A World in Flames, Bruno Filippi
For the first time, previously untranslated writings by Bruno Filippi appear in English. (A French edition is also currently in preparation and will follow in the months ahead.) This book was quite the journey…
This translation project began in 2020. At first, the task seemed straightforward: translate a small group of Bruno Filippi writings that had never appeared in English and bring them into print. As often happens with such things, the deeper we looked, the larger the landscape became…
Texts led to other texts, fragments appeared embedded within larger prose sequences, titles shifted between half published editions. Writings surfaced in newspapers, memorial collections, and forgotten corners of anarchist history. Some pieces required tracing through multiple histories.
What emerged was much less a translation project than a recovery…
The writings in A World in Flames have survived through friendships, personal collections, family-held documents, incredibly small presses, private correspondence, and with individuals who carried these materials forward across generations, often outside any formal system of preservation. In several cases, the chain is remarkably direct. The people preserving these materials are often only a few generations removed from those who knew Bruno, printed his writings, corresponded with his comrades, or carried his memory forward.
As is often the case with translation projects of this sort, the deeper we got, the more that Rebel with Dark Laughter emerged from the pages...
More than a century after they were written, Bruno’s writings still have remarkable intensity. A writing can begin as a reasoned argument and suddenly dissolve into vision. His political critiques morph into dreams, prophecy, invective, or life poetry. Throughout these writings you encounter an uncompromising insurrectionist whose revolt refused confinement within politics. Philosophy, hallucination, tenderness, fury and imagination are all part of his incendiary force.
This book includes prison letters, letters to his parents, polemical essays, visionary prose, correspondence, and writings from the final years of Bruno's short life. Some are fierce, others are unexpectedly moving. Some contain flashes of humour, while others remain among the most beautiful and satisfying writings to emerge from the anarchist individualist milieu of early twentieth-century Italy.
Again and again during the translation process, the same pattern emerged. Bruno could proceed for pages with sharp reasoning and clear argument, only to suddenly abandon the solid ground beneath his feet and move into poetry, dream, and fire. The transformation happens repeatedly throughout these writings. Readers looking for a political tract will find poetry. Readers looking for poetry will find attack. For some, this movement may seem difficult to classify. For others, especially those familiar with the territory Bruno inhabited, it feels perfectly natural. He rarely remains where one expects him to.
We could go on, but, the finished book is here! A World in Flames is vibrant, unruly, and perfectly suited to the writings it carries.
We are very happy to place this book into the world. It feels particularly needed in the timeline we haunt.
Orders are now open. Find your copy in the bookshop here: A World in Flames