Oxford World's Classics The Birth of Tragedy 悲劇的誕生 尼采

“Tragedy sits in the midst of this superabundance of life, suffering, and delight, in sublime ecstasy, listening to a distant, melancholy singing which tells of the Mothers of Being, whose names are delusion, will, woe.” — Friedrich Nietzsche

 

In The Birth of Tragedy, Nietzsche expounds on the origins of Greek tragedy and its relevance to the German culture of its time. Nietzsche found in classical Athenian tragedy an art form that transcended the pessimism and nihilism of a fundamentally meaningless world. What we put together as our conceptions of the world never actually addresses the underlying realities. Greek tragedy was the highest form of art due to its mixture of both Apollonian and Dionysian elements into one seamless whole, allowing the spectator to experience the full spectrum of the human condition.

 

Originally educated as a philologist, Nietzsche discusses the history of the tragic form and introduces an intellectual dichotomy between the Dionysian and the Apollonian. Nietzsche claims life always involves a struggle between these two elements, each battling for control over the existence of humanity. The Dionysian element was to be found in the music of the chorus, while the Apollonian element was found in the dialogue, which gave a concrete symbolism that balanced the Dionysian revelry. Basically, the Apollonian abstract forms were able to give shape to the passionate Dionysian experience.

 

After the time of Aeschylus and Sophocles, there was an age where tragedy died. Nietzsche ties this to the influence of writers like Euripides and the coming of rationality, represented by Socrates. Euripides reduced the use of the chorus and was more naturalistic in his representation of human drama, making it more reflective of the realities of daily life. Socrates emphasized reason to such a degree that he diffused the value of myth and suffering to human knowledge. For Nietzsche, these two intellectuals helped drain the ability of the individual to participate in forms of art, because they saw things too soberly and rationally.

 

The participation mystique aspect of art and myth was lost, and along with it, much of man's ability to live creatively in optimistic harmony with the sufferings of life. In order to promote a return to these values, Nietzsche critiques the complacent rationalism of late nineteenth-century German culture and makes an impassioned plea for the regenerative potential of the music of Wagner. Nietzsche concludes that it may be possible to reattain the balance of Dionysian and Apollonian in modern art through the operas of Richard Wagner, in a rebirth of tragedy.

 

In contrast to the typical Enlightenment view of ancient Greek culture as noble, simple, elegant, and grandiose, Nietzsche believed the Greeks were grappling with pessimism. The universe in which we live is the product of great interacting forces, but we neither observe nor know these as such. It is human destiny to be controlled by the darkest universal realities and, at the same time, to live life in a human-dreamt world of illusions. A wide-ranging discussion of the nature of art, science, and religion, The Birth of Tragedy's argument raises important questions about the problematic nature of cultural origins, which are still valid today.

 

Features

• Edition : -
• Binding : Paperback
• ISBN : 9780199540143
• Publication Date : 2008/8/1

 

Materials & Care

• Imported