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L'Art du chaos
A philosophical-poetic-political text divided into 13 parts: Chaos, Poetic Terrorism, Amour Fou, Wild Children, Paganism, Art Sabotage, The Assassins, Pyrontechnics, Chaos Myths, Pornography, Crime, Sorcery, & Advertisement.
427 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1984
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About the author
Peter Lamborn Wilson
80 books92 followersPeter Lamborn Wilson also writes under the pseudonym Hakim Bey.
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
June 11, 2008
This was probably one of the 1st bks I got from Bey, sent to me in trade. It's still probably my favorite. Bey, aka Peter Lambourne Wilson, has been a prominent figure in underground anarchist circles for decades. He's also been a very controversial one. He's been accused of being a child-molesting opportunist by at least one researcher - someone who uses anarchist philosophy to provide a safe climate for his sexual appetite for little boys. However, I've seen no evidence that Bey's sexual proclivities along those lines are anything other than fantasies. In other words, to my knowledge, no victims have ever surfaced.
He was also so popular as a political philosopher for a while, for coining terms like TAZ (Temporary Autonomous Zone), that Italian political thinkers published a bk of all Stalin quotes & published it as being by Bey/Wilson in Italy - apprently to as much critical acclaim as all of 'Bey/Wilson''s other bks. Their point? To show what uncritical idiots his readership was. At one point these same Italians even approached me for advice about who an appropriate English-language political writer wd be for writing another fake Bey/Wilson bk. I defended Bey/Wilson b/c I'd never personally had any bad experiences w/ him &, perhaps also, b/c this bk is so articulately written & full of ideas that I agree w/.
Let it be known that I have no idea whether Bey's ever had sex w/ young boys. Personally, I think providing kids w/ the most trauma-free upbringing is best & that that includes leaving them alone sexually. However, it seems to me that I've know at least a few gay men who had sex w/ adults when they were children & who seem to think the experience was fine from their adult perspective. So let them speak for themselves. On the other hand, I've never known a woman who had sex w/ an adult as a child who wasn't traumatized by it. Those reports alone are enuf to make me extremely wary.
But back to "Chaos". Here's a relevant sample from chapter 11: "Crime":
"Justice cannot be obtained under any Law - action in accord with spontaneous nature, action which is just, can not be defined by dogma. The crimes advocated in these broadsheets cannot be committed against self or other but only against the mordant crystallization of Ideas into structures of poisonous Thrones & Dominations.
That is, not crimes against nature or humanity but crimes by legal fiat. Sooner or later the uncovering & unveiling of self/nature transmogrifies a person into a brigand - like stepping into another world then returning to this one to discover you've been declared a traitor, heretic, exile."
He was also so popular as a political philosopher for a while, for coining terms like TAZ (Temporary Autonomous Zone), that Italian political thinkers published a bk of all Stalin quotes & published it as being by Bey/Wilson in Italy - apprently to as much critical acclaim as all of 'Bey/Wilson''s other bks. Their point? To show what uncritical idiots his readership was. At one point these same Italians even approached me for advice about who an appropriate English-language political writer wd be for writing another fake Bey/Wilson bk. I defended Bey/Wilson b/c I'd never personally had any bad experiences w/ him &, perhaps also, b/c this bk is so articulately written & full of ideas that I agree w/.
Let it be known that I have no idea whether Bey's ever had sex w/ young boys. Personally, I think providing kids w/ the most trauma-free upbringing is best & that that includes leaving them alone sexually. However, it seems to me that I've know at least a few gay men who had sex w/ adults when they were children & who seem to think the experience was fine from their adult perspective. So let them speak for themselves. On the other hand, I've never known a woman who had sex w/ an adult as a child who wasn't traumatized by it. Those reports alone are enuf to make me extremely wary.
But back to "Chaos". Here's a relevant sample from chapter 11: "Crime":
"Justice cannot be obtained under any Law - action in accord with spontaneous nature, action which is just, can not be defined by dogma. The crimes advocated in these broadsheets cannot be committed against self or other but only against the mordant crystallization of Ideas into structures of poisonous Thrones & Dominations.
That is, not crimes against nature or humanity but crimes by legal fiat. Sooner or later the uncovering & unveiling of self/nature transmogrifies a person into a brigand - like stepping into another world then returning to this one to discover you've been declared a traitor, heretic, exile."
November 30, 2019
""The ravers were among my biggest readers ... I wish they would rethink all this techno stuff — they didn't get that part of my writing."
Heads-up: the book goes very well with Techno raving :)
Masterpiece of memetically violent taoist anarchist poetic prose :) :) :)
Heads-up: the book goes very well with Techno raving :)
Masterpiece of memetically violent taoist anarchist poetic prose :) :) :)
August 4, 2017
Just a really nice collections of essay; the poetic manner in which they are written at is both methodically and aesthetically beneficial in many ways.
I read it as a part of my Hakim Bey/Post-Anarchism/Contemporary-Anarchism endeavours(?) grind.
I read it as a part of my Hakim Bey/Post-Anarchism/Contemporary-Anarchism endeavours(?) grind.
August 20, 2019
Zaujímavé.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews