Julius Evola

Julius Evola (born Giulio Cesare Andrea Evola in Rome in 1898; died 1974) was a controversial Italian philosopher, artist, and esotericist whose lengthy career spanned diverse fields. His intellectual output was vast, encompassing numerous books and essays that explored spirituality, tradition, politics, and the occult. While he had a prominent elder brother, Giuseppe Gasparde, born in 1895, who would become important later in Evola's life, little is known about Evola's early childhood or family background.

Early Life and Intellectual Development

Evola's childhood remains largely undocumented, with no biographical information available from that period. The earliest insights into his life come from his own writings, where he recounts studying technical and mathematical topics as a young man. During this academic pursuit, he developed a spontaneous interest in thought and art, becoming deeply engrossed in the works of decadent writers such as Oscar Wilde and Gabriele D'Annunzio. These literary figures appealed to him due to their emphasis on pure aesthetics and a perceived "will to transcendence" inherent in their works, which he saw as distinctly non-bourgeois. His fascination extended to all contemporary art and literature he could access, leading him to spend extensive periods in libraries.

A pivotal turning point in his early intellectual journey was the discovery of Nietzsche, whose potent critique of Christianity resonated profoundly with Evola. Having grown up in a Catholic household within a predominantly Catholic area, Evola embraced Nietzsche's rejection of Christian doctrine as inauthentic. However, he also recognised Catholicism's potential as a positive force capable of guiding people back to tradition. Interestingly, Evola rejected Nietzsche's concept of the Übermensch, deeming it too "ignorant of being" and "plebeian," despite his own famed advocacy for aristocraticism and elitism.

Instead of fully aligning with Nietzsche, Evola turned to the lesser-known Jewish philosopher Carlo Michelstaedter, who committed suicide at the age of 23. Michelstaedter's pamphlet, Persuasion and Rhetoric, advocating for an individual to become "internally autarkic and solely self-sufficient," profoundly influenced Evola. This core idea—that a being should depend on nothing but itself—became a guiding principle throughout Evola's career, even if Michelstaedter is not always listed among his top influences. It is notable that Michelstaedter was a friend of Evola's cousin, an artist who also committed suicide at a young age, suggesting a pattern within their circle.

Despite his later reputation as "Baron Evola" or "Baron Julius Evola," particularly among English-speaking scholars, his family was not aristocratic. His father was a telegraph engineer, and his mother a minor landowner. This misconception appears to have arisen from Evola's exceptionally aristocratic bearing, cultivated Italian speech, immaculate attire, and monocle, which led young followers in Italy to nickname him "il Barone" (the Baron). This informal title was even adopted by official SS letters reporting on him, cementing the misunderstanding. It is also noted that the fascist party members who disliked Evola would dismissively call him "the magic baron," a title that later became a mark of respect.

Evola's university studies, either in mathematics or engineering, ended abruptly just before he was to complete his training. He deliberately quit to avoid being addressed as "doctor"—a common title for Italian graduates—and to escape what he considered a bourgeois academic life. He embraced an aristocratic sentiment that "there are two types of people in life: nobles and people with university degrees," choosing not to belong to the latter.

Artistic Endeavours (1914–1921)

After leaving university, Evola pursued a career in art, leveraging an existing talent for drawing. He began to encounter influential figures such as Filippo Marinetti, the leader of the Futurists. However, Evola immediately rejected Futurism, finding it "loud" and lacking "inward self-awareness" and a "true will to transcendence." He also criticised its "obsession with steel and war and automobiles" as "latent Americanism" and its "chauvinist nationalism."

The outbreak of World War I in 1914, when Evola was 16, saw many avant-garde intellectuals align with the Allied side, adopting a "stupid idea" that Germany sought to destroy European civilisation. Evola, however, argued for Italy to intervene on the side of the Central Powers (Germany and Austria). Despite Italy eventually joining the Allied side, Evola volunteered for war. He undertook artillery officer's training and served in the mountains of the Asiago plateau. Though proficient in mountaineering, a lifelong passion, his war experience was largely uneventful; he spent much of his time reading and writing, later claiming he "didn't learn anything from the war because he never really got to do anything in it."

