by Jack Kerouac
the universal human goal –- as opposed to the
goals unique to a given cultural context. If a
man sacrifices his life for his earthly goal, the
ubermensch ("superman") would arise from
that sacrificial self-destruction.
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Nietzsche. German philosopher, clas-
sical scholar, and poet Frederich Nietszche
(1844-1900) is noted for his theory of the uber-
mensch (“superman”). Nietszche set himself
against the systematic philosophy of the first part
of the 19th Century, particularly that of Hegel.
He tried to go beyond the rational to the irra-
tional, human level. He rejected Christianity
because he felt it directed human thought away
from this world and into the next, thereby ren-
dering man incapable of coping with the reality
of everyday life; he said that Christianity teaches
men how to die but not how to live. He went
insane in 1889, and remained so until he died a
year later.
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Zarathustra. Frederich Nietzsche
wrote a philosophical narrative called Thus
Spake Zarathustra, in which the Persian
philosopher Zarathustra (also called
Zoroaster) spouts the doctrine of the ubermen-
sch, and other Nietzschian ideas. The word
ubermensch originally appeared in Goethe’s
Faust (see Faustus). Nietzsche used it to mean the person who devotes himself to achieving
the universal human goal –- as opposed to the
goals unique to a given cultural context. If a
man sacrifices his life for his earthly goal, the
ubermensch ("superman") would arise from
that sacrificial self-destruction.
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Baudelaire.
Charles Pierre
Baudelaire (1821-1867) wrote only one vol-
ume of poetry, Les Fleurs du Mal ( The Flowers
of Evil), yet this work established him as one
of the most important figures among the
French "symbolists" (Rimbaud, Verlaine,
Mallarme, among others). He led a famously
decadent life, and died at forty-six. One strik-
ing characteristic of his poetry is its fascina-
tion with the beauty of the perverse or morbid.
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Nietzsche. German philosopher, clas-
sical scholar, and poet Frederich Nietszche
(1844-1900) is noted for his theory of the uber-
mensch (“superman”). Nietszche set himself
against the systematic philosophy of the first part
of the 19th Century, particularly that of Hegel.
He tried to go beyond the rational to the irra-
tional, human level. He rejected Christianity
because he felt it directed human thought away
from this world and into the next, thereby ren-
dering man incapable of coping with the reality
of everyday life; he said that Christianity teaches
men how to die but not how to live. He went
insane in 1889, and remained so until he died a
year later.
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Text
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Brahms. German Romantic composer
Johannes Brahms (1833-1897) was noted for
reconciling the conflicting claims of lyricism
and classicism.
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Baudelaire.
Charles Pierre
Baudelaire (1821-1867) wrote only one vol-
ume of poetry, Les Fleurs du Mal ( The Flowers
of Evil), yet this work established him as one
of the most important figures among the
French "symbolists" (Rimbaud, Verlaine,
Mallarme, among others). He led a famously
decadent life, and died at forty-six. One strik-
ing characteristic of his poetry is its fascina-
tion with the beauty of the perverse or morbid.
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Text
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Stravinsky.
Russian composer Igor
Stravinsky (1882-1971) – like Pablo Picasso in art,
Ezra Pound and T. S. Eliot in poetry, and James
Joyce in fiction – was a key figure in the further-
ance of the modernist sensibility. His early works
for Diaghilev’s Russian Ballet -- including "The
Firebird," and " Petruchka" – were considered revolutionary. The premiere performance of "The
Rite of Spring," in 1913, was considered so shock-
ing that it provoked a riot.
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Brahms. German Romantic composer
Johannes Brahms (1833-1897) was noted for
reconciling the conflicting claims of lyricism
and classicism.
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Text
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Stravinsky.
Russian composer Igor
Stravinsky (1882-1971) – like Pablo Picasso in art,
Ezra Pound and T. S. Eliot in poetry, and James
Joyce in fiction – was a key figure in the further-
ance of the modernist sensibility. His early works
for Diaghilev’s Russian Ballet -- including "The
Firebird," and " Petruchka" – were considered revolutionary. The premiere performance of "The
Rite of Spring," in 1913, was considered so shock-
ing that it provoked a riot.
