Friday, April 26, 2013

Dionysus, Apollo, Deification

In Birth of Tragedy, Nietzsche first introduces Dionysus and Apollo as independent deities; later, in #21, characterizes them as "fraternal"; while eventually, in "22, he seems to settle on the suggestion that the former is, if not more fundamental, at least the dominant of the two brothers.  However, regardless of these vacillations, a relation that he does not seem to entertain underlies them all.  Simply, Dionysus is a deity, a deity is a personified individuation of some experiences, and Apollo is the god of personified individuation.  Hence, Dionysus presupposes Apollo, even if the experiences that he personifies, e. g. intoxication, sexual activity, etc. do not.  This relation precedes even what he describes in #8--the vision of his god by the Dionysian reveler qua satyr, since, Dionysus, as merely posited, is presupposed by such revelry.  Likewise, the interpretation of Apollo as a 'mask' of Dionysus overlooks that the concept of 'mask' is itself Apollinian.  Thus, in general, any reduction of Apollo to Dionysus, which would explain the disappearance of the former in Nietzsche's post-Birth works, is problematic.

No comments:

Post a Comment