Church and Postmodern Culture, Issue

Total Page:16

File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb

Church and Postmodern Culture, Issue Tolkien or Nietzsche, Philology and Nihilism Peter M. Candler, Jr. Baylor University __________________ He who wants to partake of all good things must know how to be small at times. 1 __________________ Perhaps it is best to begin with a kind of Tolkienian confession: I am no scholar of J.R.R. Tolkien and am not at all learned in the secondary literature on his works. I am moreover a hack when it comes to either Thomas Aquinas or Friedrich Nietzsche, the two figures at whose intersection I will try to place Tolkien and his work. Since I am more or less ignorant of the criticism on The Lord of the Rings, The Silmarillion, or any of the numerous opuscula of his, I must warn you that everything I say in what follows may have already been said, by one much more able and eloquent than me. If such is the case, then I beseech you to an exercise of the characteristically Hobbitic virtue of pity… The Origins of an Allusion There seems to be no evidence that J.R.R. Tolkien ever read Friedrich Nietzsche; in fact, as commentators are often somewhat tickled to point out (and something like a myth 1 Friedrich Nietzsche, Human, All Too Human: A Book for Free Spirits, tr. R.J. Hollingdale [Texts in German Philosophy] (Cambridge: CUP 1986) “The Wanderer and His Shadow” ¤51, p. 323. which Tolkien himself played no small part in constructing 2), it seems that Tolkien read very little from his own century, with the sole exceptions being the works of his fellow convivators in the Eagle and Child. It is perhaps no accident that Tolkien’s reading seemed to comport with his drinking—a not entirely bad policy, I might add. I might even suggest that there’s something basically very religious about beer, and that this explains in part why the works of Tolkien bear a certain theologic-ity born of friendships nurtured in the public-house, but that is a story for another day. On the other hand there is Nietzsche, the notorious teetotaler who said that “ coffee spreads darkness”, the ascetic troglodyte ever in search of pure air, the anti-Christ who once bemoaned “how much beer there is in the German intellect!”3 It is hard to imagine, however, that the name of the Hermit of Sils Maria was never invoked during those sessions in St. Giles’ Street. As David Thatcher has shown, Nietzsche’s presence began to be mildly felt in England, particularly in the arts, by the turn of the century. The distinction of being the first English writer to have encountered Nietzsche, according to tradition, belongs to the poet and dramatist John Davidson, who discovered him as early as 1891, four years before the first English translation of one of Nietzsche’s works (The Case of Wagner, 1895). 4 From Davidson the influence of Nietzsche spread through Havelock Ellis, William Butler Yeats, George Bernard Shaw, and others. By the early 1910’s, his following was growing steadily, but not without some show of resistance. In any event, it is clear that Nietzsche was far from unknown to 2 See the beginning of the essay, “ Beowulf: The Monsters and the Critics”, in J.R.R. Tolkien, The Monsters and the Critics and Other Essays, as well as Letter 294, to Charlotte and Denis Plimmer, 8 February 1967, in Humphrey Carpenter, ed., The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien (Boston: Houghton Mifflin 1981), p. 377: “I seldom find any modern books that hold my attention.” See also Tom Shippey, The Road to Middle-Earth: How J.R.R. Tolkien Created a New Mythology (New York: Houghton Mifflin 2003), p. 6. 3 Friedrich Nietzsche, “What the Germans Lack”, Twilight of the Idols, tr. R.J. Hollingdale (London: Penguin 1990), p. 72. Regarding beverages of a different cask, I am entirely in sympathy with David Hart’s suggestion that “a theological answer to Nietzsche could be developed entirely in terms of the typology of wine.” See The Beauty of the Infinite (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Wm. B Eerdmans 2003), p. 108f. There may be more than just bombast to Nietzsche’s claim that “To believe that wine exhilarates I should have to be a Christian—believing what for me is an absurdity.” Ecce Homo, in Walter Kaufmann, ed., The Basic Writings of Nietzsche (New York: Modern Library 1992), p. 694. 