Chapter 10 10. Artists and their creations

Nietzsche has a lot of discussions about the artist and his creative process, the main ones are as follows: First, about genius.On the one hand, Nietzsche has always opposed the "genius superstition", pointing out that there is no "miracle" in artistic creation activities, and geniuses are "great workers", who are constantly creating, discarding, examining, revising and sorting out.Ordinary people can't see the difficult production process on the completed artwork, so they marvel at the miracle.On the other hand, Nietzsche admits a certain mystery of genius, and believes that there is a kind of communication between genius and the world itself, which is "a bridge between self and non-self", and the pain of genius is "a kind of impersonal, transcendent Personal feeling for all peoples, human beings, all cultures, and all suffering beings".Of course, these two aspects are not necessarily contradictory. The latter says that geniuses have unique feelings, while the former says that geniuses need to work hard to express such feelings, that is, to engage in creation.

Second, about inspiration.There are also two sides.On the one hand, inspiration is also not a "miracle", but a long-term preparation for inner work. It is a sudden rush after creativity has been blocked for a long time.On the other hand, when inspiration strikes, there is a certain sense of mystery, "something that shakes a man deeply and trembles, suddenly becomes visible and audible with an unspeakable precision and delicacy", and the thought cannot be tolerated. The inevitability of choice acquires form, "everything presents itself in the quickest, most correct, and simplest way of expression", "all existing languages ​​and language treasures are suddenly opened to you."

Third, about form and style.Nietzsche believes that art is essentially just the ability to convey feelings to others, and this ability is manifested in finding an appropriate form for a certain feeling (content). Therefore, form is of paramount importance to an artist. "One is an artist only when he perceives as content, as the thing itself, all that is not regarded as form by the artist. Of course he belongs to an upside-down world, because from now on content is regarded as purely formal." things, and our lives are counted.” The form is by no means random, but an inevitable form.The unity of unique form and unique content forms style. "A style is a good style if it can truly convey the inner state, preferably using symbols, the rhythm of symbols, and expressions (all rhetoric is the technique of expressions)." Nietzsche has always been proud of his style, and he is indeed true to the aphorism. The form of aphorisms and aphorisms has been honed and honed, forming his unique style.

Fourth, about artistic creation and art criticism.Nietzsche believes that artists and critics are two types of opposite qualifications, the former is engaged in creation, and the latter is engaged in reception.This amounts to a division of labor between the sexes.Artists' creativity and judgment diverge from each other, and they often misunderstand their own works.However, "It is an artist's honor not to be able to be a critic", because for an artist to have the vision of a critic, it is tantamount to asking him to dry up his own creativity.In Nietzsche's view, rational criticism will inevitably damage emotional creativity, and creativity is much more valuable than criticism.

Nietzsche is a philosopher who likes to write in aphorisms. Many of his works are a collection of aphorisms written in a certain period.Therefore, his aesthetic views, except for a few complete works such as "Wagner in Bayreuth", are scattered in various works.I selected and translated his writings and passages focusing on aesthetic issues from the German version of "The Complete Works of Nietzsche" and compiled this anthology.Needless to say, this is not a complete anthology, and there are bound to be omissions. Some of the translations in this book were reviewed with reference to the old translations of Mr. Miao Langshan, Fan Cheng, and Gao Han.The translation was reviewed by Mr. Zhao Yuesheng according to the English translation. The translation of "The Will to Power as Art" has been reviewed by Mr. Chen Jiaying according to the German version and Mr. Liao Huizhen according to the English version.Some Latin translations in the book are thanks to Mr. Du Xiaozhen for his advice, and I would like to express my gratitude here.