STYLE, NIETZSCHE’S STYLE
I am interested in style, particularly Nietzsche's. Over time and different texts, his style changes. Visually, the pages of text of his later writings compare differently to the earlier texts. Dashes are used not only pragmatically, but more gesturally, in performative ways. Many of his later passages read dramaturgic. In the Genealogy of Morals, his declamatory style reads like an extended interior monologue, not unlike Shakespeare. In Zarathustra, he writes in the poetic aphorisms that are easy to memorize and repeat, and that appeal to artists. The transmutation of the dash is particularly noticeable in comparisons of earlier and later texts. In Birth of Tragedy, in 1870-71, the dash tends to serve as a sort of parenthesis. In his Attempt at Self-Criticism of the same text, written sixteen years later, the dash has virtually lost this function, rather marking the beginning of a new idea before another has ended; or perhaps indicating a change in locution.
What accounts for this change? One possible influence on his writing was Nietzsche's intense physical pain (migraines); another are his marathonic writing bouts. The influence of technology on style - the Malling-Hansen typewriter Nietzsche used - has also been discussed, as argued by Friedrich Kittler: "Nietzsche [...] changed from arguments to aphorisms, from thoughts to puns, from rhetoric to telegram style." Or is it possible the declamatory style was there all along - and we have just been tracking its apparent development through the chronology of published editions?
As part of a broader question on the development of Nietzsche’s ideas, and my general interest in the influence of technology on writing styles, I will focus here on the evolution of Nietzsche’s style in relation to his ideas on “living life as thought it is art,” particularly the Baroque Gesamtkunstwerk, which I intend to argue is a parallel refinement of his ideas on the Dionysiac.
I. Style in relation to [which?] context;
II. Style in relation to [which?] ideas;
III. Reception / legacy [whose?]
Documentation of research here.
I am interested in style, particularly Nietzsche's. Over time and different texts, his style changes. Visually, the pages of text of his later writings compare differently to the earlier texts. Dashes are used not only pragmatically, but more gesturally, in performative ways. Many of his later passages read dramaturgic. In the Genealogy of Morals, his declamatory style reads like an extended interior monologue, not unlike Shakespeare. In Zarathustra, he writes in the poetic aphorisms that are easy to memorize and repeat, and that appeal to artists. The transmutation of the dash is particularly noticeable in comparisons of earlier and later texts. In Birth of Tragedy, in 1870-71, the dash tends to serve as a sort of parenthesis. In his Attempt at Self-Criticism of the same text, written sixteen years later, the dash has virtually lost this function, rather marking the beginning of a new idea before another has ended; or perhaps indicating a change in locution.
What accounts for this change? One possible influence on his writing was Nietzsche's intense physical pain (migraines); another are his marathonic writing bouts. The influence of technology on style - the Malling-Hansen typewriter Nietzsche used - has also been discussed, as argued by Friedrich Kittler: "Nietzsche [...] changed from arguments to aphorisms, from thoughts to puns, from rhetoric to telegram style." Or is it possible the declamatory style was there all along - and we have just been tracking its apparent development through the chronology of published editions?
As part of a broader question on the development of Nietzsche’s ideas, and my general interest in the influence of technology on writing styles, I will focus here on the evolution of Nietzsche’s style in relation to his ideas on “living life as thought it is art,” particularly the Baroque Gesamtkunstwerk, which I intend to argue is a parallel refinement of his ideas on the Dionysiac.
I. Style in relation to [which?] context;
II. Style in relation to [which?] ideas;
III. Reception / legacy [whose?]
Documentation of research here.
Blog opened October 11 2015 --