4 David S. Thatcher, Nietzsche in England, 1890-1914 (Toronto: University of Toronto Press 1970), p. 64. the cultured English (though his introduction into the university curricula, particularly at Oxford, may have been much slower in coming, given the entrenched suspicion of ‘novelty’ (if not of German philologists5) there—a source of great consternation to the new English Nietzscheans, no doubt). What, if any, manner of direct experience Tolkien had with Nietzsche, it is impossible to say. It is, however, difficult to believe that his influence was not felt in some indirect way. It is well-nigh impossible that a man of Tolkien ’s learning, his situation in Oxford for forty-three years, from 1925 to 1968, would never have encountered his ideas in some form or another. Neither the rarefied air of high table in Merton College nor the smoke-filled ether of the Eagle and Child could have long remained impervious even to the slightest hint of the “smell” of the “divine decomposition.” 6 In 1913, just two years after the last of Nietzsche’s un-translated works, Ecce Homo, made its appearance in English, Charles Sareola wrote that “A searching estimate of Nietzsche in English still remains to be written. And there is only one man that could write it, and that man is Gilbert K. Chesterton.” 7 Of course Chesterton never wrote such a “searching estimate”, but had written of him, largely negatively, if somewhat superficially, already in Heretics, published in 1905, thus making Chesterton’s one of the earliest English responses to Nietzsche, however inadequate his treatment may have been, at least at that early stage. 8 One might be justified in inferring then a kind of 5 “ Tolkien wrote in 1924, ‘“Philology” is in some quarters treated as though it were one of the things that the late war was fought to end’…When I first read this I took it to be a joke. However, just three years before the British Board of Education had printed a Report in The Teaching of English in England which declared, among much else, that philology ought not to be taught to undergraduates, that it was a ‘German-made’ science and…that by contributing to German arrogance it had led in a direct way to the outbreak of World War I.” Tom Shippey, The Road to Middle Earth, p. 9. 6 Nietzsche, The Gay Science, tr. Walter Kaufmann (New York: Vintage 1974), ¤125, p. 181, the famous “death of God” passage. 7 Charles Sareola, “Nietzsche”, Everyman (May 16, 1913), p. 136. Quoted in Thatcher, Nietzsche in England, p. 207. 8 Much of Chesterton’s interpretation of Nietzsche focuses on the theory of the †bermensch. For example, as he says of George Bernard Shaw: “He has even been infected to some extent with the primary intellectual weakness of his new master, Nietzsche, the strange notion that the greater and stronger a man was the more he would despise other things” (G.K. Chesterton, Heretics [The Collected Works of G.K. Chesterton; 1] (San Francisco: Ignatius 1986), p. 68). See also, in the context of H.G. Wells, p. 80: “Nietzsche summed up all that is interesting in the Superman idea when he said, ‘Man is a thing which has to be surpassed.’ But the very word ‘surpass’ implies the existence of a standard common to us and the thing surpassing us. If the Superman is more manly than men are, of course they will ultimately deify him, even if they happen to kill him first. But if he is simply more supermanly, they may be quite indifferent to him as they would be to another seemingly aimless monstrosity. Mere force or size even is a standard; but that alone will never make men think a man their superior. Giants, as in the wise old fairy-tales, are vermin. Supermen, if not good men, are vermin.” Nor can I imagine anything that would do humanity more good than the advent of a race of Supermen, for them to fight like dragons. If the Superman is better than we, of course we need not fight him; but in that case, why not call him the Saint? But if he is merely stronger (whether physically, mentally, or morally stronger, I do not care a farthing), then he ought to have to reckon with us at least for all the strength we have. It we are weaker than he, that is no reason why we should be weaker than ourselves. If we are not tall enough to touch the giant's knees, that is no reason why we should become shorter by falling on our own. But that is at bottom the meaning of all modern hero-worship and celebration of the Strong Man, the Caesar the Superman. That he may be something more than man, we must be something less. Doubtless there is an older and better hero-worship than this. But the old hero was a being who, like Achilles, was more human than humanity itself. Nietzsche’s Superman is cold and friendless. Achilles is so foolishly fond of his friend that he slaughters armies in the agony of his bereavement. Mr. Shaw’s sad Caesar says in his desolate pride, “He who has never hoped can never despair.” The Man-God of old answers from his awful hill, “Was ever sorrow like unto my sorrow?” A great man is not a man so strong that he feels less than other men; he is a man so strong that he feels more.
