Reading Help Beyond good and evil
regard it as a satisfaction, a relief, a deliverance, that this `
` very Romanticism of Schumann's has been surmounted? Schumann, `
` fleeing into the "Saxon Switzerland" of his soul, with a half `
` Werther-like, half Jean-Paul-like nature (assuredly not like `
` Beethoven! assuredly not like Byron!)--his MANFRED music is a `
` mistake and a misunderstanding to the extent of injustice; `
` Schumann, with his taste, which was fundamentally a PETTY taste `
` (that is to say, a dangerous propensity--doubly dangerous among `
` Germans--for quiet lyricism and intoxication of the feelings), `
` going constantly apart, timidly withdrawing and retiring, a noble `
` weakling who revelled in nothing but anonymous joy and sorrow, `
` from the beginning a sort of girl and NOLI ME TANGERE--this `
` Schumann was already merely a GERMAN event in music, and no `
` longer a European event, as Beethoven had been, as in a still `
` greater degree Mozart had been; with Schumann German music was `
` threatened with its greatest danger, that of LOSING THE VOICE FOR `
` THE SOUL OF EUROPE and sinking into a merely national affair. `
` `
` 246. What a torture are books written in German to a reader who `
` has a THIRD ear! How indignantly he stands beside the slowly `
` turning swamp of sounds without tune and rhythms without dance, `
` which Germans call a "book"! And even the German who READS books! `
` How lazily, how reluctantly, how badly he reads! How many Germans `
` know, and consider it obligatory to know, that there is ART in `
` every good sentence--art which must be divined, if the sentence `
` is to be understood! If there is a misunderstanding about its `
` TEMPO, for instance, the sentence itself is misunderstood! That `
` one must not be doubtful about the rhythm-determining syllables, `
` that one should feel the breaking of the too-rigid symmetry as `
` intentional and as a charm, that one should lend a fine and `
` patient ear to every STACCATO and every RUBATO, that one should `
` divine the sense in the sequence of the vowels and diphthongs, `
` and how delicately and richly they can be tinted and retinted in `
` the order of their arrangement--who among book-reading Germans is `
` complaisant enough to recognize such duties and requirements, and `
` to listen to so much art and intention in language? After all, `
` one just "has no ear for it"; and so the most marked contrasts of `
` style are not heard, and the most delicate artistry is as it were `
` SQUANDERED on the deaf.--These were my thoughts when I noticed `
` how clumsily and unintuitively two masters in the art of prose- `
` writing have been confounded: one, whose words drop down `
` hesitatingly and coldly, as from the roof of a damp cave--he `
` counts on their dull sound and echo; and another who manipulates `
` his language like a flexible sword, and from his arm down into `
` his toes feels the dangerous bliss of the quivering, over-sharp `
` blade, which wishes to bite, hiss, and cut. `
` `
` 247. How little the German style has to do with harmony and with `
` the ear, is shown by the fact that precisely our good musicians `
` themselves write badly. The German does not read aloud, he does `
` not read for the ear, but only with his eyes; he has put his ears `
` away in the drawer for the time. In antiquity when a man read-- `
` which was seldom enough--he read something to himself, and in a `
` loud voice; they were surprised when any one read silently, and `
` sought secretly the reason of it. In a loud voice: that is to `
` say, with all the swellings, inflections, and variations of key `
` and changes of TEMPO, in which the ancient PUBLIC world took `
` delight. The laws of the written style were then the same as `
` those of the spoken style; and these laws depended partly on the `
` surprising development and refined requirements of the ear and `
` larynx; partly on the strength, endurance, and power of the `
` ancient lungs. In the ancient sense, a period is above all a `
` physiological whole, inasmuch as it is comprised in one breath. `
` Such periods as occur in Demosthenes and Cicero, swelling twice `
` and sinking twice, and all in one breath, were pleasures to the `
` men of ANTIQUITY, who knew by their own schooling how to `
` appreciate the virtue therein, the rareness and the difficulty in `
` the deliverance of such a period;--WE have really no right to the `
` BIG period, we modern men, who are short of breath in every `
` sense! Those ancients, indeed, were all of them dilettanti in `
` speaking, consequently connoisseurs, consequently critics--they `
` thus brought their orators to the highest pitch; in the same `
` manner as in the last century, when all Italian ladies and `
` gentlemen knew how to sing, the virtuosoship of song (and with it `
` also the art of melody) reached its elevation. In Germany, `
` however (until quite recently when a kind of platform eloquence `
` began shyly and awkwardly enough to flutter its young wings), `
` there was properly speaking only one kind of public and `
` APPROXIMATELY artistical discourse--that delivered from the `
` pulpit. The preacher was the only one in Germany who knew the `
` weight of a syllable or a word, in what manner a sentence `
` strikes, springs, rushes, flows, and comes to a close; he alone `
` had a conscience in his ears, often enough a bad conscience: for `
` reasons are not lacking why proficiency in oratory should be `
` especially seldom attained by a German, or almost always too `
` late. The masterpiece of German prose is therefore with good `
` reason the masterpiece of its greatest preacher: the BIBLE has `
` hitherto been the best German book. Compared with Luther's Bible, `
` almost everything else is merely "literature"--something which `
` has not grown in Germany, and therefore has not taken and does `
` not take root in German hearts, as the Bible has done. `
` `
` 248. There are two kinds of geniuses: one which above all `
` engenders and seeks to engender, and another which willingly lets `
` itself be fructified and brings forth. And similarly, among the `
` gifted nations, there are those on whom the woman's problem of `
` pregnancy has devolved, and the secret task of forming, maturing, `
` and perfecting--the Greeks, for instance, were a nation of this `
` kind, and so are the French; and others which have to fructify `
` and become the cause of new modes of life--like the Jews, the `
` Romans, and, in all modesty be it asked: like the Germans?-- `
` nations tortured and enraptured by unknown fevers and `
` irresistibly forced out of themselves, amorous and longing for `
` foreign races (for such as "let themselves be fructified"), and `
` withal imperious, like everything conscious of being full of `
` generative force, and consequently empowered "by the grace of `
` God." These two kinds of geniuses seek each other like man and `
` woman; but they also misunderstand each other--like man and `
` woman. `
` `
` 249. Every nation has its own "Tartuffery," and calls that its `
` virtue.--One does not know--cannot know, the best that is in one. `
` `
` 250. What Europe owes to the Jews?--Many things, good and bad, `
` and above all one thing of the nature both of the best and the `
` worst: the grand style in morality, the fearfulness and majesty `
` of infinite demands, of infinite significations, the whole `
` Romanticism and sublimity of moral questionableness--and `
` consequently just the most attractive, ensnaring, and exquisite `
` element in those iridescences and allurements to life, in the `
` aftersheen of which the sky of our European culture, its evening `
` sky, now glows--perhaps glows out. For this, we artists among the `
` spectators and philosophers, are--grateful to the Jews. `
` `
` 251. It must be taken into the bargain, if various clouds and `
` disturbances--in short, slight attacks of stupidity--pass over `
` the spirit of a people that suffers and WANTS to suffer from `
` national nervous fever and political ambition: for instance, `
` among present-day Germans there is alternately the anti-French `
` folly, the anti-Semitic folly, the anti-Polish folly, the `
` Christian-romantic folly, the Wagnerian folly, the Teutonic `
` folly, the Prussian folly (just look at those poor historians, `
` the Sybels and Treitschkes, and their closely bandaged heads), `
` and whatever else these little obscurations of the German spirit `
` and conscience may be called. May it be forgiven me that I, too, `
` when on a short daring sojourn on very infected ground, did not `
` remain wholly exempt from the disease, but like every one else, `
` began to entertain thoughts about matters which did not concern `
` me--the first symptom of political infection. About the Jews, for `
` instance, listen to the following:--I have never yet met a German `
` who was favourably inclined to the Jews; and however decided the `
` repudiation of actual anti-Semitism may be on the part of all `
` prudent and political men, this prudence and policy is not `
` perhaps directed against the nature of the sentiment itself, but `
` only against its dangerous excess, and especially against the `
` distasteful and infamous expression of this excess of sentiment; `
` --on this point we must not deceive ourselves. That Germany has `
` amply SUFFICIENT Jews, that the German stomach, the German blood, `
` has difficulty (and will long have difficulty) in disposing only `
` of this quantity of "Jew"--as the Italian, the Frenchman, and the `
` Englishman have done by means of a stronger digestion:--that is `
` the unmistakable declaration and language of a general instinct, `
` to which one must listen and according to which one must act. `
` "Let no more Jews come in! And shut the doors, especially towards `
` the East (also towards Austria)!"--thus commands the instinct of `
` a people whose nature is still feeble and uncertain, so that it `
` could be easily wiped out, easily extinguished, by a stronger `
` race. The Jews, however, are beyond all doubt the strongest, `
` toughest, and purest race at present living in Europe, they know `
` how to succeed even under the worst conditions (in fact better `
` than under favourable ones), by means of virtues of some sort, `
` which one would like nowadays to label as vices--owing above all `
` to a resolute faith which does not need to be ashamed before `
` "modern ideas", they alter only, WHEN they do alter, in the same `
` way that the Russian Empire makes its conquest--as an empire that `
` has plenty of time and is not of yesterday--namely, according to `
` the principle, "as slowly as possible"! A thinker who has the `
` future of Europe at heart, will, in all his perspectives `
` concerning the future, calculate upon the Jews, as he will `
` calculate upon the Russians, as above all the surest and `
` likeliest factors in the great play and battle of forces. That `
` which is at present called a "nation" in Europe, and is really `
` rather a RES FACTA than NATA (indeed, sometimes confusingly `
` similar to a RES FICTA ET PICTA), is in every case something `
` evolving, young, easily displaced, and not yet a race, much less `
` such a race AERE PERENNUS, as the Jews are such "nations" should `
` most carefully avoid all hotheaded rivalry and hostility! It is `
` certain that the Jews, if they desired--or if they were driven to `
` it, as the anti-Semites seem to wish--COULD now have the `
` ascendancy, nay, literally the supremacy, over Europe, that they `
` are NOT working and planning for that end is equally certain. `
` Meanwhile, they rather wish and desire, even somewhat `
` importunely, to be insorbed and absorbed by Europe, they long to `
` be finally settled, authorized, and respected somewhere, and wish `
` to put an end to the nomadic life, to the "wandering Jew",--and `
` one should certainly take account of this impulse and tendency, `
` and MAKE ADVANCES to it (it possibly betokens a mitigation of the `
` Jewish instincts) for which purpose it would perhaps be useful `
` and fair to banish the anti-Semitic bawlers out of the country. `
` One should make advances with all prudence, and with selection, `
` pretty much as the English nobility do It stands to reason that `
` the more powerful and strongly marked types of new Germanism `
` could enter into relation with the Jews with the least `
` hesitation, for instance, the nobleman officer from the Prussian `
` border it would be interesting in many ways to see whether the `
` genius for money and patience (and especially some intellect and `
` intellectuality--sadly lacking in the place referred to) could `
` not in addition be annexed and trained to the hereditary art of `
` commanding and obeying--for both of which the country in question `
` has now a classic reputation But here it is expedient to break `
` off my festal discourse and my sprightly Teutonomania for I have `
`
` very Romanticism of Schumann's has been surmounted? Schumann, `
` fleeing into the "Saxon Switzerland" of his soul, with a half `
` Werther-like, half Jean-Paul-like nature (assuredly not like `
` Beethoven! assuredly not like Byron!)--his MANFRED music is a `
` mistake and a misunderstanding to the extent of injustice; `
` Schumann, with his taste, which was fundamentally a PETTY taste `
` (that is to say, a dangerous propensity--doubly dangerous among `
` Germans--for quiet lyricism and intoxication of the feelings), `
` going constantly apart, timidly withdrawing and retiring, a noble `
` weakling who revelled in nothing but anonymous joy and sorrow, `
` from the beginning a sort of girl and NOLI ME TANGERE--this `
` Schumann was already merely a GERMAN event in music, and no `
` longer a European event, as Beethoven had been, as in a still `
` greater degree Mozart had been; with Schumann German music was `
` threatened with its greatest danger, that of LOSING THE VOICE FOR `
` THE SOUL OF EUROPE and sinking into a merely national affair. `
` `
` 246. What a torture are books written in German to a reader who `
` has a THIRD ear! How indignantly he stands beside the slowly `
` turning swamp of sounds without tune and rhythms without dance, `
` which Germans call a "book"! And even the German who READS books! `
` How lazily, how reluctantly, how badly he reads! How many Germans `
` know, and consider it obligatory to know, that there is ART in `
` every good sentence--art which must be divined, if the sentence `
` is to be understood! If there is a misunderstanding about its `
` TEMPO, for instance, the sentence itself is misunderstood! That `
` one must not be doubtful about the rhythm-determining syllables, `
` that one should feel the breaking of the too-rigid symmetry as `
` intentional and as a charm, that one should lend a fine and `
` patient ear to every STACCATO and every RUBATO, that one should `
` divine the sense in the sequence of the vowels and diphthongs, `
` and how delicately and richly they can be tinted and retinted in `
` the order of their arrangement--who among book-reading Germans is `
` complaisant enough to recognize such duties and requirements, and `
` to listen to so much art and intention in language? After all, `
` one just "has no ear for it"; and so the most marked contrasts of `
` style are not heard, and the most delicate artistry is as it were `
` SQUANDERED on the deaf.--These were my thoughts when I noticed `
` how clumsily and unintuitively two masters in the art of prose- `
