Book Two: Sections 99–107

Abstract

In section ninety-eight Nietzsche lauded Shakespeare’s commitment to the soul’s independence. He now demonstrates his own soul’s independence in evaluating the approach taken by the German adherents of the pessimistic philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer (German, 1788– 1860). Nietzsche comments on these adherents in general, before focusing on the one most renouned in Nietzsche’s own time – the German operatic composer Richard Wagner (1813–83). Nietzsche observes a thinker’s adherents typically have almost laughable difficulty in expressing gratitude, or show rudeness in doing so. He says paying homage is learned over generations. In concluding these sections Nietzsche will emphasize the gratitude we owe art for making life endurable, by enabling us to transform ourselves into “an aesthetic phenomenon”.