Recommended publications
  • Comparison and Evaluation of the Moral Significance of Emotions in Aquinas, the Manualists and Catholic Moral Theology 1960-1990
    The University of Notre Dame Australia ResearchOnline@ND Theses 2000 Comparison and evaluation of the moral significance of emotions in Aquinas, the Manualists and Catholic Moral Theology 1960-1990 Thomas Ryan University of Notre Dame Australia Follow this and additional works at: https://researchonline.nd.edu.au/theses Part of the Religion Commons COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA Copyright Regulations 1969 WARNING The material in this communication may be subject to copyright under the Act. Any further copying or communication of this material by you may be the subject of copyright protection under the Act. Do not remove this notice. Publication Details Ryan, T. (2000). Comparison and evaluation of the moral significance of emotions in Aquinas, the Manualists and Catholic Moral Theology 1960-1990 (Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)). University of Notre Dame Australia. https://researchonline.nd.edu.au/theses/25 This dissertation/thesis is brought to you by ResearchOnline@ND. It has been accepted for inclusion in Theses by an authorized administrator of ResearchOnline@ND. For more information, please contact [email protected]. COMPARISON AND EVALUATION OF THE MORAL SIGNIFICANCE OF EMOTIONS IN AQUINAS, THE MANUALISTS AND CATHOLIC MORAL THEOLOGY 1960-1990. THOMAS RYAN, S.M. Supervisor Dr. Peter Black, C.Ss.R. Thesis Submitted for the partial fulfilment of the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the College of Theology University of Notre Dame Australia Fremantle, Western Australia July 1999 1 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS A project such as this makes one realise how much one owes to so many people. I should like to say thank you to them all. Firstly, to my parents Teresa and John Ryan who, with all their children, gave us all both encouragement and opportunity to develop our gifts together with a certain flexibility of faith and attitudes.
    [Show full text]
  • 978-1-4964-4748-7.Pdf
    The Tyndale nonfiction imprint Visit Tyndale online at tyndale.com. Visit Tyndale Momentum online at tyndalemomentum.com. TYNDALE, Tyndale’s quill logo, Tyndale Momentum, and the Tyndale Momentum logo are registered trademarks of Tyndale House Ministries. Tyndale Momentum is the nonfiction imprint of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois. The Lord of the Rings is a trademark of the Saul Zaentz Company dba Tolkien Enterprises. Finding God in The Lord of the Rings Copyright © 2001 by Kurt Bruner; copyright © 2021 by Kurt Bruner and Jim Ware. All rights reserved. Cover illustration by Lindsey Bergsma. Copyright © Tyndale House Ministries. All rights reserved. Designed by Lindsey Bergsma Edited by Lisa A. Jackson All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version,® NIV.® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. Scripture quotations marked KJV are taken from the Holy Bible, King James Version. Scripture quotations marked NASB are taken from the New American Standard Bible,® copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. Scripture quotations marked NLT are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved. Scripture quotations marked NKJV are taken from the New King James Version,® copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All
    [Show full text]
  • Perspectives of Research for Intangible Cultural Heritage
    束 9mm Proceedings ISBN : 978-4-9909775-1-1 of the International Researchers Forum: Perspectives Research for Intangible Cultural Heritage towards a Sustainable Society Proceedings of International Researchers Forum: Perspectives of Research for Intangible Cultural Heritage towards a Sustainable Society 17-18 December 2019 Tokyo Japan Organised by International Research Centre for Intangible Cultural Heritage in the Asia-Pacific Region (IRCI), National Institutes for Cultural Heritage Agency for Cultural Affairs, Japan Co-organised by Tokyo National Research Institute for Cultural Properties, National Institutes for Cultural Heritage IRCI Proceedings of International Researchers Forum: Perspectives of Research for Intangible Cultural Heritage towards a Sustainable Society 17-18 December 2019 Tokyo Japan Organised by International Research Centre for Intangible Cultural Heritage in the Asia-Pacific Region (IRCI), National Institutes for Cultural Heritage Agency for Cultural Affairs, Japan Co-organised by Tokyo National Research Institute for Cultural Properties, National Institutes for Cultural Heritage Published by International Research Centre for Intangible Cultural Heritage in the Asia-Pacific Region (IRCI), National Institutes for Cultural Heritage 2 cho, Mozusekiun-cho, Sakai-ku, Sakai City, Osaka 590-0802, Japan Tel: +81 – 72 – 275 – 8050 Email: [email protected] Website: https://www.irci.jp © International Research Centre for Intangible Cultural Heritage in the Asia-Pacific Region (IRCI) Published on 10 March 2020 Preface The International Researchers Forum: Perspectives of Research for Intangible Cultural Heritage towards a Sustainable Society was organised by the International Research Centre for Intangible Cultural Heritage in the Asia-Pacific Region (IRCI) in cooperation with the Agency for Cultural Affairs of Japan and the Tokyo National Research Institute for Cultural Properties on 17–18 December 2019.
