ANONYMOUS (20TH CENTURY)

by Leonardo Ricci ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 5, 1961

Leonardo Ricci, one of Europe's great younger architects, presents now a moving, if overly momentous, testament of faith in the future of mankind. Called Anonymous (20th Century), it signals and salutes the new class of men who will one day arise uniting technological power to the humanitarian spirit. They will create a sort of anonymous millennium, an egalitarian society only of peers in which both psychological and economic strife is absent and the fruits of earth and of the soul blossom for all. Signor Ricci, full of noble thoughts, idealistic lushness and organ music, is more persuasive in form than in content; possessing the true voice of the prophet, he really believes everything he forecasts. Actually, the Ricci thesis is a complex of Christian brotherhood, Marxian evolutionism, Bakunin's anarchist ethic and Sartre's existential engagement. Though Signor Ricci forswears genius, his debt to many in that category is apparent; and, amusingly enough, he writes best when speaking of Picasso and Cimabue or describing town planning a la Corbussier. This is a journey in the imagination, a book, as the author says, without end and without conclusion, an apolitical vision designed to inspire the reader. Yet it's obvious only those already inclined will be acceptant; the rest, no doubt, will shrug it off with a cynical smile. But either way, it's an exhortation more than welcome in this anxious age.

Pub Date: March 5, 1961

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: George Braziller

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 1961

Categories: NONFICTION