BIRTH OF TRAGEDY (OXFORD WORLDS CLASSICS)

'YES, WHAT IS DIONYSIAN? - THIS BOOK PROVIDES AN ANSWER - "A MAN WHO KNOWS" SPEAKS IN IT, THE INITIATE AND DISCIPLE OF HIS GOD.' THE BIRTH OF TRAGEDY (1872) IS A BOOK ABOUT THE ORIGINS OF GREEK TRAGEDY AND ITS RELEVANCE TO THE GERMAN CULTURE OF ITS TIME. FOR NIETZSCHE, GREEK TRAGEDY IS THE EXPRESSION OF A CULTURE WHICH HAS ACHIEVED A DELICATE BUT POWERFUL BALANCE BETWEEN DIONYSIAN INSIGHT INTO THE CHAOS AND SUFFERING WHICH UNDERLIES ALL EXISTENCE AND THE DISCIPLINE AND CLARITY OF RATIONAL APOLLONIAN FORM. IN ORDER TO PROMOTE A RETURN TO THESE VALUES, NIETZSCHE UNDERTAKES A CRITIQUE OF THE COMPLACENT RATIONALISM OF LATE NINETEENTH-CENTURY GERMAN CULTURE AND MAKES AN IMPASSIONED PLEA FOR THE REGENERATIVE POTENTIAL OF THE MUSIC OF WAGNER. IN ITS WIDE-RANGING DISCUSSION OF THE NATURE OF ART, SCIENCE AND RELIGION, NIETZSCHE'S ARGUMENT RAISES IMPORTANT QUESTIONS ABOUT THE PROBLEMATIC NATURE OF CULTURAL ORIGINS WHICH ARE STILL OF CONCERN TODAY.