We have just come upon the following book: 'A Primer of Italian
Fascism' (European Horizons) by Jeffrey T. Schnapp (Editor), Olivia
E. Sears (Editor), Maria G. Stampino (Editor), published in 2000 by
University of Nebraska Press. This book is an anthology of primary
sources from the origins of Italian Fascism to its decline and
dissolution. Part III ('Fascism and Culture') contains 'Four Excerpts
from Pagan Imperialism : Fascism before the Euro-Christian Peril
(1928) by Julius Evola', of which the first and the second
subchapters of the first part, respectively 'European Decadence'
and 'Fascism as anti-Europe', and the last subchapter of the last
part, 'Fascism against Christianity : the Great Liberation'.
This translation, however, is far from being faithful to the original
and actually departs so much from it at times that, from
interpretations and approximations to blunt mistakes, it almost ends
up betraying its spirit.
Let's give a few edifying examples, taken, as far as the first is
concerned, from the subchapter 'European Decadence'.
1. vocabulary
At the end of the 8th paragraph, "It has succumbed to sentimental,
religious, humanitarian contamination, and the race of men of fine
words who run around madly exalting 'Becoming' and 'experience',
because silence and contemplation frighten them" is the literal
translation, ours, whereas, in that book, it is translated as : "It
has been polluted by a sentimental, religious, humanitarian contagion
and by a race of frenzied men who run around noisily celebrating
becoming and practice, because silence and contemplation alarm them".
"polluted" instead of "succumbed", introduces a moral judgement which
Evola didn't intend to make here more than in any other parts of his
work.
"contagion" instead of "contamination" : 'contagion' refers to
everything which can be transmitted like a disease,
whereas 'contamination' refers properly, not to the transmission of
the disease itself, but to that of the infectious or contagious
principles, and that's why Evola chose precisely the
term 'contaminazione' here.
"run around noisily" instead of "run around madly" : it is not
about 'noise' here, but about 'madness'.
"celebrating" instead of "exalting" : "to celebrate" doesn't fit,
because it applies to great things and there is nothing great about
those "frenzied men", whereas "to exalt" does, because it marks an
hyperbolic praise and there is precisely something exaggerated about
their attitude.
"practice" instead of "experience" : it is not about 'experience' as
a way of behaving or as a training here, but about 'experience' in
the philosophical sense, that is, the content of direct observation,
everything which is apprehended by the senses and constitutes the
material of knowledge.
In the fourth paragraph, there is an even more awkward departure from
the original :"The West has lost the sense [senso] of command and
obedience" is substituted for "The West has lost the ability of
command and obedience".
2. syntax
"For better or worse, Fascism has developed a body. But this body is
still lacking a soul ; and this soul - and the superior act which can
justify it, complete it, make it really stand up as a principle
against all of Europe - this soul, as we have said elsewhere, can
only achieve this if Fascism, by means of a radical, profound, and
absolute upheaval, takes a new leap forward precisely in the opposite
direction to that of the 'normalisation' and embourgeoisement which
is beginning to pervade it today. It must manage to resurrect a
distinct order of meta-economic and meta-political values", which,
once again, is a literal translation meant to be faithful to the
original both in terms of vocabulary and of syntax, we read :
"For better or worse, fascism has developed a body. But this body is
still lacking a soul. It is still lacking the superior power [atto]
needed to justify it, complete it, make it rise to its feet as a
principle opposed to all of Europe. The soul in question can achieve
these ends only if fascism manages to resurrect a distinctive system
of meta-economic and metapolitic values by means of a radical,
profound, absolute upheaval [rivolgimento], a new leap ahead and away
from the politics of "normalization" and bourgeois compromise".
This paragraph has been turned upside down. Evola's syntax has not
been followed, and, as a result, his style is mutilated, defaced,
unrecognisable. In some parts, the impersonal 'we' or the impersonal
form used by Evola has been replaced by an extremely weak and
subjective 'I'. For example: "To all this I reply, "That's enough!"
My negation is meant to allow a few men to rediscover the longs
paths ..." doesn't come close to our rendering of this part : "To all
this must be said : "Enough!", so that some men at least can recover
the long roads".
Supposing that some members of this forum have come across 'A Primer
of Italian Fascism', we feel it necessary to draw their attention to
what we have pointed out above. Not to overload this message, we
haven't given the original Italian text, but, obviously, we could, on
mere request.
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