Working Translations

Proposal for an Anarchist Encyclopedia in 1895

The work of an Anarchist Encyclopedia appearing indispensable to some comrades, who think that such a document would serve a useful purpose, for every person could consult there the expressions, terms and subjects that constantly figure in the texts of all the writers, which escape for the moment those who know, and would instruct those who do not yet and and who desire to learn.

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Working Translations

Le Rétif (Victor Serge), “To Be and to Appear” (1909)

We do not live for ourselves—we live for others. We suffer, we struggle and we die for the gallery, to astonish others, to wrest from them a cry of admiration or praise. To appear is the great, the unique concern for the men of this century.

For the vain glory of appearing, they renounce really living. And this is true in all the domains of their activity.

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