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LiveREADS
LINK
Text
Hyperlink
Rimbaud. French symbolist poet Arthur
Rimbaud (1854-1891) wrote hallucinatory
verse that strongly influenced the surrealists
and modern poetry in general. His best-
known works are Les Illuminations (1886), Le
Bateau ivre (1871), and Une Saison en Enfir ( A Season in Hell) (1873) – a spiritual/psychological autobiography in prose-poem form. He
broke away from a poor, religious, provincial
childhood and fled at age fifteen to Paris,
where he studied occult writings, Plato, the
kabbala, and Buddhism. He deliberately
debauched himself in order to reach a tran-
scendent world through sin and suffering. He
wrote all his published poetry before the age
of twenty.
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Brahms. German Romantic composer
Johannes Brahms (1833-1897) was noted for
reconciling the conflicting claims of lyricism
and classicism.
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Text
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Shostakovich. Russian composer
Dmitry Dmitryevich Shostakovich (1906-
1975) wrote popular orchestral works early in
his career, but then incurred the disapproval
of the Soviets for what was seen as Western
decadence. His Symphony No. 5 (1937)
regained official approval. His late work,
Symphony No. 13 (1962), aroused consider-
able controversy because the text (by Russian
poet Yevtushenko) described the Nazi slaugh-
ter of Jews at Babi Yar, and referred to contin-
uing anti-Semitism in the Soviet Union.
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Rimbaud. French symbolist poet Arthur
Rimbaud (1854-1891) wrote hallucinatory
verse that strongly influenced the surrealists
and modern poetry in general. His best-
known works are Les Illuminations (1886), Le
Bateau ivre (1871), and Une Saison en Enfir ( A Season in Hell) (1873) – a spiritual/psychological autobiography in prose-poem form. He
broke away from a poor, religious, provincial
childhood and fled at age fifteen to Paris,
where he studied occult writings, Plato, the
kabbala, and Buddhism. He deliberately
debauched himself in order to reach a tran-
scendent world through sin and suffering. He
wrote all his published poetry before the age
of twenty.
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LINK
Text
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Brahms. German Romantic composer
Johannes Brahms (1833-1897) was noted for
reconciling the conflicting claims of lyricism
and classicism.
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Text
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Rachmaninoff. Russian composer
and pianist Sergey Vasilyevich Rachmaninoff
(1873-1943) wrote complex, passionate, rhap-
sodic music, notably "Prelude in C-sharp
minor," and the piano concertos.
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Text
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Stravinsky.
Russian composer Igor
Stravinsky (1882-1971) – like Pablo Picasso in art,
Ezra Pound and T. S. Eliot in poetry, and James
Joyce in fiction – was a key figure in the further-
ance of the modernist sensibility. His early works
for Diaghilev’s Russian Ballet -- including "The
Firebird," and " Petruchka" – were considered revolutionary. The premiere performance of "The
Rite of Spring," in 1913, was considered so shock-
ing that it provoked a riot.
RETURN TO PREVIOUS
LiveREADS
LINK
Text
Hyperlink
Brahms. German Romantic composer
Johannes Brahms (1833-1897) was noted for
reconciling the conflicting claims of lyricism
and classicism.
RETURN TO PREVIOUS
LiveREADS
LINK
Text
Hyperlink
Rachmaninoff. Russian composer
and pianist Sergey Vasilyevich Rachmaninoff
(1873-1943) wrote complex, passionate, rhap-
sodic music, notably "Prelude in C-sharp
minor," and the piano concertos.
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Tchelichev.
Exiled from Russia
during the revolution, Pavel Tchelichev (1898-
1957) fled to Berlin and then to Paris, where
he designed sets for Diaghilev’s Russian Ballet
(see Stravinsky). He eventually settled in the
United States, and was best known for his
experimental paintings, characterized by
multiple/simultaneous perspectives and the
use of materials other than paint (sand, coffee,
etc.). He most celebrated painting, Hide and
Seek (1942), depicts a tree composed of
images of infants and children, along with
hidden spectres of old age and death.
