Volume XI, Issue II, Spring 2018

THE AGONIST
conversation with his soul, which is clearly an inaudible inner dialogue or mode of
external silence, and then sings his final ecstatic paeans to Life and Eternity. Thus,
just as following a critique of language, The Gay Science and Beyond Good and Evil
both end with songs, so too does Zarathustra, 35 therefore, there is a structural
parallel to the three books.— — 36 Poems are different of course from prose,
fragments, and aphorisms and are more akin to music which, unlike the former,
can be given a greater multitude of interpretations — translate an aphorism and
it is essentially the same from language to language, whereas Bach’s Goldberg
Variations as performed by Wanda Landowska versus Glen Gould offer
exceedingly unique reconfigurations that show how transformable and free from
“truth” music is. In this way then, I propose that with the songs that follow the
“closing melodies” or final aphorisms of those books, the sloping into the sea in
proud and calm harmony, Nietzsche attempts to surpass or overcome with
them the very limits of prose, which, as he proclaims, steals the color,
prickliness, and fragrance of his thoughts. Since we know that poets are “liars”
for Nietzsche, that is, one specific type of poet, whatever possible truths they
may produce are never in danger of becoming true, but since Nietzsche is a poet
of a different order, or strives to be, that is not as much of a danger for him.
Poetry for him is in part a form of power. When discussing the aftermath of the
death of God, Nietzsche asks, “What festivals of atonement, what sacred games
shall we have to invent? Is not the greatness of this deed too great for us? Must
we ourselves not become gods simply to appear worthy of it?” (GS §125) To
this last daunting question, I believe there is a clue or ‘answer’—perhaps
35 Taking into consideration Paul Loeb’s proposal that, although, chronologically, the
fourth book follows the first three, narratively, it occurs within the third. See Paul S.
Loeb, “The Conclusion of Nietzsche's Zarathustra,” International Studies in Philosophy,
32/3 (2000): 137–52. Even if one is not persuaded by Loeb’s interpretation, the point
of the structural parallel between GS, Z: III, and BGE remains, and many scholars
argue that Z: III is the “real” or original finale to Z. Further, if the relationship between
the three books has been recognized, since Nietzsche refers to GM as a “sonata in
three movements,” it is possible that it too is somehow linked, musically, in terms of its
structure, to GS, Z, and BGE. Nietzsche was intimately involved in the design of his
books and informed his publisher that he wanted BGE to look exactly like GM, to
resemble it so precisely that “the two books must look so much alike as to be actually
confused with each other.” On this, see Schaberg (ibid.), 150.
36 Although the parallel between two of the books has been observed, by Lampert in
particular, if not others, what has been emphasized by him is that both Z and BGE end
in songs. The much more specific and intriguing parallel noted above has not however
to my knowledge been emphasized. Exploring this in detail is beyond the scope of this
article.
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