Title: The Coupling of the Dionysian and the Apollonian: Nietzsche and Transcendent Art
Abstract: As a young philologist in the late nineteenth century, Friedrich Nietzsche situated the ancient Greek god of sensuality, Dionysus, symbol of all that is instinctual and chaotic within the self, at the core of creative human experience and at the center of a critical and fulfilled life. Rather than deny its vital importance to an understanding of Greek tragedy and Greek culture in general, Nietzsche elevated the Dionysian (and its expression in tragedy and the Dionysian festivals of excess) to a realm of experience that existed on an even plane, as one half of a whole system, with that of Apollonian order and reason (and, in his time, with the grand narratives of the Enlightenment). The generally accepted nineteenth-century attitude and scholarship on ancient Greek culture (and likewise on modern life) had fundamentally misunderstood the ancients' legacy by sublimating, so to speak, evidence of raw passions in Greek art into an appearance of pure Apollonian reason, harmony, vir- tue, and order.1 It is precisely in the unity of the two opposing drives that Nietzsche discovered the foundations of what he deemed the highest art form—tragedy, or true transcendent art. Nietzsche argued for a revival of, and new appreciation for, the tragic in society to serve as the vehicle by which to transcend everyday life and the falsely absolute values of Christian morality through a positive and willful authentication of life.KeywordsPopular OpinionGrand NarrativeGreek TragedyChristian MoralityConsciousness ChangeThese keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.
Publication Year: 2012
Publication Date: 2012-01-01
Language: en
Type: book-chapter
Indexed In: ['crossref']
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