Note: references given in brackets refer to the paragraph numbers, rather than page numbers, as between us we appear to have quite a broad collection of translations / editions.
Chapter eight of Beyond Good and Evil sees Nietzsche address the topic of nationalism, in relation to what he refers to as an emergent 'European Spirit'. Nietzsche opens the chapter with a nostalgic encounter with Wagner's Meistersinger overture, describing its "certain German massiveness and abundance of soul" (240). There is, it seems, something undeniably 'German', in Wagner's composition; in Nietzsche's own words, this is something "multifarious, unformed, and inexhaustible" (240) that is typical to the German tradition. However, moving into 241, such practices of 'hearty fatherland-ism' are portrayed in less favourable light, perhaps as more of an arbitrary fancy rooted to the past? The reader is introduced to a population of 'Good Europeans' - a group that Nietzsche appears to align himself with. Even these Good Europeans, Nietzsche argues, are liable from time to time to indulge in the kinds of 'fatherland-ism' made manifest in the previous encounter with Wagner - "hours flooded through with feelings for the nation, patriotic anguish, and all sorts of other archaic emotional convulsions" (241). Whilst such nostalgia for the nation might be unavoidable, Nietzsche emphasises the need for a quicker digestion and metabolism of these indulgences, as he puts it; we should avoid getting caught-up or 'lumbered' with the "atavistic attacks of fatherland-ism and attachment to the soil" (241). In these opening sections, Nietzsche appears to be opening-up a problem space by re-contextualising national identity in relation to the possibilities of a European future.
Moving into 242, Nietzsche's re-orientation towards 'Europe' touches upon the theme of environmental determinism - choppy waters for geographers, perhaps! According to the narrative, Europe was witnessing the gradual emergence of a more nomadic human. Interestingly, Nietzsche stresses the importance of physical - i.e. bodily - changes, supposedly as nomadic movements encourage a more adaptive human, "having a maximum of adaptive skills and powers" (242). As was mentioned in Friday's reading group, we might want to question such a reading of Darwinian evolution. For me, it does seem to be flavoured with a heavy dose of Lamarckism, in that it suggests an environmentally-determined evolution taking place over the course of centuries. On the other hand, perhaps this is less a question of environment, but instead of racial-mixing? Either way, I think the important point to take from Nietzsche's argument is that, in his own words, "this process probably ends with results that were least anticipated by its naive sponsors and apologists, the apostles of 'modern ideas'" (242). Thus, the intentions of democratic sponsors will always be exceeded by the physical inter-minglings of bodies and environments. Do we detect a hint of vitalism here?
The main body of chapter eight goes on to explore what Nietzsche sees as the strengths and shortcomings of various nationalities, placing each within the context of a European 'becoming'. Indeed, no 'nation' is immune to Nietzsche's onslaught of terse criticism. Populated by 'multifarious' souls, the youthful German nation escapes definition in its "maze of passageways" (244). In fact, Nietzsche portrays this uncertainty as a brilliant discovery for German philosophy - "the German himself is not, he is becoming, he 'is developing'" (244). However, the 'inner tightrope dance' of the German soul is also its weakness through its "boorish indifference to taste", and its inability to 'digest' the events that befall it. It seems, therefore, that these weaknesses are in opposition to the advent of the 'Good European'. According to Nietzsche, then, German music "was threatened by its greatest danger: to cease being the voice of Europe's soul and to deteriorate inter mere fatherland-ism" (245). Sections 246 and 247 address German literature, and its supposed lack of tempo, musicality, colour - in short, artistic creativity / expression. Personally, I think these two sections are among my all-time favourites, as we get glimpses of Nietzsche-as-writer, as an experimental sculptor of language. The approach is, in places, explicitly performative, at least in my translation: "How resentfully we face the slowly circling swamp of sounds without resonance, of rhythms without dance that Germans call a 'book'" (246). It would be interesting to do a bit of digging here regarding the translation, and whether or not such a translation retains the sibilance - indeed the resonances - of the German. For Nietzsche, the Germans' lack of linguistic musicality stems stems from a forgetting of the physicality of language, particularly the natural rhythms and colourations that emerge through the act of oration. Provocatively as ever, Nietzsche thus declares the greatest German masterpiece to be "the masterpiece of its greatest preacher: The Bible has ben the best German book so far" (247).
Moving on into 251, Nietzsche addresses the Jewish people, viewing the contemporary 'anti-Jewish' sentiment as "little becloudings of the German spirit and conscience" (251). Whilst bordering somewhat uncomfortably upon essentialism (e.g. German stomachs and German blood have found it difficult to deal with influxes of 'Jew'), Nietzsche positions himself in opposition to the anti-Semites. For Nietzsche, the Jews are a strong race, more than capable of ruling over Europe. This, however, is not the Jewish objective, and Nietzsche seems keen to propose an intermingling of Jewish and German races, as part of the coming 'European Problem' of "breeding a new caste to rule over Europe" (143).
What might the English contribute to the coming Europe? Not a lot, it seems, for to be English is by definition to be mediocre: "they are not a philosophical race, these Englishmen" (252). Worse still for Nietzsche, the English exhibit a 'boorish solemnity', their will-to-creativity shackled by the "Christian gesture and prayer and the singing of psalms" (252). At worst, "a penitent's spasm really may be the relative highest 'human' achievement that it can aspire to" (252). But perhaps, Nietzsche offers, dry Englishness is more suited to the creation of 'common facts', a la Charles Darwin (!). For Nietzsche, common facts are not enough; "in the end they have to more than to merely perceive, and that is to be something new" (253). In a defence of the English, and in light of STS, might we instead argue that Darwin's common facts required a creativity - and perhaps a personal transformation - par excellence?
With their promotion of 'art for art's sake', the French are painted in a more favourable light. Nietzsche also appears fond of a 'psychological sensitivity' characteristic of the French, and their ability to offer a "tolerably successful synthesis of North and South" (254). Most importantly, however, is the French propensity "to understand and accommodate those rare and rarely satisfied people who are too expansive to find their satisfaction in any kind of fatherland-ism" (254). Presumably, Nietzsche might place his own way of life within this rarer type. From a less cynical perspective, however, this is clearly a critique of a rigid identity welded to tradition and the past, and perhaps instead a call to imagine a Europe of fluid identities to come.
Nietzsche finishes the chapter by arguing that, contrary to the superficially divisive nature of contemporary politics, "Europe wants to be one" (256). There is, it seems, some kind of will-to-Europe, a trans-individual drive that should not be denied, "experimentally anticipating the European of the future" (256). This drive manifests itself, according to Nietzsche, through "abundant, impetuous art", and is ushered into existence by those "ruled by literature", who are often "writers themselves, in fact, poets, intermediaries and interminglers of the arts and the senses" (256). These 'good Europeans, it seems, are united in their modes of 'seeking' - "fanatics of expression at all costs". In my reading, there is something stubbornly egotistical in the heroism of Nietzsche's new Europeans, "nearly destroying themselves by their work". That being said, I can't help but turn the question back upon my self; what am I presenting, expressing, creating? And, perhaps, what are my own 'fatherlands' and 'hours of indulging' that obscure new opportunities? Ignorant of the destination, an 'experimental anticipation' is necessarily an act of creation.
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