Commonplace 234 George & Nietzsche's Greek Musings.
With pictures by Bernard Buffet (1928-99)
click.
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| Le Clown 1957 |
Even though they never met, George and Friedrich Nietzsche were 'brothers of another mother' in quite a few ways. For one thing, they both had luxurious facial hair. And both had syphilis which biographers try to claim as something more sanitised and less common-or-garden and not sex-related. As if some terminal neurologically catastrophic illnesses are nicer or more acceptable than others! No-one wants to contract syphilis and anyone who does is unlucky, not depraved.
Oh, and both adored the Greeks.
'Philosophy in the Tragic Age of the Greeks' is an unfinished work by Friedrich Nietzsche. It was put together in 1873, worked on for a while, abandoned and then published after his death. It contains his thoughts on several of the lesser known (to the average person) Greek philosophers, and would have included several more if the author had finished it.
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| Death 1999 |
George would have enjoyed a long chat about the Greeks with Nietzsche though he would have been wary of the German's startlingly superior intellect. In his limited social circle, Eduard Bertz, the German man-wife and devoted fan, was the one George probably regarded as almost his intellectual equal, though he never was really likely to truly think so. Morley Roberts was never in the running for that role, but he was sometimes geographically closer at hand; Bertz gets the long letters from George full of notes about what he's been reading and his constant grumbles about the world, life and all living things he meets.
Anyone would be intimidated by Fred Nietzsche, firstly for the originality of his ideas, but also the force with which he usually delivered them. George was neither original nor forceful, but would have liked to be either. He did not like to mix with anyone smarter or with more inventive, creative ideas, but he would have liked to compete with Fred to prove his own vast knowledge of the Greeks, a source of immense personal pride. In fact, it could be argued that all George's self esteem was rooted in his extensive reading of the Greeks (and Romans); but as knowledge does not always transmute into wisdom, he didn't always benefit from what he knew.
Nietzsche is always worth taking a look at because he is a Titan of philosophy; and in the range and scope of his thinking, speaks deep truths. Even when he is talking like a paretic madman - which he was apt to do - he makes us think. Perhaps he and George would have compared notes on their shared experience of syphilis; luckily for George, his ate at his heart more than his brain, and he was spared what Fred had to endure.
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| La Chauve-souris 1997 |
The 1870s were a busy time for both Nietzsche and George. Nietzsche served as a medical orderly in a war, contracted syphilis, took up teaching, published his first book, saw a decline in his health and fell in and out of love with Richard Wagner and Arthur Schopenhauer, whilst mixing with philosophers and intellectuals. George went to prison, spent a gap year in America, contracted syphilis, got married, took up teaching, published his first book, saw a decline in his health, fell in love with Schopenhauer, and mixed with philosophers and intellectuals. Nietzsche worked on establishing the Bayreuth Festival, but eventually became disillusioned with the way German nationalism was being confused with German culture, and he despised both as concepts. George became disillusioned with almost everything and was never a nationalist, though he did feel he was an expert on all things the very best in culture - as long as it was the sort of thing a small minority of 'aristocrats' could enjoy. The sort of aristocrats whose fathers ran shops in industrial small towns.
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| Tower Bridge 1960 |
Both George and Fred spent a good deal of their time chasing the optimum weather to ameliorate their various physical ailments, and moved from place to place to get the perfect wholesome home. Both suffered from a range of problems - on top of those brought on by their syphilis - and were always sick or worried about their health. Fred and George were conflicted about their attachment to their sisters, and both relied on the support of their mothers, whilst despising them. Both had what might be termed 'contempt' for women, mostly because both craved the love, adoration and support of them but hated to admit it. There was never enough love in any woman for either of them - and both thought any woman would be content to sacrifice herself just to be chosen as a mate. Both fell in love with girls who turned down marriage proposals from them and both felt hard done by because of it. Both dabbled in poetry of the Greek bent. Both used the word 'eheu' to express dismay. Nietzsche, in one of his most paretic moments, claimed to be the entity from which Shakespeare, Dionysis, Julius Caesar and the Buddha were reincarnated (or transmogrified); George claimed to be an undervalued and under-appreciated creative genius born with special 'aristocratic' genes. Both were delusional, bordering on the grandiose at times, but then, both were men. Haha.
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| The Giantess 1968 |
In his 'Birth of Tragedy' (1872) Fred gives us the dualism of Apollo and Dionysus, the Greek gods he said exemplified the human condition, the former being all about considered reason and mental wisdom under control, with the latter being all about spontaneous and sensual reflexes. Nietzsche puts forth the argument that both have to be in balance in order to be truly human, and if we snuff out the Dionysian in our souls, we lose half of ourselves. As much as he advocated Dionysus, he abhorred alcohol for its power to numb emotional pain. For him, suffering is what makes us full human beings because the human condition is defined by pain. George would agree.
Amongst the many gems that spilled from Nietzsche's big beautiful bonkers at times brain that George might have wished he had written is this, taken from '
How George would have agreed! Suffering is what much of his work is about - and his life was riddled with self-inflicted torture - loneliness, unhappy marriages, failure, penny-pinching, disillusionment, lack of recognition... It's there in the constant themes of George's work but it's what makes George such a fascinating writer. And, in his autobiographical works, it makes him more of a real human being, and less of a figment of some biographer's florid imagination. George, for all his whingeing and pussying about knew a thing or two about endurance. But, isn't this one of the truly over-estimated personal qualities? Endurance is not always the best way to deal with life - as organised religion has taught us - suffer now to get a reward later is such a pants rip off scam! Endurance smacks of an inability to effect change, or to strive towards empowerment. Not that we have to be empowered but endurance is not the stuff of self-actualisation. It is the stuff of masochism and the acceptance of the status quo; of complacency and self-pity. It is the realm of Bad Faith, as Sartre sees it. Not that I want to argue with Friedrich Nietzsche!!
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| Self Portrait 1981 |
Handy Nietzsche websites don't get much better than these:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wHWbZmg2hzU
http://www.thenietzschechannel.com/correspondence/eng/nlett-1889.htm
http://www.iep.utm.edu/nietzsch
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