Friedrich_Nietzsche - Untimely_Meditations_(Cambridge_Texts_in_the_History_of_Philosophy__1997)

IntroductionUntimely Meditations, in part, perhaps, because it contains so many(usually unidentified) quotations from and paraphrases ofWagner's overwrought prose. Even for the specialist, it is a difficultand sometimes painful work to read, and one suspects that itmust have been an equally difficult and painful book forNietzsche to write. There is certainly something forced and deeplyambivalent about the overall tone of this essay, and again one suspectsthat this is an all-too-accurate reflection of the author's ownprofound ambivalence about his subject.Just as Schopenhauer as Educator was written some years afterNietzsche had ceased to be an adherent of Schopenhauer's philosophy,so was Wa gner in Bayreuth written at a point in his lifewhen he had already formulated (albeit only privately) the basicelements of the devastating critique of Wagner as a 'histrionicromantic' that he would make public only many years later.Schopenhauer, however, was dead, whereas Wagner was not onlyvery much alive, but was also extremely sensitive to any appearanceof criticism or disloyalty on the par of his friends and allies.Hence Nietzsche's dilemma: he did admire Wagner and was cer-,tainly grateful to him (as to Schopenhauer) for the inspiration ofhis example and for his assistance in helping Nietzsche 'becomehimself'; on the other hand, he harboured increasingly seriousreservations about Wagner's art and personality, not to mention,his even stronger reservations about Bayreuth and the'Wagnerians'. The problem was how to write a book, intended forthe public, in which he could express his admiration without violating his intellectual integrity. Though it cannot be said thatNietzsche succeeded fully in resolving this problem, his strategyseems clear: to use Wagner's own words against Wagner himself.By quoting copiously from his writings, Nietzsche would erect acertain (Wagnerian) ideal of art and of culture, an ideal to whichhe himself once subscribed whole-heartedly and to which hecould still subscribe at least in part. It would then be left up to thereaders to determine for themselves - assisted, perhaps, by a fewdiscreet suggestions from the author - how far short Wagner'sactual achievement was from this ideal.Despite the difficulties of 'reading' the fourth Meditation - orperhaps because of them - Wa gner in Bayreuth remains a key documentfor anyone interested in Nietzsche's biography and intellectualdevelopment. Its interest, however, is not merely psychobiographical;it too contains its share of stimulating and originalxxii