On the seventh solitude: Solitude as the place of endless becoming and eternal return (of the principium individuationis) in the poetry of Friedrich Nietzsche

Rohit Sharma, Purdue University

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate a hitherto neglected term, “seventh solitude,” in Nietzsche's philosophy, which occurs primarily in two of the “Dithyramben,” “Das Feuerzeichen” and “Die Sonne sinkt.” This study shows that Nietzsche's poetry/philosophy is determined by eternal becoming, and in that sense is characterized with a constant movement between “individuation” on the one hand and “becoming” on the other. While such a reading of Nietzsche does not only allow rectifying earlier readings of Nietzsche, it nevertheless allows the inclusion of the essential flux element of Nietzschean thought. The term “solitude” itself undergoes a constant flux and numerous metamorphoses from its initial manifestation as “solitude” to its more mature and immensely profound avatar as the “seventh solitude” in the final writings. This particular term is highlighted not only because it never occurs as a central term that might tempt us to systematize Nietzsche's thought, which essentially defies systematization and can only be misread if presented as a system of philosophy, but also because this term is echoed, paralleled and constantly accompanied by the idea of movement, allowing us to read Nietzsche in the playfulness and multi-perspectivism, to which Nietzsche constantly alluded, both in the content and the style of his writings. While acknowledging the necessity of the sense of modern self-hood and the emergence of the subject, Nietzsche constantly and simultaneously also warns against the absolute verity of such a necessity. The debate between philosophy and poetry is thus an important component of Nietzschean thought. This dissertation proves and illustrates that Nietzsche's poetry is also Nietzsche's philosophy. It is the fertile area, out of which and in which all of Nietzsche's concepts make their embryonic appearance. This dissertation further illustrates that Nietzsche's work can be read cohesively as a philosophy of eternal becoming, allowing us to juxtapose prominent and well accented, albeit at times contradictory, concepts like the Eternal Recurrence and the Will to Power, but also simultaneously allowing us to do so in a playfulness, which refuses to center around any particular concept.

Degree

Ph.D.

Advisors

Rowland, Purdue University.

Subject Area

Germanic literature

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