The Twilight of the Idols; or, How to Philosophize with the Hammer. The Antichrist: Complete Works, Volume Sixteen — Nietzsche — John Shaqi
The Twilight of the Idols; or, How to Philosophize with the Hammer. The Antichrist: Complete Works, Volume Sixteen
Nietzsche · en
The actor, the mime, the dancer, the musician, and the lyricist, are
in their instincts fundamentally related; but they have gradually
specialised in their particular branch, and become separated—even
to the point of contradiction. The lyricist remained united with the
musician for the longest period of time; and the actor with the dancer.
The architect manifests neither a Dionysian nor an Apollonian state: In
his case it is the great act of will, the will that moveth mountains,
the ecstasy of the great will which aspires to art. The most powerful
men have always inspired architects; the architect has always been
under the suggestion of power. In the architectural structure, man’s
pride, man’s triumph over gravitation, man’s will to power, assume
a visible form. Architecture is a sort of oratory of power by means
of forms. Now it is persuasive, even flattering, and at other times
merely commanding. The highest sensation of power and security finds
expression in grandeur of style. That power which no longer requires to
be proved, which scorns to please; which responds only with difficulty;
which feels no witnesses around it; which is oblivious of the fact
that it is being opposed; which relies on itself fatalistically, and
is a law among laws:—such power expresses itself quite naturally in
grandeur of style.
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I have been reading the life of Thomas Carlyle, that unconscious and
involuntary farce, that heroico-moral interpretation of dyspeptic
moods.—Carlyle, a man of strong words and attitudes, a rhetorician by
necessity, who seems ever to be tormented by the desire of finding some
kind of strong faith, and by his inability to do so (—in this respect
a typical Romanticist!). To yearn for a strong faith is not the proof
of a strong faith, but rather the reverse. If a man have a strong faith
he can indulge in the luxury of scepticism; he is strong enough, firm
enough, well-knit enough for such a luxury. Carlyle stupefies something
in himself by means of the _fortissimo_ of his reverence for men of a
strong faith, and his rage over those who are less foolish: he is in
sore need of noise. An attitude of constant and passionate dishonesty
towards himself—this is his _proprium;_ by virtue of this he is and
remains interesting.—Of course, in England he is admired precisely
on account of his honesty. Well, that is English; and in view of the
fact that the English are the nation of consummate cant, it is not only
comprehensible but also very natural. At bottom, Carlyle is an English
atheist who makes it a point of honour not to be one.
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