66 NietzscheDionysian; language and dialectics on the stage are Apollonian. A com-
bination of the two yields an enlightening performance of the dark
forces of fate.
Nietzsche began by viewing the Apollonian and Dionysian as artistic
elements of style. Apollo is the god of form, clarity, solid contours,
bright dreams, and, above all, individuality. Sculpture, architecture, the
Homeric world of the gods, the epic spirit—all of these are Apollonian.
Dionysus, by contrast, is the wild god of transport, rapture, ecstasy, "the
orgiastic." Music and dance are the preferred forms. The appeal of the
Apollonian lies in the fact that the artifice is never forgotten for a single
instant and the awareness of distances is retained. In the Dionysian arts,
by contrast, boundaries are fluid. A person in the thrall of music, dance,
or other such artistic exploit loses his distance. The "Dionysian reveler"
does not see himself from without, whereas the Apollonian remains
reflexive; he enjoys his enthusiasm without succumbing to it. The
Apollonian celebrates individuality, whereas the Dionysian breaks down
the confines of the individual.
What had begun as an analysis of aesthetic principles broadened out
to a first, bold sketch of the basic metaphysical conditions of human
existence. This is where Schopenhauerian philosophy came into play for
Nietzsche, because the Dionysian was held to be the world of the com-
pulsive will, and Apollo was responsible for ideas and awareness. For
Nietzsche, as a follower of Schopenhauer, it was unquestionably evident
from this constellation that the Dionysian represented the primary, ele-
mental life force, and that this facet of life, while creative, was also cruel
and unholy, just as Schopenhauer had construed the world of the will as
creative, cruel, and unholy.
By reinterpreting the artistic and stylistic traits of the Apollonian and
Dionysian as metaphysical life forces, Nietzsche had taken the first deci-
sive step in his intellectual biography. From this point on, he believed
that he held the key to unlock the innermost secret of cultures, their past
and their future.
The Dionysian, in Nietzsche's vision, is the colossal course of life