Evola, indeed, did approve of the biographic essay on him by Adriano
Romuladi. That appreciation can be found in an article the former
wrote on the latter on the occasion of his death.
That article appeared in the September 1973 issue of 'L'Italiano'; it
was republished in the collective volume 'Ricordo di Adriano', Roma,
1974, pp. 41-43. It also featured in the Appendix section of the
French translation of Romualdi's abovementioned essay, 'Julius Evola,
'l'homme et l'œuvre', Pardès, 1979.
We present it in English below.
Text by Evola on Adriano Romualdi
With the death of our very dear young friend Adriano Romualdi, the new
generation of the right and of a "traditional" inspiration has lost
one of its most qualified representatives. In those circles, he was
one of the few individuals to possess a broad and diversified culture,
founded moreover on the direct knowledge of many languages. His style
was lucid and precise, and he always knew how to grasp the essence of
a problem. The different essays which he wrote, starting with his long
introduction to the book by Günther on Indo-European religiosity,
deserve to be reedited and gathered in a single volume. Adriano
Romualdi wanted as well to devote an essay – the best that I know of –
to my activity and to my books. Published by Volpe, which also held
him in high esteem, this work was re-printed two years ago. I believe
Adriano Romualdi had in preparation another, more systematic version
of his presentation of the old Indo-European world, which strongly
fascinated him and particularly in which he was an expert. The project
of a living study, but resting upon a rigorous documentation.
He understood what we call "Traditional world" and knew that it was
from that world that had to be extracted the foundations for a serious
cultural politics of the right. An admirer of Nietzsche – of what is
best in Nietzsche – Adriano Romualdi affirmed the preeminence of
heroic, warrior, and aristocratic values. For this reason, he was
especially attracted to the idea of an Order, to the templar spirit
and to the Prussian mentality, until its most recent survivals. But he
had also turned to the beginnings of Romanity, that of Cato and of the
consuls, of the jus and the fas, and he was not wrong to write that
Rome was the Prussia of Antiquity. The material which he had collected
with seriousness and perseverance could have constituted the base of
many an important essay. His entry to university, as he had just been
nominated as professor in Palermo, had already offered him a larger
sphere of influence and the possibility to give a spiritual formation
to a certain number of youth.
Needless to say, the world of action interested Romualdi more than
the world of contemplation. Perhaps this should be seen as a limit. He
was never interested in considering transcendence, as understood by
metaphysics. I recall on this topic a conversation I had with him
three days before his death (he frequently came to visit me and to
work in my library).
Having spoken of the maxim that says that "life is a voyage through
the hours of the night", I had the idea to ask him of what he thinks
of the afterworld. He first replied that that evoked for him a more or
less "larval" survival (to use his term). But I pointed out to him
that according to the ancient traditions he believed in, this was not
the only possible end. Certainly, Hades was considered as the
ineluctable destiny for the majority of people, but to it had also
been opposed the concept of a privileged and luminous immortality,
with the symbolism of the Isle of Heroes, of the Fields of Elysium and
other places, similar to the Nordic Walhalla. Thus we were brought to
recall the teachings concerning precisely the variety of destinies,
determined by what each individual has achieved, and placed above all
in his lifetime and, essentially, by a lucid impulse to transcendence.
In one of the most characteristic texts, it is said that after three
days of "unconsciousness", the soul of the deceased experiences the
Absolute Light. It is imperative to know how to identify with this
light, to recognise in it one's own nature. Only then will
"Liberation" be attained.
I hope that Adriano Romualdi, after having left down here his
ephemeral layer, has known this awakening. After all, and despite the
fact that he was not always conscious of it, that was the goal that
underlayed his activity. Beyond his sympathies for the world of
action, of struggle, of "sovereign affirmations opposed to absolute
negations" (to use the formula of Donoso Cortès) towards which our
troubled epoch in crisis moves, this component could not not have been
present in him. And he had already matured a lot.
Julius EVOLA
--- In evola_as_he_is@yahoogroups.com, "evola_as_he_is"
<evola_as_he_is@...> wrote:
>
>
> Seriously, you can't blame a man whose family name is Ritter for
> seeing it everywhere : www.ritter-sport.de/
>
> As for the biography, it's called 'Julius Evola : l'uomo e l'opera',
> Volpe, Rome, 1968. A second, increased, edition was published in 1971
> by the same publisher ; a third, in 1979, bearing a xylography of J.
> Evola on the cover. Finally, it was re-published in 1998, as 'Su
> Evola', by Fondazione Julius Evola.
>
> 'Julius Evola, 'l'homme et l'œuvre, Pardès, 1979, is its French
> translation.
>
> Adriano Romualdi, of whom we have already spoken here, and who, by
> 1969, had gained in Italian far-right circles the stature of spiritual
> heir to Julius Evola, knew him personally. Evola approved of that
> biographic essay on him.
>
> Who was Maria Naglowska?
>
>
>
> > I agree that this book is clearly utter nonsense.
> > However, I do hope that one day a detailed NON-fiction
> > biography of Evola appears in English (I assume that
> > there must be at least one in Italian by now). From
> > what I understand, after his injury in 1945 he rarely
> > left his Rome apartment, but prior to that his life
> > certainly spanned many interesting experiences and
> > individuals.
> >
> > The idea of him eating "mysterious chocolate" may seem
> > ridiculous in the context of this invented story,
> > although one should remember that Evola did experiment
> > with psychedelics in his youth. Also, is there any
> > evidence to indicate that Evola ever did meet with
> > Fellini? I can't really imagine what they would have
> > had to say to each other (aesthetically, politically
> > and philosophically they would appear to be polar
> > opposites), but it seems, at the very least,
> > plausible. And who was Maria Naglowska?
> >
> > __________________________________________________
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>