Returning to Rome after the war, Evola experienced a profound personal crisis, feeling trapped by bourgeois routine and a lack of purpose. This led him to experiment with "unusual narcotics and hallucinogens," but he quickly rationalised their use, applying a philosophical lens to his experiences rather than simply succumbing to addiction.

His artistic career, however, flourished during this period. In 1920, he had considerable success, exhibiting 54 paintings at the Gaglia in Rome, followed by 60 paintings in a one-man show at the Sturm in Berlin, and another exhibition at the Gaglia. His involvement with Dadaism was primarily through poetry, not visual arts. Despite this artistic explosion, Evola abruptly ceased painting in 1921, declaring he had "exhausted all possibilities in that field" and publishing his final poems, effectively ending his artistic phase.

Philosophical and Esoteric Pursuits (1921–1934)

Following his artistic withdrawal, Evola embarked on a six-year philosophical phase (1921–1927). He initially developed an interest in Theosophy but found the contemporary movement, as championed by figures like Madame Blavatsky, to be a "watered-down club for cranks." While acknowledging Theosophy's aim to blend diverse faiths and occult traditions into a "mystical ideology," he ultimately found it lacking a genuine, transcendent truth. This period marked his growing emphasis on "absolute action" as the necessary, internal force for transcendence, recognising that his works merely "point you in a certain way" rather than carrying you there.

Evola's intellectual method often involved building upon foundational "ur-texts," responding to or critiquing them. His philosophical works, such as Introduction to Magic Idealism, involved dense responses to German idealism (e.g., Schelling and Fichte). Notably, Evola was self-taught in German, reaching a level proficient enough to translate Oswald Spengler's Decline of the West. He faced significant academic opposition in Italy, where neo-Hegelianism, championed by Giovanni Gentile and Benedetto Croce, dominated the intellectual climate. His ideas were dismissed as "superstitious and counter-Enlightenment," the latter being a charge he embraced.

His first major philosophical work, Theory and Phenomenology of the Absolute Individual, written between 1925 and 1927, was so long and complex that he struggled to find a publisher, eventually resorting to an unsuccessful attempt to have it published under a friend's name. It was finally published in 1930.

In 1927, the Ur Group was formed, named after the ancient kingdom. This period marked the beginning of his correspondence with René Guénon, a French metaphysician and traditionalist. In 1928, Evola published Pagan Imperialism, a book that brought him significant attention in Italian academic circles. It was a fierce attack on Christianity and Catholicism, which he believed were "holding back fascism." The book included an open letter to the government, urging the adoption of a pagan caste system and the dismantling of the Catholic Church. Mussolini himself read the book, using it as a veiled threat against the Church to maintain good relations, particularly after signing treaties in 1923 that established the Vatican City. Catholic publications, in turn, declared Evola a "satanist," solidifying his dark horse reputation in Italy.

While Pagan Imperialism was direct and polemical, reflecting the "fire in his belly" of a young man, Evola later expressed regret over its harsh tone, though he largely retained its core ideas. He saw Christianity, in its "primitive, Semitic, and revolutionary aspect," as the "mystical analogue of the French Revolution of yesterday and of Communism and Socialism today." He called for an "unconditional integral return to the Nordic pagan tradition," lamenting that Christianity's removal of the sacred from the worldly realm had stripped the political sphere of its sacred legitimacy, leading to a "downward spiral" into democracy and ultimately, modern political disengagement from higher ideals. He vehemently sided with the Ghibelline restoration, supporting the primacy of the emperor (temporal power) over the pope (religious authority)—a key point of divergence with Guénon, who favoured the priest class. Evola championed the ideal of a warrior-priest king, embodying both temporal and divine power, as representative of the "spirit of the West."

In 1930, the Ur Group ceased publications, and Evola became head of a new magazine, La Torre (The Tower), subtitled "a paper of many approaches to one tradition." This reflected his embrace of perennialism, the idea that diverse faiths lead to the same metaphysical truth. The magazine was elitist and "super-political," criticising the fascist government for prioritising mere politics over "ideals," "spiritual truths," and "metaphysics." His infamous retort to a reader's concern about not sharing Mussolini's opinions—"all the worse for Mussolini"—marked him as an enemy of the fascist regime. La Torre faced intense slander, legal action, and physical intimidation, forcing Evola to employ bodyguards and even flee his residence. Unable to legally shut down the journal as it was not Leftist, the police informally forbade printing houses from working with him, leading Evola to quit the magazine and seek convalescence in the mountains.

