Armin Mohler, “Zeev Sternhell, New Historiographer of Fascism” (1986)

My translation of Armin Mohler’s “Zeev Sternhell, nouvel historiographe du fascisme,” from Généalogie du fascisme français (Geneva: Idhuna, 1986). Mohler gives an excellent review to Sternhell’s study of the birth of fascism out of French socialism and nationalism. Mohler finds in Sternhell a kindred spirit. Of particular interest is the “conceptual rhyme” between Sorel’s account of myth and Sternhell’s account (per Mohler) of historical realities.

French original:

http://www.archiveseroe.eu/sternhell-a48288056

PDF of this translation:

https://www.academia.edu/42202245/Armin_Mohler_Zeev_Sternhell_New_Historiographer_of_Fascism_1986_

Evola and Italian Philosophy, 1925–49: Three Biographical and Bibliographical Essays

The following essays all appeared in Vouloir 119–121 (1996), the supplement to the revue Orientations, edited by Robert Steuckers. They centre on Julius Evola’s relations with the two major figures of Italian philosophy in the interwar period.

In “Evola, ultime tabou?” (pp. 1–3), Gianfranco de Turris asks if the rehabilitation enjoyed by such philosophers as Giovanni Gentile, previously denounced as Fascist, might be afforded to Evola. He briefly sketches the case in his favour: unlike the marginal crank of post-War imagination, Evola seems to have maintained relations with such figures of the first rank as Gentile and Benedetto Croce. In “Gentile/Evola: une liaison ami/ennemi…” (pp. 3–5) Stefano Arcella examines Evola’s fertile collaboration with Gentile and Ugo Spirito on the Enciclopedia Italiana. And in “Quand Benedetto Croce ‘sponsorisait’ Evola” (pp. 5–7) Alessandro Barbera investigates the Croce connection, looking in some detail at the correspondence between Evola, Croce, and the publisher Laterza.

French originals:

1—http://www.archiveseroe.eu/evola-a48672110

2—http://www.archiveseroe.eu/gentile-a126198308

3—http://www.archiveseroe.eu/croce-a126196870

PDF of this translation:

https://www.academia.edu/42191919/Evola_and_Italian_Philosophy_1925-49_Three_Biographical_and_Bibliographical_Essays

Armin Mohler, “Homage to Oswald Spengler” (1982)

My translation of Mohler’s “Hommage à Oswald Spengler,” Orientations 1 (1982). Mohler presents Spengler as aligned with the Conservative Revolution, emphasising his Nietzschean aspects, and placing him in a tradition of implicitly anti-Platonist and “nominalist” thought (in Mohler’s special sense of the term).

French original:

http://www.archiveseroe.eu/spengler-a48363374

PDF of this translation:

https://www.academia.edu/42178159/Armin_Mohler_Homage_to_Oswald_Spengler_1982_

Guillaume Faye, “Finishing with Western Civilisation” (1980)

My translation of Faye’s “Pour en finir avec la civilisation occidentale,” Éléments 34 (1980). This text distinguishes and advocates Europe (or Hesperia) over-against “the Western system.” The nouvelle droite-period Faye (before 1987), whom we see at work here, is quite different from the post-hiatus Faye (1998–2019) known to the Anglophone world. Note the apparently positive assessment of political Islam (p. 5) and the opposition to the identitarianism with which he came to be associated (pp. 6–7).

French original:

http://www.archiveseroe.eu/occident-a49054848

PDF of this translation:

https://www.academia.edu/42174979/Guillaume_Faye_Finishing_with_Western_Civilisation_1980_

Related texts on rival strains in European thought and deed:

https://ferguscullen.blogspot.com/2020/01/the-clash-of-world-conceptions.html (Faye)

https://ferguscullen.blogspot.com/2020/01/giorgio-locchi-nietzsches-rescuers-1972.html (Giorgio Locchi)

Dominique Venner, “Julius Evola: Philosophy and Direct Action” (2008)

My translation of Dominique Venner’s short editorial, “Evola: Philosophie et action directe,” Nouvelle Revue d’Histoire 37 (2008). By 2008, Venner was known as an historian; but signs of a sympathy born of youthful activism (in French analogues of the Italian movements he describes) remain. The text is still a good introductory overview.

But the following texts go into greater depth:

Mark Sedgwick, Against the Modern World (Oxford: O.U.P., 2004), prologue, pp. 11–2; parts II.5, III.9 and IV.11.

Franco Ferraresi, “Les références théorico-doctrinales de la droite radicale en Italie,” Mots 12 (March 1986), pp. 7–27.

—, “Julius Evola: Tradition, Reaction and the Radical Right,” European Journal of Sociology 28, 1 (1987), pp. 107–51.

French original:

http://www.archiveseroe.eu/freda-a108281026

PDF of this version:

https://www.academia.edu/42160976/Dominique_Venner_Julius_Evola_Philosophy_and_Direct_Action_2008_