Nietzsche's The Case of Wagner and Nietzsche Contra Wagner

Ryan Harvey is a Lecturer in Philosophy at The California State University Aaron Ridley is a Professor of Philosophy at the University of Southampton. He is the author of Nietzsche's Conscience: Six Character Studies from the 'Genealogy' (Cornell University Press, 1998), R.G. Collingwood: A Philosophy of Art (Orion Books, 1998) and Music, Value and the Passions (Cornell University Press, 1995) and the co-editor, with Alex Neill, of Arguing About Art (McGraw-Hill, 1995; 2nd edition: Routledge, 2002) and The Philosophy of Art (McGraw-Hill, 1995).

A compelling examination of the philosophical stakes of Nietzsche’s lifelong fascination with Wagner, from his early idea of a music-making Socrates, to his worries about the health of culture, through to his late concerns with vitalism and decadence. Harvey and Ridley give us Nietzsche’s most bombastic book, contextualized and illuminated.

• ChronologyPrimary Sources and AbbreviationsIntroduction: The Case of WagnerArtwork of the Future: A Prelude to the Philosophy of the FutureI. Artwork of the FutureII. ‘Athenian Self-Dissection’ and the Decline of Culture at the Hands of ScienceIII. Science, Redeemed By Her Defeat, Reaches Out to Her Acknowledged Victor: ArtIV. Vitalism and ArtV. The Birth of Tragedy and the ‘Music-Making Socrates’VI. Socrates, Make Music!VII. Knocking at the Portals of the Present and the FutureVIII. We Must Now Consider Similar Phenomena In the PresentThe Pessimism of Strength: An Attempt to Revise the Socratic and Tragic CulturesI. The Essence of Tragic CultureII. An Attempt to Self-CriticizeIII. To ‘Make Music’ From the Materials of LifeIV. The Twilight of an IdolV. The Uniting and Dividing Point of Two CulturesMusic in the Microcosm and the MacrocosmI. Becoming the Legitimate Heir and Successor to the Pre-SocraticsII. Human, All-Too-Human and the Beginning of Nietzsche’s Post-Wagnerian ConfrontationIII. Dawn on the HorizonIV. The Gay ScienceV. Beyond Good and Evil: Prelude to a Philosophy of the FutureVI. Ecce HomoMusic as the Late Fruit of Every CultureI. The Case of WagnerII. The PrefaceIII. The ChargesIV. Sections 1–2V. Section 3VI. Sections 4–5VII. Section 6VIII. Sections 7–8IX. Sections 9–10X. Sections 11–12The Case of Nietzsche or: How to Become More Wagnerian than WagnerI. First PostscriptII. Second Postscript and EpilogueConclusionI. Coming Full CircleII. A Dangerous GameGlossary of Key TermsGuide to Further ReadingBibliographyNotesIndex