July 23, 2006
Finished Thomas Mann’s Last Essays. What a fantastic writer he was! I especially liked his essay on Nietzsche. Mann’s criticism of Nietzsche’s philosophy is very insightful and profound. About Nietzsche himself Mann writes that “his life was inebriation and suffering-a highly artistic combination. In mythological terms, it was the union of Dionysus with the Crucified One.” He goes further to ask, “What was it that drove Nietzsche upward into the pathless wastes, lashed him on to the tortuous climb, and brought him to a martyr’s death on the cross of thought? It was his destiny-and his destiny was his genius.” He is surely right. Although I’ve always admired Nietzsche’s writings on art but for some intuitive reason his whole philosophy doesn’t appeal to me. After all Schopenhauer was the master, and Nietzsche the disciple. Although Nietzsche claims that he has surpassed his master’s place, but alas, that he has greatly failed.
Posted by amin at July 23, 2006 4:59 PM