Peter Lamborn Wilson

Peter Lamborn Wilson (born 1945) is an American political writer, essayist, and poet, known for first proposing the concept of the Temporary Autonomous Zone (TAZ), based on a historical review of pirate utopias. Wilson also writes under the name Hakim Bey.

Life and work

Wilson's early work is described in the translator's biography of one of his earliest works:

After studying at Columbia University, he did extensive traveling in the Middle East, Afghanistan, Pakistan, India and Nepal. He studied Tantra in West Bengal and visited many Sufi shrines and masters. In 1971 he undertook research on the Ni'matullahi funded by the Marsden Foundation of New York. [Fakhruddin 'Iraqi: "Divine Flashes", page viii. Paulist Press, 1983.]

This research was the basis of Wilson's book "Kings of Love". The biography continues:

During 1974 and 1975 he was consultant in London and Tehran for the World of Islam Festival. In 1974 he became director of English language publications at the Imperial Iranian Academy of Philosophy in Tehran under Seyyed Hossein Nasr, and he studied, worked with, and published books by Nasr, Toshihiko Izutsu, Henry Corbin and others. He was editor of "Sophia Perennis", the Journal of the IIAP.

Wilson left Iran during the Islamic Revolution. In the 1980s, his ideas evolved from a kind of Guénonist neo-traditionalism to a synthesis of anarchism and Situationist ideas with heterodox Sufism and Neopaganism, describing his ideas as "anarchist ontology" or "immediatism". In the past he has worked with the not-for-profit publishing project Autonomedia, in Brooklyn, New York.

In addition to his writings on anarchism and Temporary Autonomous Zones, Wilson has written essays on such diverse topics as Tong traditions, the utopian Charles Fourier, the fascist Gabriele D'Annunzio, the connections between Sufism and ancient Celtic culture, sacred pederasty in the Sufi tradition, technology and Luddism, and "Amanita muscaria" use in ancient Ireland.

Wilson's poetic texts and poems have appeared in: "P.A.N."; "Panthology" One, Two, and Three; "Ganymede"; "Exquisite Corpse"; "NAMBLA Bulletin" (a publication of the North American Man/Boy Love Association) and the various "Acolyte Reader" paperbacks. Many of these poems, including the 'Sandburg' series, are collected in the as-yet unpublished "DogStar" volume. Currently his works can be found regularly in publications like "Fifth Estate" and the NYC-based "First of the Month".

He has also published at least one novel, "The Chronicles of Qamar: Crowstone (a sword and sorcery boy-love tale)".

Wilson, especially because of his TAZ work, has often been embraced by Rave culture. Ravers have identified the experience and occasion of raves as part of the tradition of "Temporary Autonomous Zones" that Wilson outlines, particularly the "free party" or Teknival scene. Wilson has been supportive of the rave connection, while remarking in an interview, "The ravers were among my biggest readers... I wish they would rethink all this techno stuff — they didn’t get that part of my writing." [ [http://www.thebrooklynrail.org/spotlight/july04/wilson.html An Anarchist in the Hudson Valley] "Brooklyn Rail", July 2004]

Pseudonym

Wilson's pseudonym, Hakim Bey, is a combination of the Arabic word for 'wise man'-as well as any "decision-maker" or "ruler"- and a last name common in the Moorish Science Temple. "Bey", originally a Turkic word for "chieftain," traditionally applied to the leaders of small tribal groups. In historical accounts, many Turkish, other Turkic and Persian leaders are titled bey, beg or beigh. They are all the same word with the simple meaning of "leader." Also in Turkish, "Hakim" means judge and "Bey" is a generic word for a gentleman (mister) generally used after a name.

Criticism

Wilson is a controversial figure within the anarchist milieu. Many social anarchists denounce his ideas as "lifestyle anarchism", seeing his ideas as a kind of extreme individualist anarchism that is ultimately apolitical. Many atheist and materialist anarchists dislike the tendency toward mysticism, occultism, and irrationalism in his work. [ [http://libcom.org/library/socanlifean5 5. Mystical and Irrationalist Anarchism | libcom.org ] ]

He has also been criticized within the social anarchist community for writing in the NAMBLA journal. [ [http://libcom.org/library/leaving-out-ugly-part-hakim-bey] ]

