Counter-Currents
Remembering René Guénon:
November 15, 1886–January 7, 1951
Greg Johnson
389 words
René Guénon was born on November 15, 1886. Along with Julius Evola, Guénon was one of the leading figures in the Traditionalist school, which has deeply influenced my own outlook and the metapolitical mission and editorial agenda of Counter-Currents Publishing and North American New Right. (For a sense of my differences with Guénon, see my lecture on “Vico and the New Right.”)
In commemoration of his birth, I wish to draw your attention to the following works on this website.
- Michael Bell, “Man’s Devolution Across Cycles.” (Czech translation here)
- Thomas F. Bertonneau, “The Kali Yuga: René Guénon’s Critique of Modernity.”
- Collin Cleary, “Heidegger Against the Traditionalists.” (Greek translation here)
- Coomeraswamy, “Towards a Right-Wing Critical Theory.”
- Alain de Benoist, “Spiritual Authority and Temporal Power,” trans. Jon Graham
- Julius Evola, “René Guénon and Integral Traditionalism.”
- Julius Evola, “René Guénon: East and West,” trans. anonymous, rev. Greg Johnson
- Jonatán Gődény, “The Great Parody.”
- Greg Johnson, “Mircea Eliade, Carl Schmitt, and René Guénon.”
- Greg Johnson, “Metapolitics and Occult Warfare.” (French translation here, Spanish version here)
- James J. O’Meara, “Hook, Line, and Sinker: Steve Bannon and the Usual Suspects.”
- Edouard Rix, “Remembering René Guénon,” trans. Greg Johnson (Czech version here.)
- Harry Oldmeadow, “Biography of René Guénon.”
- Savitri Devi, “Hitlerian Esotericism & the Tradition.”
- “Interview with Charles Upton,” Part 1, Part 2
- Charles Upton, “Spiritual Warfare,” Part 1
You can buy Julius Evola’s East & West here.
This relative handful of articles does not give a true sense of Guénon’s importance, for along with Evola, Nietzsche, and Spengler, he is also one of the most widely mentioned thinkers on this site. It is a presence, and an influence, that will only grow in time.
Those looking for an introduction to Guénon’s work should begin with the short and relatively accessible The Crisis of the Modern World. For a judicious overview of Guénon’s works, see The Essential René Guénon: Metaphysics, Tradition, and the Crisis of Modernity. My personal favorite among Guénon’s books, and the one the provides the most “empirical” access to the idea of Tradition, is Symbols of Sacred Science.
For a brief biography of Guénon, see Robin Waterfield, René Guénon and the Future of the West: The Life and Writings of a 20th-Century Metaphysician and Paul Chacornac’s The Simple Life of René Guénon. For an interesting and readable historical/journalistic account of Traditionalism, see Mark Sedgwick, Against the Modern World: Traditionalism and the Secret Intellectual History of the Twentieth Century.
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4 comments
Thanks for sharing this Greg. I was wondering where Kathryn S. has been?
Greg, do you have any plans to publish a Guenon anthology like you have for Evola?
Thank you. René Guénon is a very important figure. In a time of great confusion, he brought metaphysics back to its simple essentials, showing the middle ground between materialistic atheism and the sterile, formal religion of much of mainstream Christianity in the white world. His eventual relocation to Egypt and personal turn towards Islam is incompatible with a white perspective, however, much of his writing can be combined with a white religious tradition (whether Christian or pre-Christian or, ideally, both) to form the basis for a new, European spiritual rebirth (and other thinkers, such as Heidegger, are crucial here).
Indeed! Let not the “conversion” issue, one which he himself described as “due to a personal equation”, deter any seriously minded White man from delving into his ouvre. Geunon is, as Evola called him, truly a teacher for the modern world, and any time spent reading his works is greatly rewarded.
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