    [Show full text]
  • Towards a Phenomenology of Liberation: a Critical Theory of Race and the Fate of Democracy in Latin America”
    APA Newsletters NEWSLETTER ON HISPANIC/LATINO ISSUES IN PHILOSOPHY Volume 10, Number 1 Fall 2010 FROM THE EDITOR, BERNIE J. CANTEÑS ARTICLES CARLOS ALBERTO SANCHEZ “Against Values: Culture and Phenomenology in Jorge Portilla and Max Scheler” ALEJANDRO A. VALLEGA “Philosophy Beyond Pernicious Knowledge, from a Latin American Perspective” NYTHAMAR DE OLIVEIRA “Towards a Phenomenology of Liberation: A Critical Theory of Race and the Fate of Democracy in Latin America” BOOK REVIEW Enrique Dussel, Eduardo Mendieta, Carmen Bohórquez, Eds.: El pensamiento filósofico latinoamericano, del Caribe y “latino” [1300-2000]: Historia, Temas, Filósofos REVIEWED BY GRANT SILVA SUBMISSIONS CONTRIBUTORS © 2010 by The American Philosophical Association ISSN 2155-9708 APA NEWSLETTER ON Hispanic/Latino Issues in Philosophy Bernie J. Canteñs, Editor Fall 2010 Volume 10, Number 1 phenomenology.” De Oliveira’s thesis is developed in three ROM THE DITOR parts: (1) Philosophy of Race, (2) Liberation Philosophy, and F E (3) Critical Theory. According to de Oliveira, this new social phenomenology will avoid the “objectivist claims of Marxism” and “subjectivist ‘representations’ of postcolonial and cultural Bernie Canteñs studies.” De Oliveira adopts a “weak social constructionist” Moravian College conception of race. He understands that any account of race in Latin America will be intertwined with political and social The fall 2010 issue of the Newsletter contains Carlos Alberto psychology, and his philosophy of race intends to deconstruct Sanchez’s “Against Values: Culture and Phenomenology in racial democracy myths or scientific and historical conceptions Jorge Portilla and Max Scheler.” Sanchez’s essay compares of race, and Eurocentric myths of liberation such as democracy, the “European crisis of value” with the “Mexican crisis of liberalism, and socialism.
