Rivarol: massime di un conservatore

by Ernst Jünger, Brunello Lotti (Translator), Marcello Monaldi (Translator)

Nato nel 1753, fuggiasco da Parigi nel 1792, esule in Belgio fino al 1794, poi in Germania dove morì nel 1801, Antoine de Rivarol appartiene a pieno diritto alla folta e scintillante schiera dei moralisti francesi. Su Jünger, che lo ha tradotto in tedesco e ha curato questa scelta di massime, ha esercitato una forte attrazione. Per lui, Rivarol è lo scrittore che in nome dei valori formali ha rischiato la frammentarietà, l'incompletezza, che ha costantemente perseguito la perfezione stilistica, toccandola spesso nella concisione delle sue massime, delle sue definizioni. È il dandy, capace però di scelte assolute, mai riducibili a una religione dell'apparenza. È, soprattutto, il "pensatore della conservazione" in un'epoca rivoluzionaria.

Genres: Philosophy

131 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1956

About the author

Ernst Jünger was a decorated German soldier and author who became famous for his World War I memoir Storm of Steel. The son of a successful businessman and chemist, Jünger rebelled against an affluent upbringing and sought adventure in the Wandervogel, before running away to briefly serve in the French Foreign Legion, an illegal act. Because he escaped prosecution in Germany due to his father's efforts, Junger was able to enlist on the outbreak of war. A fearless leader who admired bravery above all else, he enthusiastically participated in actions in which his units were sometimes virtually annihilated. During an ill-fated German offensive in 1918 Junger's WW1 career ended with the last and most serious of his many woundings, and he was awarded the Pour le Mérite, a rare decoration for one of his rank.

Junger served in World War II as captain in the German Army. Assigned to an administrative position in Paris, he socialized with prominent artists of the day such as Picasso and Jean Cocteau. His early time in France is described in his diary Gärten und Straßen (1942, Gardens and Streets). He was also in charge of executing younger German soldiers who had deserted. In his book Un Allemand à Paris , the writer Gerhard Heller states that he had been interested in learning how a person reacts to death under such circumstances and had a morbid fascination for the subject.

Jünger appears on the fringes of the Stauffenberg bomb plot to assassinate Adolf Hitler (July 20, 1944). He was clearly an inspiration to anti-Nazi conservatives in the German Army, and while in Paris he was close to the old, mostly Prussian, officers who carried out the assassination attempt against Hitler. He was only peripherally involved in the events however, and in the aftermath suffered only dismissal from the army in the summer of 1944, rather than execution.

In the aftermath of WW2 he was treated with some suspicion as a closet Nazi. By the latter stages of the Cold War his unorthodox writings about the impact of materialism in modern society were widely seen as conservative rather than radical nationalist, and his philosophical works came to be highly regarded in mainstream German circles. Junger ended his extremely long life as a honoured establishment figure, although critics continued to charge him with the glorification of war as a transcending experience.

Reviews

[Qdin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wir finden bei Rivarol den Wunsch, die Verbindung mit der Vergangenheit zu bewahren und auf den Grundrissen der alten Kultur weiterzubauen.


Rivarols Absicht ist, das Immergültige aus der historischen Masse zu befreien, so wie man das reine Erz aus den Gesteinen schmilzt. Dem folgt die Prägung, die seinen Sätzen den Münzcharakter gibt. Ihr Wert liegt, mehr noch als in Bild und Wappen, im echten und ausgewogenen Metall.
Das Konservative ist nicht ein Hängen an dem, was gestern war, sondern ein Leben aus dem, was immer gilt.

Die Mannszucht soll wie ein Schild wiegen, nicht wie ein Joch.