Verso il nulla creatore

by Renzo Novatore, Alfredo M. Bonanno (Foreword)

Renzo Novatore (Arcola, La Spezia, 12 Maggio 1890 - Teglia, Genova, 29 Novembre 1922) è uno pseudonimo, uno dei tanti, di Abele Ricieri Ferrari. È stato un anarchico individualista italiano, soprannominato "Il soldato del sogno", un filosofo, poeta e un antifascista.

"Leggere Novatore è un’impresa. I motivi per cui, oggi, si viene respinti dalla lettura di un testo come quello che presentiamo qui di seguito sono parecchi e tutti paralleli ai motivi, altrettanto numerosi, per cui se ne rimane affascinati.

Il disgusto deriva dal modo di scrivere, dalle infiorettature stilistiche, dalle assordanti ripetizioni, dalla retorica tratta per i capelli a servire da strame per lo sbocciare di un fiore ormai fuori del tempo. Il fascino viene da quello che il lettore ricorda – il lettore provveduto, non quello accidentale – della vita di questo ribelle, morto con le armi in pugno in un conflitto a fuoco contro i carabinieri che volevano catturarlo.

Ma una vita bella, e certamente la sua lo fu, una vita “contro”: contro la guerra, contro i fascisti che della guerra furono gli esecutori testamentari, contro i padroni che mandarono i proletari a morire in un sanguinoso quanto assurdo conflitto e poi gestirono i fantocci fascisti per mettere paura alle giuste rivendicazioni dei sopravvissuti, una vita bella, dicevo, non è detto che possa trovare riscontro in belle pagine scritte. Il motivo è lo stesso per cui belle pagine sono state scritte da assurdi pagliacci sbrodoloni, come quel D’Annunzio che qui se non proprio di casa sta acquattato dietro le quinte.

Eppure le parole di Novatore meritano una riflessione, mentre non meritano l’entusiasmo di sprovveduti lettori che trovano in esse esattamente quello che non c’è, che il suo autore, quasi certamente (di questo non si può mai essere sicuri), non voleva che ci fosse. Il fatto è che la madre degli imbecilli purtroppo è sempre gravida."

Genres: Philosophy, Poetry, Politics, Anarchism, Nonfiction, Ebooks, Theory

64 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1921

About the author

Renzo Novatore is the pen-name of Abele Rizieri Ferrari (May 12, 1890 – November 29, 1922), an Italian individualist anarchist, illegalist and anti-fascist poet, philosopher and militant, now mostly known for his posthumously published book Toward the Creative Nothing (Verso il nulla creatore) and associated with left wing futurism. His thought is influenced by Max Stirner, Friedrich Nietzsche, Georges Palante, Oscar Wilde, Henrik Ibsen, Arthur Schopenhauer and Charles Baudelaire.

Reviews

[Captain Curmudgeon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dude is kind of delusional and pompous in many instances..Also, he strikes me as a bit too romantic, though I like romantic writers. However, its pretty well written and poetic for an anarchist of this time and I think this anarchist even practiced proper hygiene! What a break from the irony that currently floods every aspect of everything in art, culture, and politics. Lots of allusions to Nietzsche and bible shit. Rips into democracy and socialism (Socialism around the time of the Bolshevik Revolution in Russia, foreshadowing the outcome of the USSR accurately). It's funny to look back on all these political writers and see how much passion and drive they had to change the world and no one gave a shit and then they got shot by some fascists or died in a puddle of their own vomit....Yep, thank god for mediocrity, laziness, stagnation, apathy, obedience, conformity, and the use of technology as a means to "progress" human civilization. I mean the evidence is clear of institutionalized progress. Look at our schools, look at social networking, talk to friends, watch the latest hit Television show, go to a college campus, or read the latest number one best selling book..... Don't you feel enlightened? Don't you feel like you are progressing and evolving? Yes, we have certainly come along way from the Greeks...But here we are, enlightened! Who would have thought...

Now if you don't mind I have to stare at facebook.com for 2 hours, giving quirky, positive, comments to ensure that my friends are happy and to make sure not to hurt anyone's feelings nor put any questions or negative comments on their posts while maintaining a some what "rebellious"/misanthropic posture. Yes, pictures of kittens with banal parables assuring me that "everything is OK" and "Just go with the flow, man" and short pseudo-science lessons and showing me every detail of every aspect of their lives down to what they had for dinner and what that shit looked like after. Giving me excellent relationship advice by stating "making out is fun".... Then I will progressively feel lonely, watch porn, and pass out in a puddle of my own semen, and waking up to a job I hate....Yes, life is worth living; modern man is an exciting, bore-less feast of fun....

