Nietzsche's Overcoming of Modernity
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“THE CENTRE IS EVERYWHERE”: NIETZSCHE’S OVERCOMING OF MODERNITY THROUGH MUSICAL DISSONANCE by GREGORY IVAN POLAKOFF A THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY in THE FACULTY OF GRADUATE STUDIES (Comparative Literature) THE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA (Vancouver) May 2011 © Gregory Ivan Polakoff, 2011 ABSTRACT This dissertation argues that musical dissonance is a master metaphor in the works of Friedrich Nietzsche. In The Birth of Tragedy, Nietzsche claims that musical dissonance constitutes the “foundations of all existence.” I contend that it forms the foundation of a radical, life-affirming, and dynamic epistemology. Musical dissonance provides Nietzsche with the means to “overcome” the ascetic, life-denying, metaphysical philosophies that he believes have enervated and depleted Western civilization since the advent of Platonic and Judeo-Christian thought. An analysis of Nietzsche’s major works through the lens of musical dissonance reveals that it constitutes a powerful extended metaphor throughout his writings, and inspires his understanding of tragedy, science, eternal recurrence, the Übermensch, the will to power, Bildung, and other concepts. The theoretical approach taken is informed by Arnold Schoenberg’s concept of the “emancipation of the dissonance,” which he claims to be the guiding principle of his twelve-tone system of musical composition. Nietzsche “emancipates” dissonance from the constrictions of metaphysical philosophies––a category that includes modern science in Nietzsche’s outlook––in order to facilitate a complete “revaluation of all values,” a project that Nietzsche outlines in his late works, which I contend involves the continual rethinking of all values with respect to a musical, dissonant epistemology. Musical, dissonant thinking does not rely upon a central authority for deriving truth and meaning, but rather a dynamic and pluralistic method of understanding that is without a unitary, fixed centre. This study demonstrates how Nietzsche’s fascination with musical dissonance in his early texts inspired the “revaluation of all values”––an act that represents the overcoming of modernity––through a close reading of The Birth of Tragedy, The Gay Science, Thus Spoke Zarathustra, and Ecce Homo. Gilles Deleuze, Claude Lévesque, Sarah Kofman, and Bruce Benson are among the other key thinkers whose works inspire the framework for my analysis. The concluding section explores the far-reaching implications of Nietzsche’s musical, dissonant philosophy and aesthetics in the twentieth century through an exploration of its legacy in the writings of Thomas Mann, Theodor Adorno, and Arnold Schoenberg. ii TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT .......................................................................................................................................... ii TABLE OF CONTENTS ................................................................................................................... iii LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS ............................................................................................................. v ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ............................................................................................................. vii DEDICATION .................................................................................................................................... ix INTRODUCTION: READING MUSICAL DISSONANCE IN NIETZSCHE’S WORKS .......................1 Overview: “Without Music, Life Would Be an Error” ..........................................2 The Will to Power and Musical Dissonance .........................................................24 Nietzsche and Metaphysics ....................................................................................30 Overcoming Metaphysics through Musical Dissonance ....................................40 A New Type of System for a Musical Epistemology ..........................................43 The Emancipation of Dissonance ...........................................................................46 CHAPTER ONE: “IF WE COULD IMAGINE DISSONANCE BECOME MAN”: MUSICAL DISSONANCE IN THE BIRTH OF TRAGEDY AND OTHER EARLY TEXTS .........................59 “If We Could Imagine Dissonance Become Man” ...............................................59 Dissonance: “The Foundations of All Existence” ................................................63 The Rehabilitation of Logos ....................................................................................70 Nietzsche and the “Crisis of Humanism” .............................................................75 Apollo and Dionysus: Gods of Dissonance ..........................................................81 The Resistance to Dissonance .................................................................................88 Toward an Epistemology of Musical Dissonance ................................................92 Tragedy and Science ..............................................................................................100 The Rehabilitation of Ethics ..................................................................................106 The Problem of Metaphysics in Nietzsche’s Early Works ................................125 CHAPTER TWO: THE REHABILITATION OF PHILOSOPHY THROUGH MUSICAL DISSONANCE: THE GAY SCIENCE AND THE “HERACLITEAN FIRE MACHINE” ..........................130 A Performative Science ..........................................................................................130 The Gay Science in Context .....................................................................................137 Redefining “Science” and “System” ....................................................................140 A Science of “Twists and Turns” .........................................................................143 Nietzsche in Provence ............................................................................................157 Dialogism in The Gay Science .................................................................................171 Science and Metaphor ............................................................................................176 The Emancipation of Dissonance in The Gay Science .........................................180 iii Musical Askêsis and the Gai Saber .........................................................................184 The Heraclitean Fire Machine ...............................................................................189 INCIPIT ZARATHUSTRA! ....................................................................................199 CHAPTER THREE: MUSICAL DISSONANCE AND THE REVALUATION OF ALL VALUES: THUS SPOKE ZARATHUSTRA .............................................................................................206 Redemption through Metaphor ...........................................................................206 Zarathustra’s Musical Askêsis ...............................................................................219 Dialogism in Thus Spoke Zarathustra ....................................................................227 “Tablet-Smashing” and the Rehabilitation of Writing ......................................236 Bridges of Dissonance ............................................................................................238 An Epistemology of Superabundance .................................................................246 The Revaluation of the Heavens ..........................................................................250 Conclusion ...............................................................................................................257 CHAPTER FOUR: SELF-FORMATION AS MUSICAL DISSONANCE: ECCE HOMO .....................260 Ecce Homo: Dissonance Become Man ...................................................................260 Dissonance and Bildung .........................................................................................265 “Nietzsche” the Übermensch ..................................................................................267 “Nietzsche” the Messiah .......................................................................................273 The Anti-Christ .......................................................................................................275 “I Know My Fate” ..................................................................................................284 “I am Dynamite” .....................................................................................................299 Shattering the Masks ..............................................................................................304 “Since the Old God is Abolished, I am Prepared to Rule the World––“ .............313 CODA: THE PLACE OF DISSONANCE AS AN AESTHETIC CONCEPT ..........................................321 BIBLIOGRAPHY .............................................................................................................................339 iv LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS Abbreviations used in this study refer to multivolume editions of Nietzsche’s work, as well as frequently cited translations. Abbreviations of works by Nietzsche: eKGWB Digitale Kritische Gesamtausgabe Werke und Briefe ed. Paolo D’Iorio. GS The Gay Science, trans. Walter Kaufmann. KSA Sämtliche Werke: Kritische Studienausgabe, eds. Giorgio Colli and Mazzino Montinari. KGW Nietzsche Werke: Kritische Gesamtausgabe, eds. Giorgio Colli and Mazzino Montinari. PP