Hello,
This article was written and published in 1972 on the publication of
a new Italian edition of 'Les Soirées de Saint-Petersbourg'. With
thirty nine other essays, it was published by Mediterranee in 1974 in
an anthology called 'Ricognizioni'. All the articles which appear in
this anthology were chosen by Evola himself, a few months before his
death.
This article ends with these words, which will find an echo in those
who have more than the clear impression that the West has turned into
a sort of zoo : "We do not resist temptation to quote what de Maistre
said on woman: "A woman can only be superior as woman, but, as soon
as she tries to equal man, she is just a she-monkey". Whether the
various current 'feminist' movements like it or not, it is the whole
truth". It sounds even truer - it has an even greater weight when it
is a bearer of the ancient Roman ethics and world-outlook who says it.
Manly 'anti-feminism', virulent critique of the modern notion
of 'progress', etc., all the strong points of the thought of this
author who is often considered as the main herald and theoretician of
the French counter-revolution are duly stressed, with his usual
ability to get straight to the point, by Evola, who, however, has
also the merit to draw the reader's attention to its weaknesses, due
essentially to the limitations peculiar to the catholic point of
view, be it 'traditionalist'.
Evola's judgment on Masonry didn't escape you. He even said that it
was "very different from the most recent Masonry". Yet, he doesn't
elaborate, neither in this article, nor in the few articles he wrote
on Masonry. Basically, Evola must have asked himself the same
question as anyone conscious of and sensitive to the anti-traditional
character of Masonry does: how come fundamentally sane spirits can
join Masonic lodges? Dieter Schwarz, in a work on Masonry with a
preface by SS-Obergruppenführer Heydrich (*), has offered an
explanation, at least with respect to the German intellectual figures
and political characters of the XVIIIth and XIXth centuries; it
remains to be seen whether this most plausible explanation can be
applied to cases like that of de Maistre. It can be read in a few
days at http://thompkins_cariou.tripod.com.
Thompkins&Cariou
(*) to realise the extent of the determination of the national-
socialist leadership to get rid of Masonry once and for all, please
see http://www.freemasons-freemasonry.com/ushmm.html, knowing that
this document is produced by Masons and it is not exhaustive, far
from it.
--- In evola_as_he_is@yahoogroups.com, "Tony Ciopa"
<hyperborean@b...> wrote:
> I came upon this article by Evola on Joseph de Maistre:
>
> http://www.geocities.com/CapitolHill/1404/maistre.html
>
> In it, Evola mentions that Masonry at the time of de Maistre was
different
> from its later incarnations. ("nel quadro della massoneria, la
quale a quel
> tempo era assai diversa da quella più recente, tanto che lo stesso
de
> Maistre ne fece parte")
>
> Though it seems that de Maistre was actually involved with
Martinism.
>
> The rest of the book review may be of interest to some. While Evola
rejects
> de Maistre's Christian concept of divine Providence, there are
other aspects
> of his thought (which stem from the esoteric current in de Maistre
derived
> from Louis Claude de St Martin) that appeal to Evola.