Rants and Incendiary Tracts: Voices of Desperate Illuminations : 1558-Present

by Bob Black (Editor), Adam Parfrey (Editor)

Gathers essays that depict radical political positions from John Knox and Jean Paul Marat to Timothy Leary and Hakim Bey

Genres: Philosophy, Politics

240 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1989

Reviews

[Michael · Rating 4 out of 5]

I recall that when I first heard of this book, it was to be a collaboration between Adam Parfrey and my friend Peter Lamborn Wilson. Peter left the project early on, I think because he disagreed with Parfrey as to what the value of a rant was, and because Parfrey wanted to include racists and the mindlessly violent alongside those whose flights from logic took them to more rarefied and beautiful places. Parfrey replaced him with Bob Black, who probably wasn't as particular, but did do an adequate job of introducing the anarchist stuff that Parfrey couldn't have done justice to. One or two of Peter's intros made the final cut.

Overall, the value of this book is in introducing folks with college degrees who are used to all the high-falutin' standards of critical thinking to examples of radicalism "from the gut." As such, it stays away from the more intellectual material and goes for the gusto. It gives one the chance to see that the crazies have always been out there - sometimes prophetic, sometimes wiser than they at first seemed, nearly always amusing. Some names will be familiar: Max Stirner, the Marquis de Sade, Anton LaVey; others should be more familiar than they are: Louis Lingg, Kerry Thornley, Louis-Ferdinand Celine; and others are fascinating in their obscurity: Captain Bellamy, Gerry Reith, Renzo Novatore. Satanists will be interested to see the actual source of the plagiarized section of the _Satanic Bible_: Ragnar Redbeard's 1896 publication "Might is Right!" The famous SCUM (Society for Cutting Up Men) Manifesto by Valerie Solanas is also included, as is Sergei Nechayev's oft-translated "Revolutionary's Catechism." Many of these sources can be found easily online today, but having them crowded together in one book vying for the soapbox can be useful.

[Napoleon Brousseau · Rating 5 out of 5]

Suspend your 2013 political correctness and hear the words of the anarchists, nihilists, murderers, libertarians, ludites, satanists. Not your usual read, something that I picked up at the Anarchists Book Shop in San Francisco years ago and it stuck to my shelf. Sometimes it is good to know what goes on in the mind of those that have drop their composure to reveal there fury and guile in the form of words, many times on the gallows after carrying out heinous crimes against there fellow humans.
Strong stomach and a degree of separation, a very different and revealing book.

[Nora · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book changed my life. People usually say that about books by Nicholas Sparks or Judy Blume -- books that validate their teen angst or what-have-you. And in that respect, it's the same for me. But instead of a love-struck tween obsessed with my school's quarterback, I was a snarky goth punk who picked up this book in an occult bookstore and saw, for the first time in all it's terrifying and addictive glory, the actual power of the written word.

[Tentatively, Convenience · Rating 4 out of 5]

Funny how these GoodReads thingies always seem to just list one author. This bk is a collection of Rants: "Voices of Desperate Illumination 1558 to Present" edited by Bob Black and Adam Parfrey. It's published by Amok Press & Loompanics - from the days when Parfrey was still associated w/ Amok before he split off & created Feral House. This is a thorough collection from an eclectic group.

[Bob Black]

What "Michael" said about the origins of the anthology is substantially, if not quite entirely true. I knew both Parfrey (recently deceased) and Peter Lamborn Wilson/Hakim Bey. They were the original editors, but, be it remembered, Parfrey was also the publisher. He had the last word. He and Wilson did quarrel about Parfrey's penchant for racists and mere sensationalism. But Parfrey was also profoundly homophobic. In correspondence with me, he always referred to Wilson as "boy fucker." I heard that the project might founder on their differences. I knew that I was to be included. I offered to replace Wilson. Parfrey acceded -- because, I think, we went back quite a while, and he respected me and maybe feared me a little. As Michael says, I did introduce some texts by anarchists and/or from the marginals publishing milieu, texts which Parfrey was unaware of. But his quarrel with Wilson to some extent resumed with me. I argued him out of including Adolf Hitler -- not for moral reasons, somewhat for political reasons, but mainly because, although Hitler was a charismatic orator, written down, his stuff is not only obnoxious, it is tedious. I didn't object to Parfrey including fascists such as Ezra Pound and Louis-Ferdinand Celine, although, they were by no means the most vigorous of our ranters. The very idea of "rants" I thought then, and even more I think now, was kind of stupid. Some of it doesn't age well (Khomeini? Valerie Solanas? Timothy Leary?). Although, I am sad to say, when I hear from readers of the book, when they mention what they especially liked, it is always Parfrey's selections, not mine.

[xDEAD ENDx · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ehhhhh... there's some questionable material in here (including one–if not both!–of the editors). None of the rants managed to make me hyped*, and based upon the excerpts, there's nothing I want to read in full.

*The one exception being Louis Lingg's court speech.

[Kevin · Rating 5 out of 5]

an INCREDIBLE compilation, includes chtelgov's 'new urbanism' futurist rant

[Chris Jones · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an AWESOME collection of short essays and a blast to read.

[Marco López · Rating 4 out of 5]

"To hold an opinion and dare to express it is the final prerogative of the free man. Announcing an incendiary truth may be the last remaining vestige of human dignity."

This is an assortment of texts extracted from several radicals, visionaries, outcasts and plain old criminals spanning almost 500 years. As explained in the foreword, there is no particular focus regarding the contents of these rants, so the range of religious, social and political persuasions that find representation here is pretty wide. Curated by the late Adam Parfrey and Bob Black, the material succeeds in being either illuminating or baffling, but (almost) always provocative and entertaining.

Most of the chapters are very short (rarely longer than 5 pages) and are excerpts from other works, so if anything catches your interest you'll need to look for the full version elsewhere.

A few standout bits:

- Marquis de Sade's crucial Philosophy in the Bedroom.
- Anarchist bomber Louis Lingg's Speech of the Condemned (made after being sentenced to death by hanging and prior to killing himself instead by blowing up his face).
- Ragnar Redbeard's Might is Right (later borrowed by Anton LaVey for his Satanic Bible).
- A fragment from serial rapist/killer Carl Panzram's colorful autobiography.
- Céline's problematic but hilarious Bagatelles pour un Massacre.
- Renzo Novatore's call to arms Iconoclasts, Forward! (written not long before ending up dead during a police shootout).
- Valerie "I Shot Andy Warhol" Solanas' SCUM Manifesto.
- Kerry Thornley's conspiranoid The Nine Secrets of Mind Poisoning at a Distance.
- Earth First! representative Miss Ann Thropy's environmentalist piece Population and AIDS.

[Grump · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's a book of rants from people with POVs about shit. Could be the government, the crappiness of people, women going to the theatre, old time-y outrage about the king or something. It varies. The rants are short and go chronologically starting with 1500s. I'm gonna say the first quarter of this book was impenetrable to me. Either I've destroyed my cognitive function beyond repair with Pinot Grigio or I was just not that smart to begin with but I just glazed over reading about half of these things. But the rest of them were either funny, interesting or at least understandable. Some even called for the highlighter in a few spots. Anton La Vey's Misanthropia or the comic strip one were probably my faves. The Celine one let me know why people are iffy about Celine. All of entries have a fun, sometimes snarky intro from one of the editors.

"That's all I have to say about that." - S.C.S Austin