` writing have been confounded: one, whose words drop down `
` hesitatingly and coldly, as from the roof of a damp cave--he `
` counts on their dull sound and echo; and another who manipulates `
` his language like a flexible sword, and from his arm down into `
` his toes feels the dangerous bliss of the quivering, over-sharp `
` blade, which wishes to bite, hiss, and cut. `
` `
` 247. How little the German style has to do with harmony and with `
` the ear, is shown by the fact that precisely our good musicians `
` themselves write badly. The German does not read aloud, he does `
` not read for the ear, but only with his eyes; he has put his ears `
` away in the drawer for the time. In antiquity when a man read-- `
` which was seldom enough--he read something to himself, and in a `
` loud voice; they were surprised when any one read silently, and `
` sought secretly the reason of it. In a loud voice: that is to `
` say, with all the swellings, inflections, and variations of key `
` and changes of TEMPO, in which the ancient PUBLIC world took `
` delight. The laws of the written style were then the same as `
` those of the spoken style; and these laws depended partly on the `
` surprising development and refined requirements of the ear and `
` larynx; partly on the strength, endurance, and power of the `
` ancient lungs. In the ancient sense, a period is above all a `
` physiological whole, inasmuch as it is comprised in one breath. `
` Such periods as occur in Demosthenes and Cicero, swelling twice `
` and sinking twice, and all in one breath, were pleasures to the `
` men of ANTIQUITY, who knew by their own schooling how to `
` appreciate the virtue therein, the rareness and the difficulty in `
` the deliverance of such a period;--WE have really no right to the `
` BIG period, we modern men, who are short of breath in every `
` sense! Those ancients, indeed, were all of them dilettanti in `
` speaking, consequently connoisseurs, consequently critics--they `
` thus brought their orators to the highest pitch; in the same `
` manner as in the last century, when all Italian ladies and `
` gentlemen knew how to sing, the virtuosoship of song (and with it `
` also the art of melody) reached its elevation. In Germany, `
` however (until quite recently when a kind of platform eloquence `
` began shyly and awkwardly enough to flutter its young wings), `
` there was properly speaking only one kind of public and `
` APPROXIMATELY artistical discourse--that delivered from the `
` pulpit. The preacher was the only one in Germany who knew the `
` weight of a syllable or a word, in what manner a sentence `
` strikes, springs, rushes, flows, and comes to a close; he alone `
` had a conscience in his ears, often enough a bad conscience: for `
` reasons are not lacking why proficiency in oratory should be `
` especially seldom attained by a German, or almost always too `
` late. The masterpiece of German prose is therefore with good `
` reason the masterpiece of its greatest preacher: the BIBLE has `
` hitherto been the best German book. Compared with Luther's Bible, `
` almost everything else is merely "literature"--something which `
` has not grown in Germany, and therefore has not taken and does `
` not take root in German hearts, as the Bible has done. `
` `
` 248. There are two kinds of geniuses: one which above all `
` engenders and seeks to engender, and another which willingly lets `
` itself be fructified and brings forth. And similarly, among the `
` gifted nations, there are those on whom the woman's problem of `
` pregnancy has devolved, and the secret task of forming, maturing, `
` and perfecting--the Greeks, for instance, were a nation of this `
` kind, and so are the French; and others which have to fructify `
` and become the cause of new modes of life--like the Jews, the `
` Romans, and, in all modesty be it asked: like the Germans?-- `
` nations tortured and enraptured by unknown fevers and `
` irresistibly forced out of themselves, amorous and longing for `
` foreign races (for such as "let themselves be fructified"), and `
` withal imperious, like everything conscious of being full of `
` generative force, and consequently empowered "by the grace of `
` God." These two kinds of geniuses seek each other like man and `
` woman; but they also misunderstand each other--like man and `
` woman. `
` `
` 249. Every nation has its own "Tartuffery," and calls that its `
` virtue.--One does not know--cannot know, the best that is in one. `
` `
` 250. What Europe owes to the Jews?--Many things, good and bad, `
` and above all one thing of the nature both of the best and the `
` worst: the grand style in morality, the fearfulness and majesty `
` of infinite demands, of infinite significations, the whole `
` Romanticism and sublimity of moral questionableness--and `
` consequently just the most attractive, ensnaring, and exquisite `
` element in those iridescences and allurements to life, in the `
` aftersheen of which the sky of our European culture, its evening `
` sky, now glows--perhaps glows out. For this, we artists among the `
` spectators and philosophers, are--grateful to the Jews. `