    [Show full text]
  • A Deleuzian Reading of Nietzsche's Critique of Nihilism
    ON AFFIRMATION AND BECOMING: A DELEUZIAN READING OF NIETZSCHE'S CRITIQUE OF NIHILISM ''•;.' • ;' ' \-i,' =M t- . '.'/r,. r by ( ., .Si •' .1 Paolo A. Bolanos THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF ARTS In the Department of Philosophy fiYt © Paolo A. Bolanos BROCK UNIVERSITY October 2005 JAMES A QBSC^f LIBRARY HWCK UNIVERSITY ST. ft n CATHARINES ON Mj^, AH rights reserved. This work may not be reproduced in whole or in part, by photocopy or other means, without permission of the author. ABSTRACT The main thrust of this thesis is the re-exploration of Friedrich Nietzsche's "critique of nihilism" through the lenses of Gilles Deleuze. A Deleuzian reading of Nietzsche is motivated by a post-deconstructiiye style of interpretation, inasmuch as Deleuze goes beyond, or in between, hermeneutics and deconstruction. Deleuze's post-deconstructive reading of Nietzsche is, however, only secondary to the main aim of this thesis. The primary thrust of this study is the critique of a way of thinking characterized by Nietzsche as nihilistic. Therefore, it should be noted that this study is not about Deleuze's reading per se; rather, it is an appraisal of Nietzsche's "critique of nihilism" using Deleuze's experimental reading. We will accrue Nietzsche's critique and Deleuze's post-deconstructive reading in order to appraise Nietzsche's critique itself. Insofar as we have underscored Deleuze's purported experimentation of Nietzschean themes, this study is also an experiment in itself. Through this experin\entation, we will find out whether it is possible to partly gloss Nietzsche's critique of nihilism through Deleuzian phraseology.
    [Show full text]
  • The Christian Mythology of CS Lewis and JRR Tolkien
    Western Kentucky University TopSCHOLAR® Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Honors College at WKU Projects 2010 Roads to the Great Eucatastrophie: The hrC istian Mythology of C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien Laura Anne Hess Western Kentucky University Follow this and additional works at: http://digitalcommons.wku.edu/stu_hon_theses Part of the Philosophy Commons, and the Religion Commons Recommended Citation Hess, Laura Anne, "Roads to the Great Eucatastrophie: The hrC istian Mythology of C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien" (2010). Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects. Paper 237. http://digitalcommons.wku.edu/stu_hon_theses/237 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by TopSCHOLAR®. It has been accepted for inclusion in Honors College Capstone Experience/ Thesis Projects by an authorized administrator of TopSCHOLAR®. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Copyright by Laura Ann Hess 2010 ABSTRACT The purpose of this thesis is to analyze how C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien created mythology that is fundamentally Christian but in vastly different ways. This task will be accomplished by examining the childhood and early adult life of both Lewis and Tolkien, as well as the effect their close friendship had on their writing, and by performing a detailed literary analysis of some of their mythological works. After an introduction, the second and third chapters will scrutinize the elements of their childhood and adolescence that shaped their later mythology. The next chapter will look at the importance of their Christian faith in their writing process, with special attention to Tolkien’s writing philosophy as explained in “On Fairy-Stories.” The fifth chapter analyzes the effect that Lewis and Tolkien’s friendship had on their writing, in conjunction with the effect of their literary club, the Inklings.
    [Show full text]
  • Marquette Studies in Philosophy Andrew Tallon, Series Editor Full List by Series Number
    Marquette Studies in Philosophy Andrew Tallon, Series Editor Full List by Series Number Links go to pages for each book. To Order Please Go to “Order Books” tab on Home Page or click here 1. Harry Klocker, SJ. William of Ockham and the Divine Freedom. ISBN 0-87462-001-5. ©1996. 141 pp. Paperbound. Index. $15. First edition sold out. Second edition, reviewed, corrected and with a new Introduction. 2. Margaret Monahan Hogan. Finality and Marriage. ISBN 0-87462-600-5. 121 pp. Paperbound, $15. NOTE: See #34, below for the second revised and updated edition. 3. Gerald A. McCool, SJ. The Neo-Thomists. ISBN 0-87462-601-1. ©1994. 3rd printing, revised & corrected, 2003. Paperbound, 175 pp. $20 4. Max Scheler. Ressentiment. ISBN 0-87462-602-1.©1998. 4th printing, corrected, 2003. Paperbound. Index. New Introduction by Manfred Frings. 172 pp. $20 5. Augustine Shutte. Philosophy for Africa. ISBN 0-87462-608-0. ©1995. Paperbound. 184 pp. $20 6. Howard P. Kainz. Democracy and the ‘Kingdom of God.’ ISBN 0-87462-610-2. ©1995. Paperbound. Index. $25 7. Knud Løgstrup. Metaphysics. ISBN 0-87462-603-X. ©1995. Volume I. 400 pp. Paperbound. Formerly $40; now $20.00 ISBN 0-67462-607-2. Volume II. 400 pp. Paperbound. Formerly $40; now $20.00 8. Manfred Frings. Max Scheler. A Concise Introduction into the World of a Great Thinker. ISBN 0-87462-605-6. ©1996. Paperbound. Second edition, revised. Index. New Foreword by the author. $20 9. G. Heath King. Existence, Thought, Style: Perspectives of a Primary Relation, portrayed through the work of Søren Kierkegaard.