Books

*"The Winter Calligraphy of Ustad Selim, & Other Poems" (1975) (Ipswich, England) ISBN 0-903880-05-9
*"Science and Technology in Islam" (1976) (with Leonard Harrow)
*"Traditional Modes of Contemplation & Action" (1977) (editor, with Yusuf Ibish)
*"Nasir-I Khusraw: 40 Poems from the Divan" (1977) (translator and editor, with Gholam Reza Aavani) ISBN 0-87773-730-4
*"DIVAN" (1978) (poems, London/Tehran)
*"Kings of Love: The Poetry and History of the Nimatullahi Sufi Order of Iran" (1978) (translator and editor, with Nasrollah Pourjavady; Tehran)
*"Angels" (1980, 1994) ISBN 0-500-11017-4 (abridged edition: ISBN 0-500-81044-3)
*"Weaver of Tales: Persian Picture Rugs" (1980) (with Karl Schlamminger)
*"Loving Boys: Semiotext(e) Special" (1980) (editor as Hakim Bey; Semiotext(e) (New York))
*"Divine Flashes" (1982) (by Fakhruddin 'Iraqi, translated and introduced with William C. Chittick; Paulist Press (Mahwah, New Jersey)) ISBN 0-8091-2372-X
*"Crowstone: The Chronicles of Qamar" (1983) (as Hakim Bey)
*"CHAOS: The Broadsheets of Ontological Anarchism" (1985) (as Hakim Bey; Grim Reaper Press (Weehawken, New Jersey))
*"Semiotext(e) USA" (1987) (co-editor, with Jim Fleming)
*"Scandal: Essays in Islamic Heresy" (1988) (Autonomedia (Brooklyn, New York)) ISBN 0-936756-15-2
*"The Drunken Universe: An Anthology of Persian Sufi Poetry" (1988) (translator and editor, with Nasrollah Pourjavady) ISBN 0-933999-65-8
*"Semiotext(e) SF" (1989) (co-editor, with Rudy Rucker and Robert Anton Wilson)
*"" (1991) (as Hakim Bey; incorporates full text of "CHAOS") ISBN 0-936756-76-4
*"The Universe: A Mirror of Itself" (1992?) (Xexoxial Editions (La Farge, Wisconsin))
*"Immediatism" (1992, 1994) (as Hakim Bey; originally published as "Radio Sermonettes") ISBN 1-873176-42-2
*"Aimless Wandering: Chuang Tzu's Chaos Linguistics" (1993) (as Hakim Bey; Xexoxial Editions (La Farge, Wisconsin))
*"Sacred Drift: Essays on the Margins of Islam" (1993) (City Lights Books (San Francisco)) ISBN 0-87286-275-5
*"The Little Book of Angel Wisdom" (1993, 1997) ISBN 1-85230-436-7 ISBN 1-86204-048-6
*"O Tribe That Loves Boys: The Poetry of Abu Nuwas" (1993) (translator and editor, as Hakim Bey) ISBN 90-800857-3-1
*"Caliban's Mask" (in "Gone to Croatan: The Origins of American Drop-Out Culture", Ron Sakolsky and Jim Koehnline, editors (Autonomedia, Brooklyn, New York))
*"" (1995, 2003) (Autonomedia (Brooklyn, New York)) ISBN 1-57027-158-5
*"Millennium" (1996) (as Hakim Bey; Autonomedia (Brooklyn, New York) and Garden of Delight (Dublin, Ireland)) ISBN 1-57027-045-7
*"Shower of Stars" Dream & Book: The Initiatic Dream in Sufism and Taoism" (1996) (Autonomedia (Brooklyn, New York)) ISBN 1-57027-036-8
*"Escape from the Nineteenth Century and Other Essays" (1998) (Autonomedia (Brooklyn, New York)) ISBN 1-57027-073-2
*"Wild Children" (1998) (co-editor, with Dave Mandl)
*"Avant Gardening: Ecological Struggle in the City & the World" (1999) (co-editor, with Bill Weinberg) ISBN 1-57027-092-9
*"Ploughing the Clouds: The Search for Irish Soma" (1999) ISBN 0-87286-326-3
*"" (2003) (as Hakim Bey; incorporates full text of "CHAOS" and "Aimless Wanderings"; Autonomedia (Brooklyn, New York)) ISBN 1-57027-151-8
*"Orgies Of The Hemp Eaters" (2004) (co-editor as Hakim Bey with Abel Zug) ISBN 1-57027-143-7
*"rain queer" (2005) (Farfalla Press (Brooklyn, New York)) ISBN 0-9766341-1-2
*"Gothick Institutions" (2005) ISBN 0-9770049-0-2
*"Green Hermeticism: Alchemy and Ecology"; (with Christopher Bamford and Kevin Townley, Lindisfarne (2007)) ISBN 1-5842004-9-9

References

External links

* [http://www.hermetic.com/bey/ The Writings of Hakim Bey] A considerable collection of his articles are available online here.
* [http://www.thebrooklynrail.org/spotlight/july04/wilson.html July 2004 interview] from the Brooklyn Rail
* [http://affinityproject.org/interviews/plw1.html January 2006 Affinity Project Interview Part One] , On Islam
* [http://sasha.miltsov.org/krasoty/bey1 How many times do we have to educate these fucking fools?"] — An interview by Alexandre Miltsov (spring 2005) [http://sasha.miltsov.org/krasoty/bey1 part 1] [http://sasha.miltsov.org/krasoty/bey2 part 2] [http://sasha.miltsov.org/krasoty/bey3 part 3] [http://sasha.miltsov.org/krasoty/bey4 part 4]
* [http://commoncontent.org/catalog/audio/speech/3700/ Audio of 1993 talk] featuring Hakim Bey
* [http://www.rootsofrebellion.org/index.asp?pagemode=I&ID=127 Roots of Rebellion audio interview] with Hakim Bey
* [http://underminedeology.blogspot.com/2007_06_01_archive.html Obituary of Robert Anton Wilson from Fifth Estate] by Lamborn Wilson.
* [http://www.realitysandwich.com/blog/3911 Peter Lamborn Wilson's blog on Reality Sandwich]