` `
` 251. It must be taken into the bargain, if various clouds and `
` disturbances--in short, slight attacks of stupidity--pass over `
` the spirit of a people that suffers and WANTS to suffer from `
` national nervous fever and political ambition: for instance, `
` among present-day Germans there is alternately the anti-French `
` folly, the anti-Semitic folly, the anti-Polish folly, the `
` Christian-romantic folly, the Wagnerian folly, the Teutonic `
` folly, the Prussian folly (just look at those poor historians, `
` the Sybels and Treitschkes, and their closely bandaged heads), `
` and whatever else these little obscurations of the German spirit `
` and conscience may be called. May it be forgiven me that I, too, `
` when on a short daring sojourn on very infected ground, did not `
` remain wholly exempt from the disease, but like every one else, `
` began to entertain thoughts about matters which did not concern `
` me--the first symptom of political infection. About the Jews, for `
` instance, listen to the following:--I have never yet met a German `
` who was favourably inclined to the Jews; and however decided the `
` repudiation of actual anti-Semitism may be on the part of all `
` prudent and political men, this prudence and policy is not `
` perhaps directed against the nature of the sentiment itself, but `
` only against its dangerous excess, and especially against the `
` distasteful and infamous expression of this excess of sentiment; `
` --on this point we must not deceive ourselves. That Germany has `
` amply SUFFICIENT Jews, that the German stomach, the German blood, `
` has difficulty (and will long have difficulty) in disposing only `
` of this quantity of "Jew"--as the Italian, the Frenchman, and the `
` Englishman have done by means of a stronger digestion:--that is `
` the unmistakable declaration and language of a general instinct, `
` to which one must listen and according to which one must act. `
` "Let no more Jews come in! And shut the doors, especially towards `
` the East (also towards Austria)!"--thus commands the instinct of `
` a people whose nature is still feeble and uncertain, so that it `
` could be easily wiped out, easily extinguished, by a stronger `
` race. The Jews, however, are beyond all doubt the strongest, `
` toughest, and purest race at present living in Europe, they know `
` how to succeed even under the worst conditions (in fact better `
` than under favourable ones), by means of virtues of some sort, `
` which one would like nowadays to label as vices--owing above all `
` to a resolute faith which does not need to be ashamed before `
` "modern ideas", they alter only, WHEN they do alter, in the same `
` way that the Russian Empire makes its conquest--as an empire that `
` has plenty of time and is not of yesterday--namely, according to `
` the principle, "as slowly as possible"! A thinker who has the `
` future of Europe at heart, will, in all his perspectives `
` concerning the future, calculate upon the Jews, as he will `
` calculate upon the Russians, as above all the surest and `
` likeliest factors in the great play and battle of forces. That `
` which is at present called a "nation" in Europe, and is really `
` rather a RES FACTA than NATA (indeed, sometimes confusingly `
` similar to a RES FICTA ET PICTA), is in every case something `
` evolving, young, easily displaced, and not yet a race, much less `
` such a race AERE PERENNUS, as the Jews are such "nations" should `
` most carefully avoid all hotheaded rivalry and hostility! It is `
` certain that the Jews, if they desired--or if they were driven to `
` it, as the anti-Semites seem to wish--COULD now have the `
` ascendancy, nay, literally the supremacy, over Europe, that they `
` are NOT working and planning for that end is equally certain. `
` Meanwhile, they rather wish and desire, even somewhat `
` importunely, to be insorbed and absorbed by Europe, they long to `
` be finally settled, authorized, and respected somewhere, and wish `
` to put an end to the nomadic life, to the "wandering Jew",--and `
` one should certainly take account of this impulse and tendency, `
` and MAKE ADVANCES to it (it possibly betokens a mitigation of the `
` Jewish instincts) for which purpose it would perhaps be useful `
` and fair to banish the anti-Semitic bawlers out of the country. `
` One should make advances with all prudence, and with selection, `
` pretty much as the English nobility do It stands to reason that `
` the more powerful and strongly marked types of new Germanism `
` could enter into relation with the Jews with the least `
` hesitation, for instance, the nobleman officer from the Prussian `
` border it would be interesting in many ways to see whether the `
` genius for money and patience (and especially some intellect and `
` intellectuality--sadly lacking in the place referred to) could `
` not in addition be annexed and trained to the hereditary art of `
` commanding and obeying--for both of which the country in question `
` has now a classic reputation But here it is expedient to break `
` off my festal discourse and my sprightly Teutonomania for I have `
`