Quotes that you wont look at; nor care about....

"Then socialism—as skillful acrobat and practical juggler—took a
leap ahead. He jumped on the tight wire of sentimental political
speculation, his brow encircled in black, and, aching and weeping
more or less this way, said, “I am the true enemy of violence. I am
the enemy of war, and also the enemy of revolution. I am the enemy
of blood.”
And after having spoken again of “peace” and of “equality”, of
“faith” and of “martyrdom”, of “humanity” and of “the future”, he
intoned a song on the motifs of the “yes” and of the “no”, bowed his
head and wept.
He wept the tears of Judas, which are not even the “I wash my
hands of it” of Pilate.
And the frogs departed…
They departed toward the realm of supreme human baseness.
They departed toward the mud of all the trenches.
They departed…
And death came!
It came drunk on blood and danced horribly in the world.
For five long years…
It was then that the great vagabonds of the spirit, taken with a new
disgust, rode their free eagles once more to soar dizzily in the
solitude of their distant glaciers to laugh and curse."

"The human frogs knew neither how to distinguish their own
enemy nor how to fight for their own ideas. (The frogs have no
ideas!)
And neither recognizing their enemies nor having their own ideas,
they fought for the bellies of their brothers in Christ, for their equals
in democracy."

"the “cause for which he fought.
But he said neither “yes” nor “no”.
He departed!
From cowardice!
Like always!
He departed…
He went toward death!…
Without knowing why.
Like always.
And death came…
It came to dance in the world for five long years!
And it danced hideously in the muddy trenches of all parts of the
world."

"What an idiotic thing to die without knowing why…"

"Our thunderbolt could unhinge the present reality, rip open the
door to the unknown mystery of our longed-for dream and show the
supreme beauty of the liberated man. "

"I look around me, but I see only vulgar pornography and false
cynicism…
At least we could have been given a Homer of art, and a Napoleon
of the acts of war.
A man who could have had the strength to destroy an epoch, to
create a new history…
But nothing!
The war has given us neither great singers nor great rulers.
Only lying ghosts and grim parodies. "

"An epoch of disintegration.
Collectivism is dying and individualism has not yet taken hold.
Nobody knows how to obey, nobody knows how to command.
But given all this, knowing how to live free, this is still at present
an abyss.
An abyss that can only be filled up with the corpse of slavery and
that of authority.
The war could not fill up this abyss. It could only dig it deeper.
But what the war could not do, revolution must do."

"We fight for the liberation of the individual.
For the conquest of life.
For the triumph of our idea.
For the realization of our dreams.
And if our ideas are dangerous, it is because we are those who
love to live dangerously.
And if our dreams are mad, it is because we are mad.
But our madness is supreme wisdom.
But our ideas are the heart of life; but our thoughts are the beacons
of humanity"

"But if Socrates and Christ by their senseless deaths had to undergo
horrendous bloody suffering, then wouldn’t all revolutions fought in
their names be equally bloody and senseless? The victory of
Christianity over the enviable paganism, the establishment of
republics, the conquests of empires, the liberal, constitutional or
absolute monarchies and democracies—were they not all
consequences of the bloody torrents of war and revolution? The
violent pulse of all revolutions fought in the name of ancient
phantoms in order to erect new phantoms… "

"You are waiting for the revolution? Let it be! My own began a
long time ago! When you are ready (god, what an endless wait!) I
won’t mind going with you for a while. But when you stop, I shall
continue on my way toward the great and sublime conquest of the
nothing!"

"Any society that you build will have its limits. And outside the
limits of any society, unruly and heroic tramps will wander with
their wild and virgin thoughts—those who cannot live without
planning ever new and dreadful outbursts of rebellion! I shall be
among them!"

"And after me, as before me, there will be those saying to their
fellows: “So turn to yourselves rather than to your gods and idols.
Find what hides within you and bring it to the light; show
yourselves!”

"Because every person who, searching his own inwardness,
extracts what was mysteriously hidden therein is a shadow eclipsing
any form of society which can exist under the sun! "

[deshret · Rating 5 out of 5]

To live forever transcendentally

[Laszlo · Rating 4 out of 5]

“We absolutely feel we are beyond all isms and theories. We will suppress the works of all nitwits and all scribblers who, by affiliating with the schools of the avant-garde, try to impose themselves on more original minds. We will absolutely refuse all works of purely technical virtuosity unless they serve to express an aesthetic rebellion. Dark, virgin. forces, laughing ravagers of the impossible, audacious explorers of the highest peaks and of the abyss, let’s thunder our howl of beauty to squash the verminous swarms of the stinking feeble-minded.”

