The Birth of Tragedy is Nietzsche’s amorous and derogatory critique of the present day Socratic-Alexandrian culture completely absolved from the Dionysiac-Apollonian Spirit that reconciles man with the whole undermining the pompous egotistic and delusory idea of “self” in the world of appearances. The two dialectical process of Dionysos-Apollo are central to allowing the individual to experience the metaphysical One-ness or the Schopenhaurian “Will” that is simultaneously balanced by Apollonian efforts to prevent total effacing of the self. In the Hellenistic past, in Greek tragedy, through music or the dithyrambic chorus and singing satyrs, one will be directly thrusted into experiencing Dionysiac multitude or “Will” (objectified in the Olympian Gods). As a corollary, our self in this Dionysiac universality and in this process of de-individuation becomes cognizant of its ephemeral and infinitesimal nature vis-à-vis the source of power or Will of the world. More cardinally, the “self” understands itself as a sine qua non part of the whole. Yet in our contemporary world, the illusory appearance “self” is exalted, glorified and taken as a thing-in-itself through the Socratic-rationalistic premises that govern our lives beguiling ourselves that we have the highest cognitive power; ability to rationally manipulate means towards ends and to control nature. Primal-like Dionysiac profundities in music and Greek Tragedy by means of the all-engaging chorus has atrophied essentially into “opera” – manifestation of this whole delusion whereby the theorist thinks he can dictate rules of the stage and where the collective effervescence that music emanates is expunged totally. The solution then for society or Germany is to re-engage with myth, music and art – a process or re-enchantment.
Nietzsche’s argument for the importance of Tragedy; myth and music in relation to Nationhood
For Nietzsche, Tragedy is extremely important in this cultural rejuvenation. Nietzsche argues that Tragedy is cardinal because it consummates orgiastic music beside the tragic myth and hero [pp 126]. It reembeds the Dionysiac world into a man’s being. In Tragedy, there is the noble parable or the plastic world of the myth [pp. 126 12-13]. The tragic hero is an avid reflection of a “higher delight” [pp. 126: 10] or existence. Myth acts as an Apollonian boundary-shield from total absorption of the orgiastic music in Tragedy that embeds us in the whole and bequeaths metaphysical significance to the myth. In Nietzsche’s words then, upon listening to the “heartbeat” of the world, it is impossible that the paltry illusory glass bell of man’s individuality cannot be realized as infinitesimal [pp 127] leaving it axiomatic that the whole is definitely more significant than its ephemeral parts. He criticizes the nation without myth as having lost its natural creativity [pp. 136] so claiming that myth, music and tragedy is an important element in fostering nationhood or having a fulfilling culture without which, there will be severe socio-moral consequences for the nation.
Specific textual references
In the book, Nietzsche claims that: “…unchanneled by any native myth; a culture without any fixed and consecrated place of origin, [is] condemned to exhaust all possibilities and feed miserably and parasitically on every culture under the sun… [pp. 137: 9-12] …[it will] dig frantically for roots [pp. 137: 16].” Most importantly, Nietzsche argues that “a nation like an individual is valuable insofar as it is able to give quotidian experience the stamp of eternal. Only by so doing can it express its profound, if unconscious conviction of the relativity of time and the metaphysical meaning of life. The opposite happens when a nation begins to view itself historically and to demolish the mythical bulwarks that surround it. The result is usually a definite secularization, a break with the unconscious metaphysic of its earlier mode of existence accompanying dismal moral consequences.”
Analysis of argument and Critical Reflection
I find this claim to be like a pristine truth. In Singapore (the country of my origins), a nation created just 40 odd years ago by a potpourri of people from China, Malaya, Indonesia, India and all parts Europe, we have utterly failed to create an “authentic Singaporean culture”. In all attempts to modernize and be placed as a worthy Industrialized nation in the world, we have expunged all mythological and historical roots for a more “modernized culture”. Distancing ourselves from primal-mythical past for a secularized-rational skin is a crucial step to assert our modernity. For decades, we have extolled the grandiose importance of economy efficiency and practicality. In terms of pedagogy, history and cultural and classical studies are subordinated to mathematics and science. As a corollary, as corroborated by countless Sociological studies in Singapore, Singaporeans have been characterized as “apathetic,” “nation-less,” and “disenchanted” without a strong and veritable historical root. Singaporeans do not “feel” for their country. Our national history if any is manifested predominantly as a linear-rational chain of events and any mythical bulwarks are strictly cordoned off as “the past”. Out-migration is a key concern for the government, people lead an automaton life as an industrious and dexterous worker alienated both in Marx’s sense from their “species-being,” and the Schopenhaurian sense of the Oneness of the Will. One thus finds in Singaporeans a serious preoccupation egotistic with themselves objectified in many ways but will not be discussed here. The point however is that, indeed as Nietzsche has accounted it in The Birth of Tragedy, there is serious ramifications in any country that beholds the Socratic-Alexandrian without a healthy balance of any Dionysiac-Apollonian forces of enchantment, reintegration and embedment into the Oneness of the whole.
Yet on the other hand, I find Nietzsche’s criticism of Socratic foundations of life much too caustic over-exaggerated at some point for is it not that logical schematism, the constant pursuit of knowledge and rational manipulation also the same things that has freed us from our traditional-religious fetters and led us beyond parochial primal-instinctual urges enabling men to devour greater pleasures in life?
Thus in retrospect, I thus conclude that it is perhaps then cardinal to understand that Nietzsche was writing in a time of great changes in Germany – Unification of German states, creation of a new industrial society buttressed by democratic foundations (that exalts the individual) etc. Moreover, in contact with Wagner’s music and the Schopenhaurian popular philosophy that was prominent then, it is understandable how the latter ideas of music, myth and the whole idea of “the world as a will” or source of energy became cathartic solutions for the problems of secularization, self-identity and anomie amidst this whole great transition.
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