Our little website recently reached a half million views. Even though this amounts to peanuts in terms of global Internet traffic, it was a nice little milestone for us, especially when you consider how small our niche is, even among Italian Americans. We would like to thank our loyal readers, we value your support and will continue our efforts to the best of our abilities.
Catching up on my reading
I've been on a huge Ernst Jünger (1895-1998) kick of late, reading The Forest Passage (Telos Press, 2013), The Peace (Henry Regnery Company, 1948) and The Glass Bees (New York Review Books, 2000). I'm currently in the middle of The Adventurous Heart: Figures and Capriccios (Telos Press, 2012) and came across a short passage Jünger wrote about Naples:
"Over the past few weeks I settled in here, as Dottore Pescatore, what the locals like calling the zoologists who work in the aquarium. Situated in the middle of a park stretching along the seashore, it is a cool, monastic place in which fresh and salt water gurgles day and night in great glass tanks. From over my worktable, my glance rests in Castell dell’Ovo, a stronghold the Staufer erected out on the water, and further back, in the middle of the gulf with its form reminiscent of an elongated snail, lies beautiful Capri, where Tiberius once presided with his wantons.
"Many of my favorites have lived in Naples, among them such diverse characters as Roger of the Normans, Abbé Galiani, King Murat, who wore his medals in order to attract enemy fire, and with him, Fröhlich, whose Forty Years in the Life of a Dead Man is one of our most entertaining life histories. The splendid Burgundian de Brosse and Chevalier de Seingalt also had things to say about the fine hours they passed here." (1)
Ernst Jünger (1895-1998), of course, was a prominent theorists of the German Conservative Revolution. A prolific writer, he is perhaps best remembered in the anglophone world for his World War I memoir Storm of Steel (Penguin Classics, 2004). Jünger is considered by many to be one of Germany's most controversial writers of the 20th Century. His On Pain (Telos Press, 2008), a critique of liberal modernity, is next on my list.
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| 2012 flier |
We’ve had a few inquiries of late about our Annual Battle of Bitonto Commemoration, but unfortunately—due (in part) to conflicts with Memorial Day Weekend—we’ve had difficulties finding a suitable venue and locking down commitments from participants. So until we can come up with a practical solution and are capable of organizing a remembrance worthy of the occasion, our public celebrations and bocce tournaments have been put on the back burner. In the meantime, I will continue to host small-scale private celebrations with friends and family. Viva 'o Rre!
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(1) Quoted from "Frutti di Mare — Naples" an entry in The Adventurous Heart: Figures and Capriccios, Telos Press, 2012, P 33–34