Novatore goes on a ranting rampage against every possible -ism imaginable to man that controls his life and mind and calls forth from the heavens the Dionysian offensive of 'unique ones' of those, by individualist-egoist standards, true Egoists, that have accessed and unleashed their selves on the world and shatter it into an abyss where the Ego can thrive, hooting and hollering as they go.

The poetic style is very pompous and romantic, a lot of fire has been poured into the pages and considering his life of violence and crime, he definitely had a lot of fire to give both in action and in theory. It does get however overtly cumbersome in its grandeur, it feels almost like you are reading the text of a blood orgy, where the high priest is ready to sacrifice virgins to the Antichrist and end the world. In fact, Satanic is a pretty good word to describe the text. Its nihilistic qualities infused by references to Nietzsche, coupled with his calls for violence, destruction and release of one's inner powers, sure carry some sensual cabalistic overtones , hooded wearing acolyte vibes, which adds to the ghoulish nature of the text, amplifies its romanticism but takes away from the political value of the text.

Novatore suffers from the same malady as most individualist anarchists, they worship the flame of the self, delcare themselves free of abstractions and hail the powers of their ego. In doing so, they become moths to the flame, they batter away at it hitting themselves on everything around them in trying to get to its warmth and light. For some, it's the journey of Icarus all over again, for others it's an incoherent ramble of force that ends up in cheap, lazy intellectualism and/or excuses to be an asshole to other people, denying the basic tendency of humans , a tendency part of the self for solidarity and communion and of the ways the self can grow and be nurtured around others, without a need for selfishness.

Camus best summed it up when discussing Sade in his book 'The Rebel' Sade, much like Novatore, represented a hedonistic, libertarian aristocracy, who damned the world, isolated itself in a castle and proceeded to relish on the pleasures of life and deny, mock and disdain the order of society. In doing so it spiraled down the path of lunacy, Sade would have fucked the planet if he could, in fact he would have copulated and sought pleasure out of anything imaginable, no holds barred, and in doing so gave in to his obsession. Selfish, delusional, destructive and finally evil if left unchecked, for what is the limit of pleasure or for that matter the limit of the desires and will of the self, cruelty seems admissable to Novatore, what else?

However, Novatore and other individualists are a healthy reminder of the power we hold within ourselves, of our potential and the radiance of this, a divinity we hold within ourselves in the worlds of our emotions, intellect and spirituality, a reminder against the tyrannies of the collective, of ideologies and of society and of the importance of reinforcing the self as we navigate the troubled waters of a world that seeks to diminish us and turn is into lifeless automated numbers.

[Fortuna · Rating 5 out of 5]

Renzo makes Stirner sound like a liberal. I was taught that the sublime is "that which terrifies yet entices you" (lo que te asusta, pero te gusta). In that sense, Renzo's writings do not only reach the peak of the sublime, they have thrown themselves off of it into the abyss, caring not for what stands at the top of the world. For what is there at the apex? Nothing. What lies at the bottom of the abyss, towards which the nihilist throws himself freely? All the same - nothing. It is only in the struggle for nothing that everything exists, and it is in this endless struggle that the unique can show themselves (for flaunting anything to the world of frogs and toads is as vain as it is meaningless) what they are truly worth: everything or nothing.

[alexa · Rating 5 out of 5]

who is, who ever is the genius who has known how to bend himself with love and faithfulness over the open wounds in the living flesh of life...

[Siemen · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm conflicted about this work since i agree with the nihilist positions Novatore holds, there seems to be some essentialism left in his writing.
His futuristic style also hints toward an accelerationism i despise, although that might be my 21st century brain.
It's sometimes difficult to recognize the intent behind his words, but i don't read poetry often.

[Noelia · Rating 4 out of 5]

me trae loka este libro porque no me cuadra nada y no puedo dejar de pensar Vaya Tela con algunas cosas q suelta... pero me seduce completamente palabra a palabra .. es como cuando me sale un video del peldaños lo odio con todo mi ser pero tengo q verlo porque disfruto el asco que me da

[The Creative Nothing · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is amazing and extremely insightful. So much energy! I would give this book more than 5 stars if I could!

[Static · Rating 3 out of 5]

Renzo Novatore está a media tarde mala de convertirse en el Joker. Aun así, la obra tiene alguna frase guapa.

[Elizabeth · Rating 4 out of 5]

Favorite/interesting quotes:

"But under the false splendor of democratic civilization, higher spiritual values have fallen, shattered. Willful strength, barbarous individuality, free art, heroism, genius, poetry have been scorned, mocked, slandered."

