Wednesday, April 19, 2017

Apollinian Art and Genius

Differences between Dionysian and Apollinian Arts that Nietzsche does not explore are that while the former is a performance at which an audience is immediately present, the latter is the product of a creative process at which an audience is usually not in attendance.  Now, some have posited that the aim of Apollinian Art is the representation of ideal form that transcends the vicissitudes of Becoming. However, just the converse can be attributed to it.  For, what an audience receives is an inert object--a book, a sculpture, a painting--the artistic challenge of which is to make it come alive, i. e. to imply the existence of a vital process of which the apparently inert object is a moment.  The Artist thereby communicates the dynamic creative process of which the completion of the product is one moment, and when sufficiently inspired, the Genius that elevates the Artist is reflected in the product.  There can be little doubt that Nietsche is well aware of the challenge to express a Dionysian Philosophy in the inert pages of a book, i. e. of an Apollinian Artifact.

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