    [Show full text]
  • Being of God: a Trinitarian Critique of Postmodern A/Theology
    RICE UNIVERSITY (DE)CONSTRUCTING THE (NON)BEING OF GHD: A TRINITARIAN CRITIQUE OF POSTMODERN A/THEOLOGY by B. KEITH PUTT A THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY APPROVED, THESIS COMMITTEE Niels C. Nielsen, Jr.,Director Professor Emeritus of Philoso¬ phy and Religious Thought Werner H. Kelber Isla Carroll Turner and Percy E. Turner Professor of Reli¬ gious Studies Stjeven G. Crowell Associate Professor of Philoso¬ phy Houston, Texas May, 1995 Copyright B. Keith Putt 1995 ABSTRACT (DE) CONSTRUCTING THE (NON) BEING OF G8D: A TRINITARIAN CRITIQUE OF POSTMODERN A/THEOLOGY by B. KEITH PUTT Langdon Gilkey maintained in 1969 that theological language was in "ferment" over whether "God" could be ex¬ pressed in language. He argued that "radical theology," specifically the kenotic christology in Altizer's "death of God" theology, best represented that ferment. Some twenty- five years later, in the postmodern context of the 1990's, whether one can speak of God and, if so, how remain promi¬ nent issues for philosophers of religion and theologians. One of the most provocative contemporary approaches to these questions continues to focus on the "death of God." Mark Taylor's a/theology attempts to "do" theology after the divine demise by thinking the end of theology without ending theological thinking. Taylor's primary thesis, predicated upon his reading of Jacques Derrida's deconstruetive philos¬ ophy, is that God gives way to the sacred and the sacred may be encountered only within the "divine milieu" of writing. God is dead, the self is dead, history has no structure, and language cannot be totalized in books; consequently, theo¬ logy must be errant and textually disseminative.
    [Show full text]
  • Re-Thinking Ressentiment on the Limits of Criticism and the Limits of Its Critics
    2016-04-21 16-30-26 --- Projekt: transcript.anzeigen / Dokument: FAX ID 0148427641680892|(S. 1- 2) VOR2128.p 427641680900 From: Jeanne Riou, Mary Gallagher (eds.) Re-thinking Ressentiment On the Limits of Criticism and the Limits of its Critics May 2016, 220 p., 28,99 €, ISBN 978-3-8376-2128-0 The charge of »Ressentiment« can in today’s world – less from traditionally conserva- tive quarters than from the neo-positivist discourses of particular forms of liberalism – be used to undermine the argumentative credibility of political opponents, dissidents and those who call for greater »justice«. The essays in this volume draw on the broad spectrum of cultural discourse on »Ressentiment«, both in historical and contempora- ry contexts. Starting with its conceptual genesis, the essays also show contemporary nuances of »Ressentiment« as well as its influence on literary discourse and philoso- phical discourse in the 20th century. Jeanne Riou lectures in German Studies at University College Dublin. Mary Gallagher lectures in French and Francophone Studies at University College Dublin. For further information: www.transcript-verlag.de/978-3-8376-2128-0 © 2016 transcript Verlag, Bielefeld 2016-04-21 16-30-26 --- Projekt: transcript.anzeigen / Dokument: FAX ID 0148427641680892|(S. 1- 2) VOR2128.p 427641680900 Contents Acknowledgements | vi Introduction: Towards a History of Ressentiment Jeanne Riou | 1 Introduction: The Critical Focus of Re-thinking Ressentiment Mary Gallagher | 24 The Question of Resentment in Western and Confucian Philosophy Eric S. Nelson | 33 Ressentiment as Moral Imperative: Jean Améry’s Nietzschean Revaluation of Victim Morality Victoria Fareld | 53 Ressentiment beyond Nietzsche and Améry: H.
