Could anarchy be an answer to patriarchy ? During his lifetime, and under his name, Fernando Pessoa published a short story whose title was provocative : The Anarchist Banker[1]. He describes a conversation concluding a meal between guests, one of whom is a banker. This last one affirms to be an anarchist, not only in theory, but in practice as well : « My whole life proves it »[2], he goes further.
This banker’s fight is about freedom, for the benefit of the society of course – however, he claims to be powerless on that matter, only a worldwide social revolution could free society[3] –, but especially for the individual’s benefit. And what is the enemy of freedom ? « The true evil, indeed, the only evil, are the social conventions and fictions which become superimposed on natural realities, everything from family to money, from religion to the state. […] Now, why are these social fictions a bad thing ? Precisely because they are fictions, because they are not natural[4]. Money is as great an evil as the state, and the institution of the family as wrong as religion. »[5]
But what’s this « natural » which appears on almost every page of the poet’s short story ? Could that be the support used by our anarchist as a place of a guarantee – the nature as the Other of the Other – which confers to anarchism its autority… and, therefore, its imposture, to paraphrase Domenico Cosenza in his Orientation Text[6]. It seems to me that this is not the case. The text’s development starts with this ascertainment : « I felt rebellious. I wanted to understand my rebellion. »[7] Behind this argument, we finally find an hesitation, a division : « Except… except in certain cases […], a certain type of person might be born to be a slave – worries the banker – naturally born to be a slave […], then freedom, being contrary to his nature, would, for him, be a form of tyranny »[8]. Laughter from the interlocutor. And freedom to be turned inside out into tyranny.
For this new edition of Nobodaddy, we find with great pleasure the next part of Clotilde Leguil’s text, which is called « Critique of the Monopoly of legitimate jouissance », a brilliant enlightenment in the analysis of the term of patriarchy, which « resonates a criticism of abuse ».
Pierre-Marie Pochou is enchanting us with a novel interpretation of a short text know by all, if not by a large majority : the embarrassing Christian Our Father. You’ll be surprised !
Marcela Ana Negro is proposing to us an incisive text which questions what is the authority of parents in this time of the object’s dictatorship.
Finally, Sebastien Dauguet is offering us a dive into the work of Toni Morrison, Nobel prize in Literature Laureate, whose work goes through and further the denunciation of the « narrative outline internalized by the black children, that of the master, white, which is above all that of a man ». A powerful text to discover.
Good reading !
[1] Pessoa F., « The Anarchist Banker », Translated by Margaret Jull Costa, p. 88-114, available online at The Centre for Socio-Eco-Nomic Development’s website : http://www.csend.org/images/articles/files/20101009-FernandoPessoa.pdf.
[2] Ibid., p. 88.
[3] Ibid., p. 97.
[4] In italic by Olivier De Ville.
[5] Pessoa F., The Anarchist Banker, op. cit., p. 91-92.
[6] Cosenza D. « Authoritarism », Orientation Text, Blog Nobodaddy for Pipol 11, January 27th 2023, available online : https://www.pipol11.eu/en/2023/01/26/authoritarism-domenico-cosenza/.
[7] Pessoa F., The Anarchist Banker, op. cit., p. 90.
[8] Ibid., p. 114.
Translation : Aurélie Solliec
Proofreading : Ana-Marija Kroker
Picture : ©Fred Treffel
Excerpt from Bibliography
