Hungarian.^[1]

Dedication

To the

1st Battaglione Carabinieri Paracadutisti "Tuscania":

Caesarem Vehis!

Contents

• A Short Introduction to Julius Evola by H. T. Hansen
• Translator's Preface
• Foreword

Part One – The World of Tradition

1. The Beginning
2. Regality
3. Polar Symbolism; the Lord of Peace and Justice
4. The Law, the State, the Empire
5. The Mystery of the Rite
6. On the Primordial Nature of the Patriciate
7. Spiritual Virility
8. The Two Paths in the Afterlife
9. Life and Death of Civilizations
10. Initiation and Consecration
11. On the Hierarchical Relationship Between Royalty and Priesthood
12. Universality and Centralism
13. The Soul of Chivalry
14. The Doctrine of the Castes
15. Professional Associations and the Arts; Slavery
16. Bipartition of the Traditional Spirit; Asceticism
17. The Greater and the Lesser Holy War
18. Games and Victory
19. Space, Time, the Earth
20. Man and Woman
21. The Decline of Superior Races

Part Two – Genesis and Face of the Modern World

• Introduction

22. The Doctrine of the Four Ages

23. The Golden Age

24. The Pole and the Hyperborean Region

25. The Northern-Atlantic Cycle

26. North and South

27. The Civilization of the Mother

28. The Cycles of Decadence and the Heroic Cycle

29. Tradition and Antitradition

30. The Heroic-Uranian Western Cycle

31. Syncope of the Western Tradition

32. The Revival of the Empire and the Ghibelline Middle Ages

33. Decline of the Medieval World and the birth of Nations

34. Unrealism and Individualism

35. The Regression of the Castes

36. Nationalism and Collectivism

37. The End of the Cycle

• Conclusion
• Appendix: On The Dark Age
• Index

Quotations

About the book

"It is a book whose ideas and assumptions extend the horizons of almost every European problem to a degree hitherto unknown and unseen. Anyone who has read the book will see Europe differently. It is the first broad-ranging presentation of one of the basic spiritual impulses that is still active in Europe today—meaning by "active" that which is epoch-making, far-reaching in its destruction of feelings about the world, changing, and redirecting: it is the impulse that opposes history. For this very reason, it is an eminently important book for Germany, because history is a specifically German problem, and the philosophy of history a professedly Germanic form of self-understanding" —Gottfried Benn, in Die Literatur, 1935

"What is it, then, this world of Tradition? First, it is a novel and evocative representation; no naturalistic or historical concept, but a vision, an erection, an enchantment. It evokes the world as universal, super-earthly and super-human. But this evocation can only arise and take effect when there are still remnants of this universality present, so that just to approach and grasp it is to be exceptional, elite, elect. This concept allows cultures to be liberated from humanity and from history, and to elevate their differences to a metaphysical plane, where they can be rebuilt in freedom and give birth to a new image of man: the ancient, lofty, transcendent man who is the bearer of Tradition". —Gottfried Benn, in Die Literatur, 1935

"Revolt Against the Modern World is destined to remain an essential work and frame-of-reference for anyone seriously involved in native European spirituality." —Michael Moynihan, in Vortru

"Evola does not write in abstract philosophical language but in lively prose, filled with fascinating and concrete details. Given a basic grounding in history and culture, one can dip into the book anywhere and find new twists and reinterpretations. Such an encounter with a totally original mind is a rarity in these days of bland consensus, and a thrilling one whether one agrees with Evola or not." —Joscelyn Godwin, in Gnosis Magazine

From the book

"The Germanic populations – just like the Goths, the Longobards, the Burgundians and the Franks – were looked down upon as barbarians by that decadent "civilization" that had been reduced to juridical administrative structure and that had degenerated into "Aphrodisiac" forms of hedonistic urban refinement, intellectualism, aestheticism, and cosmopolitan dissolution. And yet in their coarse and unsophisticated forms of their customs one could find the… principles of honor, faithfulness, and pride. It was precisely this "barbaric" element that represented a vital force, the lack of which had been one of the main causes of Roman and Byzantine decadence."

"America ... has created a 'civilization' that represents an exact contradiction of the ancient European tradition. It has introduced the religion of praxis and productivity; it has put the quest for profit, great industrial production, and mechanical, visible, and quantitative achievements over any other interest. It has generated a soulless greatness of a purely technological and collective nature, lacking any background of transcendence, inner light, and true spirituality. America has [built a society where] man becomes a mere instrument of production and material productivity within a conformist social conglomerate."

References

External links

• Revolt Against the Modern World, reviewed by John J. Reilly.
• "Tradition in Revolt: Julius Evola", Revolt Against the Modern World reviewed by Karl Richter in The Scorpion, No. 17, Spring 1995.
• "Traditional Emancipation: Man and Woman in Revolt against the Modern World" by Troy Southgate in The Scorpion, Issue 23.
• "The Sick, The Weird, and The Democratic", The Revolt Against the Modern World discussion at MajorityRights.com.
• The Legacy of a European Traditionalist: Julius Evola in Perspective by Guido Stucco