Julius Evola and Tradition

Abstract

This chapter discusses the life and work of the Italian philosopher Julius Evola, who started his career in Futurism and Dadaism. Philosophic studies followed. After serving in the First World War he turned to mountaineering, experimented with ether, and nearly committed suicide. Far Eastern religions and esoteric currents became his next interest. He was introduced to René Guénon’s idea of tradition, which became the source of his political and racial ideas. He met Mussolini and members of the SS, who remained skeptical. After the Second World War, Evola wrote and translated. His elitist, antidemocratic political tracts based on transcendent ideas at first brought him only a few followers, some of whom turned to terrorist acts. He died lonely and frustrated in Rome. His revival started only in the 1980s; since then he has become one of the most widely read thinkers of the radical Right.

The extreme right and the democratic institutions in Italy. The response of the regions to a national and trans-national phenomenon (1973–1975)

“…The point of reference, the Commission observed, was the ‘teachings of the new prophets of the right, particularly Julius Evola' (see Hakl 2019 on this figure). The direct connection between neofascism and nationalism in the Alto Adriatico had precise historical roots and, it is argued, contributed to the formation of clandestine extreme right groups, mainly anticommunist in nature (Tonietto 2019, 194–202).…”