Nietzsche, F. "Twilight of the Idols"

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Friedrich Nietzsche has written Twilight of the Idols (German: Götzen-Dämmerung) in 1888, the last year of his activity, and it was published later, in January 1889. In this book, Nietzsche takes on the discussion of what is the underlying purpose (and function) of art, by using his conceptual opposition between the Apollinian and the Dionysian.

Summary

The Frenzy of the Artist

Nietzsche describes the frenzy as the indispensable physiological condition for the existence of art and aesthetics.[1] Frenzies of all kind meet this requirement, such as sexual, victory, feasts, movement, destruction, all serve to enhance excitability. But the frenzy of will, or an "overcharged and swollen will" leads to a feeling of one's strength being increased. [2] When this feeling is applied to things, they become idealised. This process of idealisation does not merely imply the downplaying of irrelevant features, but a powerful desire to amplify its main features, while the others get lost in the process. The man equipped with this frenzy has the power to imbue everything he sees with his own fullness, to strengthen them and to make them mirror his own power and fullness, and ultimately, to make them reflect his perfection. In this way, art becomes the will to transform things into perfection. [3]

The Apollinian and the Dionysian

The Apollinian kind of frenzy is excitement of the vision, or of the eye, and the artist is a visionary. In the Dionysian frenzy, however, excitability is present and enhanced in the whole affective system. All drives and modes of expression are unleashed and driven forth simultaneously, leading to an intense desire for representation, imitation, transfiguration, transformation, mimicking, and acting. [4] This type, however, is able to react (or not react) instinctively, and has the power to transform himself by entering into any affect. As an example, music is a total excitement of the affects, but it is a remnant of "much fuller world of expression of the affects", as it involves the inhibition of the muscle senses in order to not bodily imitate. Music is therefore only a residue of the Dionysian histrionicism. The actor, mime, dancer, musician, and lyric poet, all belong to this category, even if they have been specialised and separated from each other. [5] Because architecture materialises the highest feeling of power and confidence, that speaks for itself and needs no proof, architects do not belong to either category.

Beautiful and Ugly

According to Nietzsche, phrases such as "beautiful in itself" and concepts of objective beauty do not have any real foundation. In order for man to evaluate beauty, he uses himself as a measure of perfection, and admires himself in it. Because he mirrors himself in things, he sees beauty in them. Nietzsche concludes that all aesthetics rest upon the image of the man, and nothing is beautiful except for man itself. On the other hand, nothing is ugly except for the degenerating man, redolent of decay and impotence, the ugly weakens and saddens man. [6] Traits that are consciously or instinctively associated with undesirable traits such as exhaustion, heaviness, decomposition, are judged as ugly. This feeling arouses a hatred rooted in a deep instinct of the species, a caution of the decline of his type. [7]

L'art pour l'art

Fighting against purpose in art implies the fighting against its underlying moralising character. But even if this is character is to be eliminated, art is still not purposeless or aimless, as it still glorifies, chooses, prefers, weakens and strengthens. The artist, being a genius of communication, still must communicate through his courage and freedom of feeling. [8]

Literature

Nietzsche, F. "Twilight of the Idols" in Art in Theory 1815-1900. An Anthology of Changing Ideas, edited by Charles Harrison, Paul Wood and Jason Gaiger, 783-786. Oxford: Blackwell Publishing, 1998.
  1. Nietzsche, "Twilight of the Idols", 783.
  2. Ibid., 784.
  3. Ibid.
  4. Ibid.
  5. Ibid., 785.
  6. Ibid.,785-86.
  7. Ibid., 786.
  8. Ibid.