    [Show full text]
  • An Introduction to C. S. Lewis
    An Introduction to C. S. Lewis Clive Staples Lewis—C. S. Lewis to many readers—was born in Belfast, Ireland, on November 29, 1898. His parents were Albert James Lewis, a solicitor, and Florence Augusta Lewis. Lewis had one brother, Warren Hamilton Lewis, with whom he remained close for all of his life. Lewis read widely as a child, but dearly enjoyed stories about animals and nature, a theme which resurfaced in his later work The Chronicles of Narnia. Lewis and his brother Warren even created an imaginary world called Boxen in which animals lived and talked together. Coupled with Lewis’ love of creating worlds filled with anthropomorphic animals and lively natural settings was his love for ancient literature, including the epic sagas of Iceland, Norse mythology, and Greek and Medieval literature. Readers familiar with his work will recognize how these these genres and themes influenced the trajectory of his life’s work. In his early years of education, Lewis attended several private preparatory schools in Britain, including Wynyard School in Hertfordshire (1908), Campbell College in Belfast (1910), and Cherbourg House at Malvern, Worcestershire (1911). Due to poor health, though, he never remained at these schools for long. It was during his time in Worcestershire that Lewis pronounced himself an atheist, a belief he held onto until 1929 when he became a theist and then a Christian. In December 1916, Lewis received a scholarship to study at University College, Oxford. His life of academic study took a tremendous turn, however, for in 1917 Lewis enlisted in the British Army. After training, Lewis attained the rank of Second Lieutenant with the Third Battalion of the Somerset Light Infantry.
    [Show full text]
  • On Resentment
    On Resentment On Resentment: Past and Present Edited by Bernardino Fantini, Dolores Martín Moruno and Javier Moscoso On Resentment: Past and Present, Edited by Bernardino Fantini, Dolores Martín Moruno and Javier Moscoso This book first published 2013 Cambridge Scholars Publishing 12 Back Chapman Street, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE6 2XX, UK British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Copyright © 2013 by Bernardino Fantini, Dolores Martín Moruno and Javier Moscoso and contributors All rights for this book reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the copyright owner. ISBN (10): 1-4438-4772-0, ISBN (13): 978-1-4438-4772-8 TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction ................................................................................................. 1 On Resentment: Past and Present of an Emotion Dolores Martín Moruno Part I: How to Write the History of Resentment Chapter One ............................................................................................... 19 The Shadows of Ourselves: Resentment, Monomania and Modernity Javier Moscoso Chapter Two .............................................................................................. 37 Nietzsche: The “First Psychologist” and Genealogist of Ressentiment Yamina Oudai Celso Chapter Three ...........................................................................................
    [Show full text]
  • Tolkien's Inspirations and Influences in His Book, Intentionally It Seems
    Last updated 9 March 2008 Tolkien’s inspirations and influences on his works An alphabetical entry list compiled by Ardamir of the Lord of the Rings Fanatics Forum (http://www.lotrplaza.com/forum/) While reading J.R.R. Tolkien: A Biography by Humphrey Carpenter about 2½ years ago, I noticed that he mentions many of Tolkien's inspirations and influences in his book, intentionally it seems. I took the opportunity to start listing these inspirations along with their sources, and have since then used many other sources for my list. I am listing elements in Tolkien's works in alphabetical order, along with their respective inspirations, and the sources I have used. Many of the inspirations are (very) speculative, and those I have marked with a '?', but some are obvious. The list is not meant (at least not yet) to be a detailed investigation of Tolkien's inspirations but rather to include just the relevant information and gather all the inspirations in one place for each entry. I know that it has many defects, and it is somewhat lacking in sources and references, but I am constantly improving it while adding more and more inspirations. I would greatly appreciate it if other people would take a look at it and tell me what they think about it, and also suggest additions and improvements. I am not making the list just for the benefit of myself, but for everyone. I update the list almost every day. Bolded (emphasized) parts of quotes by me. Entries that are names are in italics. Entries for text passages can be found in a separate section at the end.
    [Show full text]