Nietzsche ‘soltanto giullare, soltanto poeta’

Eversioni di letteratura e filosofia nelle ultime opere

Abstract

Nietzsche’s writings are characterized by the use of a unique “polyphonic” style. Following the long (and now lost) tradition of blending poetry, theatre, drama and philosophy, Nietzsche inherited the uncanny style of the early Cynics (who in turn plundered the more “monstrous” side of Socrates), the free expression of Laurence Sterne and the polyphonic dialogues of Denis Diderot’s Rameau’s Nephew. Nietzsche showed interest in this kind of writing since his earliest philological studies, and expressed it best in later writings, mastering the counterintuitive “double stopping” technique (i.e. the use of more than one voice at the same time) and ventriloquism, a mix that makes difficult to identify “who” is speaking in his texts. A character may talk with the voice of Nietzsche’s contemporaries to appeal (or disturb) the reader, it may be a mask for Nietzsche himself, or even an adversary whom Nietzsche is satirizing. This charade of contradictions seem to be an hindrance to rational thought, but, according to Nietzsche, it is the very essence of life: an endless masquerade that can never be laid bare.