"The war against the human individual was begun by Christ in the name of god, was developed by democracy in the name of society and threatens to complete itself in socialism in the name of humanity. If we do not know in time how to destroy these three absurd as well as dangerous phantoms, the individual will be inexorably lost."

"And if Christ symbolizes the weariness of life, the sunset of thought: the death of the idea! The Antichrist symbolizes the instinct of life. He symbolizes the resurrection of thought. The Antichrist is the symbol of a new dawn."

"But the poison that socialism spread was not the powerful poison capable of giving heroic virtue to anyone who drank it. No: it was not the radical poison capable of performing the miracle that elevates the human mind — transfiguring it and freeing it. Rather it was a hybrid blend of 'yes' and 'no'. A livid mixture of 'authority' and 'faith', of 'state' and of 'the future'."

"With Karl Marx the human mind descended into the intestines. The roar that passes through the world today is a belly roar."

"Collectivism is dying and individualism has not yet taken hold. Nobody knows how to obey, nobody knows how to command. But given all this, knowing how to live free, this is still at present an abyss. An abyss that can only be filled up with the corpse of slavery and that of authority."

"We fight for the liberation of the individual. For the conquest of life. For the triumph of our idea. For the realization of our dreams. And if our ideas are dangerous, it is because we are those who love to live dangerously. And if our dreams are mad, it is because we are mad. But our madness is supreme wisdom. But our ideas are the heart of life; but our thoughts are the beacons of humanity. And what the war has not done, revolution must do. Because revolution is the fire of our will and a need of our solitary minds; it is an obligation of the libertarian aristocracy. To create new ethical values. To create new aesthetic values. To communalize material wealth. To individualize spiritual wealth."

"The human spirit is divided into three streams: The stream of slavery, the stream of tyranny, the stream of freedom! With revolution, the last of these streams needs to burst upon the other two and overwhelm them."

"We must set our endeavor to transform the revolution that advances into 'anarchist crime', in order to push humanity beyond the state, beyond socialism. Toward Anarchy!"

"For you, great things are in good as in evil. But we live beyond good and evil, because all that is great belongs to beauty. Even 'crime'. Even 'perversity'. Even 'sorrow'."

"Democratic civilization turns toward the grave. Bourgeois and plebeian society is shattered fatally, inexorably! The fascist phenomenon is the most certain and irrefutable proof of it."

"Fascism is nothing but the convulsive and cruel pang of a plebeian society, emasculated and vulgar, that agonizes tragically drowned in the quagmire of its flaws and of its own lies."

"We want to celebrate the social dusk in this twilight of bourgeois society so that the final black night is made vermillion with blood. Because the children of the dawn must be born of blood… Because the monsters of the darkness must be killed by dawn…"

"We will destroy laughing. We will set fires laughing. We will kill laughing. We will expropriate laughing. And society will fall. The fatherland will fall. The family will fall. All will fall after the free man is born."

"As the poet transforms his lyre into a dagger! As the philosopher transforms his probe into a bomb! As the fisherman transforms his oar into a formidable ax. As the miner comes up from the unbearable caves of the dark mines armed with his shining iron. As the farmer transforms his fruitful spade into a war lance. As the laborer transforms his hammer into a scythe and cleaver. And forward, forward, forward."

“We absolutely feel we are beyond all isms and theories. We will suppress the works of all nitwits and all scribblers who, by affiliating with the schools of the avant-garde, try to impose themselves on more original minds. We will absolutely refuse all works of purely technical virtuosity unless they serve to express an aesthetic rebellion."

"History, materialism, monism, positivism and all the isms of this world are old and rusty tools which I don’t need or mind anymore. My principle is life and my end is death. I wish to live my life intensely and embrace my death tragically."

[Craven]

Poetic anarcho ranting and raving. Novatore was a anarcho-individualist or some shit like that. It's all grandiose blowing about of living free and stuff, with very little of the actual theory that the author so proudly shouts about actually brought to the table. That's OK by me because I hate reading theory. But I also had trouble taking this seriously, or maybe I took it seriously but just couldn't get much out of it other than an appreciation of the authors use of language. You know, I have no real idea why this ended up on my booklist at all. Which is the only reason why I read it. Hell, at least I know why I read it. It's not bad, though. If this is your kind of thing or if it's not and for some reason you picked it up anyway, like I did.

[Rohan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Brutal yet poetic disruption! I'm not sure if it can be the anarchist's handbook but it sure is inspiring without being discriminatory in its disgust of the world orders set by self-righteous systems including Christianity, Socialism and Fascism. Renzo sure is prescient and perennially topical given the patterns of human nature and consequent behaviour.

[Chely Maranto · Rating 5 out of 5]

Poético manifesto.