Talking to the Wolf: The Alexander Dugin Interviews

by Nicholas Rooney

Talking to the Wolf is an insightful and stimulating collection of interviews with Russian geopolitical philosopher Alexander Dugin, many of which appear in Nicholas Rooney’s fascinating 2022 film documentary The Wolf in the Moonlight. In this book, Rooney offers us these conversations in an unfiltered way. Unhampered by the demands of film editing, he shows us ‘the extended version’. Talking to the Wolf allows us to hear Dugin expound at length on many sensitive subjects, including the conflict in Ukraine, Russian geopolitical destiny, ancient Slavic history, Eurasianism, the Orthodox Church, the poison of Western liberalism, the failures of Fascism and Communism, as well as Dugin’s synthesis of Logos philosophy.

Talking to the Wolf is unique in that we see Dugin approaching these subjects on a personal level and in an informal tone, which distinguishes it from Dugin’s more professional, academic work. In that way, the book also serves as a readable introduction to Dugin as a whole; his philosophy, his politics, and his spirituality. Both the novice to Dugin literature and the well-read expert will thoroughly enjoy this new material. Most importantly, readers can bypass the anti-traditionalist attacks against Dugin and hear the man — up close and personal — for themselves. As Dugin remains one of the most censored authors in Western media, Talking to the Wolf is a timely and crucial contribution to cross-cultural dialogue.

619 pages, Kindle Edition

Published May 26, 2024

Reviews

[Lucas]

Talking to the Wolf by Nicholas Rooney presents an engaging yet uneven exploration of the philosophy and worldview of Alexander Dugin, a thinker often regarded as one of the most provocative and polarizing figures in contemporary geopolitics. The book's strength lies in its ability to provide a rare and direct encounter with Dugin's ideas, which challenge the hegemony of Western liberal thought and offer an alternative rooted in Russian and Eurasian perspectives. Topics such as the war in Ukraine, critiques of liberalism, and the spiritual underpinnings of Russian geopolitics are addressed with a level of intellectual intensity that can be both stimulating and unsettling. Dugin’s passion and unorthodox approach are evident throughout, and for readers seeking fresh insights into global dynamics, this book delivers a unique lens.

However, the lack of structural coherence in the conversations diminishes the book's effectiveness, especially for readers new to Dugin's ideas. Topics are introduced, abandoned, and revisited in a manner that feels fragmented, often forcing the reader to work harder than necessary to grasp the overarching themes. The conversational format, while personal and accessible, can veer into verbosity and repetition, making it difficult to follow Dugin’s complex arguments without prior familiarity with his work. For a philosopher whose ideas are already challenging to contextualize, the absence of editorial guidance or explanatory notes is a significant drawback.

The book’s presence on platforms like Amazon is notable but highlights the limited accessibility of Dugin’s work in the West. As the only widely available introduction to his thought, Talking to the Wolf is better than nothing, but it falls short of being a definitive entry point. Readers interested in exploring Dugin’s philosophy in greater depth would benefit from following this book with more structured works, such as The Fourth Political Theory. In summary, while the book offers glimpses of Dugin’s provocative intellectual world, its shortcomings in structure and clarity limit its potential impact, earning it a 3/5.

[Mugen]

This book is a collection of interviews with philosopher Alexander Dugin during the year 2018. The greatest strength (or greatest weakness for some) is that the pace of discussion covers a vast array of topics and covers many realms such as philosophy, geopolitics, religion, and so much more. There is also plenty of more lighthearted and maybe sometimes comical discussions mixed in between the deep and serious. The author also included his lectures on Indian and Eastern European logos which takes a brief step away from the interview format.

I personally was able to see a side of Dugin I have never seen before. Read this book if you want to learn more about Dugin as a person and as the intellectual representative of multipolarity he is known as today.