2 A Festival of Life: Ancient Greek Celebration and Dionysian Affirmation
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Venessa Ercole
Abstract
This essay examines the relationship between the festive Greeks and Nietzsche’s concept of Dionysian life affirmation. GWG allows us to step back from an overly hasty focus on Nietzsche’s interest in the Greeks primarily as producers of tragic drama as a pure literary form. GWG offers the English reading audience a glimpse into the depth of Nietzsche’s study and understanding of the ancient Greece which first gave birth to tragedy, with its focus on the celebratory and self-transformative practices of Greek ritual worship. There are clear traces of this understanding of the Greeks in Nietzsche’s published works, further demonstrating that Nietzsche’s critique of Christian modernity was much more than a nihilist no-saying, but one based in a real belief in the possibility of the reinvigoration of sanctity in the quotidian, as the basis of life-affirmative practices and thought.
Abstract
This essay examines the relationship between the festive Greeks and Nietzsche’s concept of Dionysian life affirmation. GWG allows us to step back from an overly hasty focus on Nietzsche’s interest in the Greeks primarily as producers of tragic drama as a pure literary form. GWG offers the English reading audience a glimpse into the depth of Nietzsche’s study and understanding of the ancient Greece which first gave birth to tragedy, with its focus on the celebratory and self-transformative practices of Greek ritual worship. There are clear traces of this understanding of the Greeks in Nietzsche’s published works, further demonstrating that Nietzsche’s critique of Christian modernity was much more than a nihilist no-saying, but one based in a real belief in the possibility of the reinvigoration of sanctity in the quotidian, as the basis of life-affirmative practices and thought.
Chapters in this book
- Frontmatter I
- Table of Contents V
- Abbreviations
- Scholarly Apparatus IX
- Editors’ Introduction 1
-
The Greek Worship of the Gods
- [Introduction] 15
-
Commentary and Discussion on Nietzsche and Ancient Greek Worship
- 1 Nietzsche’s Turn to Ethnology 173
- 2 A Festival of Life: Ancient Greek Celebration and Dionysian Affirmation 187
- 3 Nietzsche and Pantheism in Ancient Greek Religion 201
- 4 The Lazy Professor Friedrich Nietzsche and His Lectures on Greek Religion 231
- Appendix: Discrepancies Between Nietzsche’s Handwriting and KGW II/5 243
- General Bibliography
- Contributors 265
- Index of Names – GWG
Chapters in this book
- Frontmatter I
- Table of Contents V
- Abbreviations
- Scholarly Apparatus IX
- Editors’ Introduction 1
-
The Greek Worship of the Gods
- [Introduction] 15
-
Commentary and Discussion on Nietzsche and Ancient Greek Worship
- 1 Nietzsche’s Turn to Ethnology 173
- 2 A Festival of Life: Ancient Greek Celebration and Dionysian Affirmation 187
- 3 Nietzsche and Pantheism in Ancient Greek Religion 201
- 4 The Lazy Professor Friedrich Nietzsche and His Lectures on Greek Religion 231
- Appendix: Discrepancies Between Nietzsche’s Handwriting and KGW II/5 243
- General Bibliography
- Contributors 265
- Index of Names – GWG
