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A 'Pessimism of Strength': Nietzsche and the Tragic Sublime

A 'Pessimism of Strength': Nietzsche and the Tragic Sublime

Urpeth, Jim (1998) A 'Pessimism of Strength': Nietzsche and the Tragic Sublime. In: Lippitt, John, (ed.) Nietzsche's Futures: Nobility, Laughter, Art, Nature and the Transhuman. Palgrave MacMillan, Basingstoke, UK, pp. 129-148. ISBN 9780333682586

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Abstract

In relation to the overall theme of the collection (Nietzsche's Futures') in which this paper appears, namely, Nietzsche and the 'future of the human' I offer a reading of Nietzsche's "The Birth of Tragedy" (and some selected later notes)to argue for the key role of art in relation to Nietzsche's project of 'overcoming the human'. It is argued that Nietzsche credits the pre-Socratic Greeks, and in particular their tragic dramas, with achieving a 'transvaluation' of the optimism/pessimism distinction and thereby promoting an overcoming of the man/nature distinction. The extent to which this outlook is attained by Nietzsche in his first published work - and which aspects of it demonstrate this - is underlined in its contrast with a number of current interpretations of the work.

Item Type: Book Section
Additional Information: Most of the essays ... arose from papers presented at the fifth annual conference of Britain's Friedrich Nietzsche Society, held at the University of Hertfordshire during September 1995
Uncontrolled Keywords: Nietzsche, tragedy, sublime, beyond optimism/pessimism.
Subjects: B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > B Philosophy (General)
Pre-2014 Departments: School of Humanities & Social Sciences
School of Humanities & Social Sciences > Department of Social, Political & Cultural Studies
Related URLs:
Last Modified: 03 Aug 2018 11:26
URI: http://gala.gre.ac.uk/id/eprint/8050

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