In 1932, Evola re-examined Catholicism in The Mask and Face of Contemporary Spiritualism (republished as The Fall of Spirituality). He argued that modern Catholicism, despite its flaws, retained enough traditional elements to guide sufficiently driven individuals back to its orthodox core. This work also critically assessed other spiritual movements, including Theosophy and Satanism (with references to Crowley).

The year 1934 saw the publication of Revolt Against the Modern World, considered a summation of Evola's spiritual conception and metaphysics. This book marked a turning point in his political engagement, as his attempts to steer the fascist state towards a more traditional path began to "fizzle." He increasingly adopted Guénon's "black pilling" view that the West was beyond saving, believing that a complete societal collapse ("the end of the Kali Yuga") was necessary before any rebirth could occur. This perspective was linked to his support for the "path of action" over Guénon's more contemplative approach.

The Second World War and Later Life (1939–1974)

As the Second World War approached, Evola was unambiguously pro-Axis, viewing the conflict as a legitimate struggle against liberalism, materialism, and the "excesses of the post-revolutionary age." He volunteered for front-line service but was rejected for "political reasons." Following this rejection, he seemed to lose interest in the war, largely ignoring it and engaging in freelance writing for bourgeois publications, producing travel books and articles, though he continued his theoretical and art essays.

In the late 1930s, he authored two books on race, The Myth of the Blood and Synthesis of the Doctrine of Race, aligning his views with Mussolini's regime to a certain extent. During the war, he worked for German intelligence agencies, serving as a "man in Rome" for certain academic sects of the SS and high-ranking Nazi officials. He corresponded frequently with SS personnel and admired Heinrich Himmler's appreciation for "magical forms of tradition" and his willingness to engage in occult means to win the "spiritual war" alongside the military one. Evola considered himself an ally of Himmler in the broader war against liberalism. He held great respect for the SS, viewing it as a sacred "order" that should ideally lead the state.

However, he had disagreements with National Socialism, and the SS itself regarded him as a "reactionary dreamer and a dilettante of the old upper class," dismissing his eccentric ideas. A report written by Himmler's "occult guy," Viligoot, in 1938, investigating Evola's theories on race, noted him as an "interesting eccentric but with sort of weird ideas that could be divisive." Nonetheless, Evola performed archival work for the SS during this period, delving into occult details at their request.

The 1943 coup against Mussolini and the subsequent Italian civil war saw Evola in Rome. Despite being urged by SS members to return to Germany, he remained initially, hoping for a counter-coup. When the Germans decided to abandon Rome in the face of Allied advances, Evola walked for three days to northern Rome, fleeing with only the clothes on his back and a single cardboard suitcase filled exclusively with notes, proofs, and drafts for his book Introduction to Magic, deeming these of "utmost importance." This flight saw him potentially rub shoulders with Ezra Pound, who was also wandering north in the same region at the time.

In 1945, Evola was in Vienna, though the exact reason for his presence in a city under heavy air raids and artillery fire remains unknown. During this time, he suffered a debilitating injury from a bomb attack. The incident, which left him paralysed, was considered by Guénon to be a "curse," akin to a six-month paralysis Guénon himself had experienced. Evola was discharged from hospital in 1948 but remained crippled, often requiring crutches or a wheelchair. He complained incessantly about medical staff, whom he believed knew his identity and purpose.

He reconciled with his estranged mother and moved back into the family apartment in Rome. There, he famously had to be "literally stuffed into a cupboard" to evade American troops searching for him after the war. Despite his physical limitations, Evola continued to write compulsively, corresponding with friends and Guénon in Egypt.

In the post-war era, Evola became a revered figure, almost "a god," to the burgeoning neo-fascist groups, despite his earlier animosity towards the fascist regime. Young, intellectual, and often violent men would visit him in his "Dracula-like" attic apartment in Rome, seeking guidance on mystic subjects and fighting communism and liberalism.