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Joyce.
Irish novelist, poet, short-story
writer James Joyce (1882-1941) is best known
for his revolutionary novel, Ulysses. His initial collection of stories, Dubliners (1914), is set in
the beloved/despised homeland he left in
1902 at the age of twenty. His first novel, the
autobiographical Portrait of the Artist as a
Young Man (1916), describes his rebellion
against his Jesuit upbringing, Catholicism,
and Irish nationalism, and the development of
his artist sensibility. He followed the sensa-
tional publication of Ulysses (1922) with the
experimental and complex Finnegans Wake
(1939), characterized by the use of a unique
language of invented words, puns, and
obscure allusions.
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Rachmaninoff. Russian composer
and pianist Sergey Vasilyevich Rachmaninoff
(1873-1943) wrote complex, passionate, rhap-
sodic music, notably "Prelude in C-sharp
minor," and the piano concertos.
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Degas. French painter Edgar Degas
(1834-1917) is closely associated with the
Impressionists. Although he painted, drew,
made lithographs and etchings, and worked
in clay, he is best known for his pastel por-
trayals of ballet dancers, laundresses, and
other women subjects.
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Shostakovich. Russian composer
Dmitry Dmitryevich Shostakovich (1906-
1975) wrote popular orchestral works early in
his career, but then incurred the disapproval
of the Soviets for what was seen as Western
decadence. His Symphony No. 5 (1937)
regained official approval. His late work,
Symphony No. 13 (1962), aroused consider-
able controversy because the text (by Russian
poet Yevtushenko) described the Nazi slaugh-
ter of Jews at Babi Yar, and referred to contin-
uing anti-Semitism in the Soviet Union.
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Gide. Like his contemporary, James
Joyce, French writer Andre Gide (1869-1951)
rebelled against his religious (Protestant)
upbringing, and his reaction against the pro-
hibitions of revealed religion informed his life
and work. He gained notoriety for his open
discussion of homosexuality and promotion of
unabashed indulgence in the pleasures of the
flesh. He was preoccupied with the question
of man’s will, and agreed with Dostoyevsky
(a strong influence) that it is subject to good
self-interest. This led to his development of
the concept of the acte gratuit ("gratuitous act") – a seemingly inexplicable action, motivated solely by a personal need to assert one’s
individuality, and thus the only human behav-
ior that reveals one’s essential character. (In
the novel, Lafcadio’s Adventures, Gide pres-
ents a murder as an acte gratuit.)
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Rimbaud. French symbolist poet Arthur
Rimbaud (1854-1891) wrote hallucinatory
verse that strongly influenced the surrealists
and modern poetry in general. His best-
known works are Les Illuminations (1886), Le
Bateau ivre (1871), and Une Saison en Enfir ( A Season in Hell) (1873) – a spiritual/psychological autobiography in prose-poem form. He
broke away from a poor, religious, provincial
childhood and fled at age fifteen to Paris,
where he studied occult writings, Plato, the
kabbala, and Buddhism. He deliberately
debauched himself in order to reach a tran-
scendent world through sin and suffering. He
wrote all his published poetry before the age
of twenty.
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De Quincey. English essayist and crit-
ic Thomas De Quincey (1785-1859) was a
leading commentator on the romantic move-
ment, as was closely associated with
Wordsworth, Coleridge, and other major liter-
ary figures of the era. His best known work
was an autobiographical memoir, Confessions
of an Opium Eater (1822), in which he dis-
cusses the growth and effects of his opium
habit.
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Wagner. The German composer, con-
ductor, and author Richard Wagner (1813-
1883), whose reputation is based mostly on
his operas. His most prodigious work, the
four-part cycle Der Ring des Nibelungun, took
him twenty-five years to complete. A com-
mon theme of many of his operas is the search
for an ideal woman, unconditionally devoted
to the hero, who is so pure in her devotion as