Jonathan Bowden- Nietzschean Powerhouse

My first contact with the work of Jonathan Bowden was the result of an internet search while researching leftist ideology. At the time, I was deprogramming myself after years of university mind-warping, during which time I learned nothing of any value, only how to repeat back to my tutors the current approved slogans.

 As I listened to Bowden’s oration “Marxism and The Frankfurt School” I knew I had stumbled upon an authentic, dynamic intellectual, unlike the system hacks, dilettantes and charlatans of the so-called education institutions. The delivery was flawless, without “ums” or “ers”, malapropisms or inaccuracies.

 After diligently re-listening several times to the dense and intense intellectual barrage which was Jonathan’s lecture and making detailed notes I decided to e-mail the great man and forward my appreciation of his work. Later that day he replied, asking for my address as he wanted to send me a copy of his book “Apocalypse TV”, a fictional dialogue between a traditional Christian and a pagan on the crisis of our times.

Thoroughly inspired by his work I decided to contact the local branch of a certain reactionary party he was associated with during that period. In a short time after receiving the book I was extremely delighted to be informed via text message that Jonathan was giving a speech near to my home town. The surreptitious way in which we met at a supermarket car park which functioned as a re-direction point added to my already excited mindset, I felt like a teenager going to a metal concert for the first time. …read more

The Initiate – Journal of Traditional Studies (Review)

As it is written at the ARKTOS web-site: The Initiate is a journal which offers a forum to serious writing on traditionalism, spirituality and related topics, seeking to restore something of the lost wisdom of our ancestors to the modern world.

In the past there were many traditionalist editions, magazines, publications. Nowadays people read less and what is even worse – they read less by quality while quantity can remain the same (social network messages can contain lots of text). So I was very happy that in our digital world which is overwhelmed by useless information, such edition as The Initiate was created. There must be a platform for the traditionalists and people who oppose modern world to share their knowledge, experience, thoughts.  By the intuition I thought that The Initiate is in fact this platform. And my thoughts approved when I received the magazine.

In Ukraine we have problems both with book-publishing industry and the translations. Many important works were not translated to Ukrainian. Even now when we witness the rising interest in the traditionalist thought at academic field, there are no Ukrainian translations of Rene Guenon, Julius Evola and other thinkers (whom we can now call classics).  So Ukrainian researchers and traditionalists have to use Russian translations, which are also not so easy to find and sometimes they lack quality (i.e. some of the Guenon’s translations). Of course it’s easier for those who are fluent in other languages; it’s easy to order books from the internet or sometimes just to find the needed texts online.  But French, German, Italian are not so widely spoken by Ukrainians as English. Nowadays many young Ukrainians speak English well and many are fluent in it. That’s why English books and translations give us another access to the texts, which sometimes have no Russian translation. The Arktos is a great example of successful base which not only provides the classic books but also publishes new ones. One can dislike or reject the value of English language but it is the fact that it is most spoken international language and the suitable mean of communication for many traditionalists. …read more