Violence, Evil and Nihilism: Nietzschean Traces in Guimarães Rosa’s Grande Sertão: Veredas
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Marco Piazza
Abstract
Long considered a philosophical novel, João Guimarães Rosa’s Grande Sertão: Veredas contains an analysis of the various ways in which human violence manifests itself. The theme of violence in the economy of the novel (and in the author’s work more generally) is strongly linked to the theme of evil, which is often personified in Rosa’s work in the form of the devil, with whom his characters have a metaphysical relationship. Rosa’s reflections on violence, evil and free will in the Grande Sertão should be considered in relation to his reading of Nietzsche’s works,which he studied before writing the novel. It is possible to reconstruct this reading, at least in part, from the books that are preserved in his library to this day, the margins of which still contain his marks and notes. It is thus possible to consider the investigation of evil, violence and free will contained in the novel against the backdrop of the tragic and nihilistic theories not only of Nietzsche but of Unamuno and Kierkegaard, philosophers who were also appreciated by Rosa.
Abstract
Long considered a philosophical novel, João Guimarães Rosa’s Grande Sertão: Veredas contains an analysis of the various ways in which human violence manifests itself. The theme of violence in the economy of the novel (and in the author’s work more generally) is strongly linked to the theme of evil, which is often personified in Rosa’s work in the form of the devil, with whom his characters have a metaphysical relationship. Rosa’s reflections on violence, evil and free will in the Grande Sertão should be considered in relation to his reading of Nietzsche’s works,which he studied before writing the novel. It is possible to reconstruct this reading, at least in part, from the books that are preserved in his library to this day, the margins of which still contain his marks and notes. It is thus possible to consider the investigation of evil, violence and free will contained in the novel against the backdrop of the tragic and nihilistic theories not only of Nietzsche but of Unamuno and Kierkegaard, philosophers who were also appreciated by Rosa.
Chapters in this book
- Frontmatter I
- Table of Contents V
- List of Abbreviations VII
- Introduction 1
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Part 1: Philosophy and Politics
- Nihilism and Violence from Plato to Arendt 5
- Kierkegaard’s Aesthetic Stage and the Ideology of Nihilism 25
- “To smear his boots with the other’s fat”: Conscious and Unconscious Violence 45
- Cruelty, Bad Conscience, and the Sovereign Individual in Nietzsche’s Genealogy of Morality 65
- Walter Benjamin’s Media Theory in the Times of Platform Nihilism 89
- ‘Like ants’: The Mafia’s Necropolitics as a Paradigm of Nihilistic Violence 111
- Against the Kinship: State, Terror, Nihilism 139
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Part 2: Literature and Film
- Nihilism in Nineteenth-Century Russian Literature and Thought 159
- Violence, Evil and Nihilism: Nietzschean Traces in Guimarães Rosa’s Grande Sertão: Veredas 189
- Signifying Nothing? Nihilism, Violence, and the Sound/Silence Dynamic in Cinema 203
- Aestheticizing Murder: Hitchcock’s Rope, Nietzsche, and the Alleged Right to Crime of Superior Individuals 231
- Nihilism, Violence, and the Films of Michael Haneke 255
- “Supposing Truth is a Woman?”: Nihilism and Violence in Nietzsche’s The Antichrist and Von Trier’s Antichrist 275
- “Is Something Funny, Asshole?”: Joker’s Nihilist Violence 297
- Notes on the Contributors 315
- Names index 319
Chapters in this book
- Frontmatter I
- Table of Contents V
- List of Abbreviations VII
- Introduction 1
-
Part 1: Philosophy and Politics
- Nihilism and Violence from Plato to Arendt 5
- Kierkegaard’s Aesthetic Stage and the Ideology of Nihilism 25
- “To smear his boots with the other’s fat”: Conscious and Unconscious Violence 45
- Cruelty, Bad Conscience, and the Sovereign Individual in Nietzsche’s Genealogy of Morality 65
- Walter Benjamin’s Media Theory in the Times of Platform Nihilism 89
- ‘Like ants’: The Mafia’s Necropolitics as a Paradigm of Nihilistic Violence 111
- Against the Kinship: State, Terror, Nihilism 139
-
Part 2: Literature and Film
- Nihilism in Nineteenth-Century Russian Literature and Thought 159
- Violence, Evil and Nihilism: Nietzschean Traces in Guimarães Rosa’s Grande Sertão: Veredas 189
- Signifying Nothing? Nihilism, Violence, and the Sound/Silence Dynamic in Cinema 203
- Aestheticizing Murder: Hitchcock’s Rope, Nietzsche, and the Alleged Right to Crime of Superior Individuals 231
- Nihilism, Violence, and the Films of Michael Haneke 255
- “Supposing Truth is a Woman?”: Nihilism and Violence in Nietzsche’s The Antichrist and Von Trier’s Antichrist 275
- “Is Something Funny, Asshole?”: Joker’s Nihilist Violence 297
- Notes on the Contributors 315
- Names index 319