This association led to his arrest and trial in 1950 as a "neo-fascist encouraging terror." It was a major trial where Evola, unable to procure a wheelchair, was famously carried into the courtroom on a litter by four young fascist followers. He delivered a long, eloquent monologue in self-defence, declaring himself a "super fascist," meaning "above fascism." He asserted that his beliefs were what any normal person would have held before 1778, positioning himself as a reactionary rather than a fascist. He was completely acquitted and never faced legal trouble from the Italian state again.

Following the trial, Evola embraced his role as a mentor to the right-wing youth, publishing works like A Handbook for Right-Wing Youth, which offered practical advice on discipline, maintaining standards, and personal organisation for those often disaffected individuals drawn to that side of politics. He sought to maintain an intellectual network with figures like Mircea Eliade, the religious scholar, who acknowledged Evola's influence on his ideas of comparative religion.

It is worth noting the paradox that while Evola, who was never a member of the fascist party, remained controversial and largely excluded from academia, figures like Carl Schmitt and Martin Heidegger, who were card-carrying members of the Nazi party, are still studied in universities. This disparity is attributed to Heidegger's immense and groundbreaking impact on continental philosophy, making him impossible to ignore, whereas Evola's thought, being antithetical to modern philosophical trends, is more easily dismissed. Additionally, Evola was not an academic professor and wrote in a poetic, declarative style akin to Nietzsche, which presents obstacles to his integration into formal academic curricula.

Evola continued to write prolifically throughout his later life, including major works such as Men Among the Ruins and Ride the Tiger, and his autobiography, The Path of Cinnabar, published towards the end of his life. He supported himself on an invalid's war pension, living modestly in his Rome attic. A fascinating anecdote from this period suggests he may have had an offspring, a son named Hector, from a brief relationship in Germany, a matter Evola himself dismissed.

Core Themes and Legacy

Evola's mature thought consistently articulated several key themes:

• Radical opposition to liberal capitalism: He viewed the "enemy" of tradition as equally embodied by America and the Bolsheviks, both representing a decline into materialism.
• Primacy of ideals over politics: For Evola, true politics derived from spiritual truths and metaphysics, not (Niccolò Machiavelli) Machiavellian strategising. He held a Platonic view of the state, believing its duty was to resemble an absolute, supra-physical ideal.
• Distinction between "Tradition" (capital T) and "tradition" (small t): The former refers to an ideal, perhaps never fully realised, transcendent principle, while the latter denotes specific historical manifestations, which could be either aligned or deviated from the greater Tradition.
• Transcendence beyond conventional religion: Evola sought a "real" truth, akin to the insights of mystics like Meister Eckhart, Buddhist practitioners, or Tantra yoga, independent of specific religious doctrines or labels.
• Radical Individualism: A consistent thread throughout his career, Evola's thought emphasised the individual's self-sufficiency and transcendence, often in stark contrast to collectivist ideologies.
• Critique of modern subversion: Evola identified Marxism, Freudianism (psychoanalysis), and Darwinism (evolutionary theory) as key "nodes of subversion" that undermined traditional ways of being. He abhorred the "psychologising" tendency of modernity, which he saw as excusing bourgeois behaviour and sapping enigma from life.
• Elitism and the rejection of mass movements: Evola believed that effective political change required a "concerted, organised tight-knit small group," rather than popular movements, which he considered easily manipulated.
• "Ride the Tiger": A philosophical approach suggesting that in the Kali Yuga (the dark age of decline), one must not fight against the currents of dissolution but rather "ride the tiger" by maintaining inner integrity, awaiting the inevitable collapse before a new cycle of rebirth can begin.
  • Hope for a "Constantine the Great" figure: Despite his pessimism about Western decline, Evola did not entirely abandon the possibility of a powerful individual emerging to lead a spiritual renewal.

Evola represents a unique intellectual figure in the 20th century, a complex and challenging thinker who lived through periods of immense societal upheaval. His uncompromising critiques of modernity and his esoteric vision continue to resonate with various intellectual and political currents.