The Garden of Peculiarities

by Jesús Sepúlveda, Daniel Montero (Translator)

Sepúlveda is a Chilean green anarchist with roots in Spain, Italy and Eugene, Oregon. His important work is both critical and inspirational, a human and plant-centred antidote to the globalist technocracy. Already published in Spanish, Portuguese and Italian editions, The Garden of Peculiarities is considered by major anarchist thinkers to be the primary 21st century anarchist essay, in the way that Guy Debord's Society of the Spectacle influenced political thought in the late 20th century.

Genres: Philosophy, Nonfiction, Politics

143 pages, Paperback

First published November 1, 2005

Reviews

[Eric Komosa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Found this at Quimby's in Chicago. The cover is so elegant and displays the first page of text. Awesome: like Eggers, but not self-conscious. Honestly, I only read 30 pages of this one. It's neo-primitivist essays. Started making me feel crazy in a good way. Our usual interpretations of reality are wildly distorted. Obvious, perhaps, but the writing made me viscerally aware of the fact. I stopped reading so I wouldn't feel any crazier, but soon I'll go back to it.

[Ryan Mishap · Rating 4 out of 5]

"The contradiction between revolution and reform is not quite accurate; it certainly varies according to the state of the perpetual present. An individual is revolutionary only when there is revolution; the rest of the time he or she resists or provokes authority."

This nifty little book is a provocation to authority, sure, but mostly to the rest of us. Ranging from academic ("reification", etc)to poetic, Sepulveda provides short chapters, each devoted to a theme.

Domestication. Standardization. Killing the planet. Civilization does and consists of these and many other ailments that Sepulveda describes in ways that make it easy to understand (from didactic to beautiful in the turn of a phrase).

In opposition to and defiance of civilization's standardization, there is the Garden, as it was in pre-history, but also how it can be for us now. Every living thing is peculiar, is a peculiarity that can't be standardized. Thus the message in the title: each living being living free and in cooperation with each other and what the planet can sustainably provide.

Get this for your anarchist friends who think primitivism or anti-civ anarchy is full of shit. Then pass it onto your relatives.
"Language is, therefore, a tool of indoctrination, but also a weapon of liberation."

Capter 45 on identity.

[Will · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lots of incredibly sharp insights and observations about humanity's alienation from itself and the natural world, but these are delivered in a highly clunky and unfocused manner despite its brevity. I don't know the extent to which this is a problem of translation, but large chunks of this poetic manifesto are actually very unpoetic and bland. There are some bold claims with no sources; at one point Aboriginal Australians are claimed to telepathically communicate over long distances, and I don't know whether this is a mistranslation, a metaphor, or colonial new age quackery. The last segment of the book is also pretty weak. I dont regret reading it but I admit I was somewhat disappointed.

[miranda meriwether · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read this book. If you see this...read this book.

[rachel misfiticus · Rating 2 out of 5]

The beginning pseudo-manifesto chapters were a bit redundant. The one on "State" and the one on the "Notion of race" were memorable. Towards the end the chapters tend to speak of more history.

"In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries the doctors at some European courts prescribed a diet of human organs to cure certain diseases. Organ banks were not uncommon during that epoch, and neither were the executions that were necessary to fill the storehouses with kidneys, livers, intestines and other human parts needed to satisfy the appetites of courtiers hungry to cure what ailed them."

I liked the format of the book.

[chelsea · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sepulveda ties together a lot of radical concepts and critiques in a way that is really engaging and beautiful. I especially like what he has to say about art because it has been something that I've thought about a lot. He says that the minute art is separate from "life" (as in daily lived experiences I assume) it is spectacular and reifying. Overall it's a great book for generating ideas.

[Carrie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I want to believe.

[Brendan · Rating 5 out of 5]

An interesting, thoughtful analysis of the problems of modern society, and the potential solutions needed to stop the destruction of the planet.

[Jamie · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is awesome.