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Sunday, 16 April 2006

Napoleonism of '88

1888 was Nietzsche's last productive year; it was also a year when his Napoleonism knew no bounds;

" ... EX UNGUE NAPOLEON ,,,"
[Ecce Homo, 'Clever' 3]

Here I reiterate the the motto I used on the very first post of this thread.
It means 'you can tell Napoleon from his claw', and is Nietzsche's adaptation of 'ex ungue leonem' - you can tell a lion from his claw'.
NAP is then the Lion of the Three Metamorphoses of the Spirit.
He is the Blond Beast, the Artist Tyrant who will help - by his example - to create the New European civilisation;

"Finally, when on the bridge between two centuries of decadence, a FORCE MAJEURE of genius and Will became visible, strong enough to create a unity out of Europe, a political and ECONOMIC unity for the sake of world government ...[...]
The miracle in the meaning of Napoleon".
[EH, 'Wagner',2]

And from the notebooks of the same period;

"Napoleon, by awakening again the 'man', the soldier, and the great fight for power - conceiving Europe as a political unit..."
[WP 41 (1888)]

And in his letters then;

"Napoleon ,,, the only man hitherto strong enough to make Europe into a political and ECONOMIC unity".
[Letter to Overbeck, October 18th 1888]

Once again we see that Nietzsche prophesied the coming dictators of the 20th century;

"The French Revolution made Napoleon possible: that is its justification.
For the sake of a similar prize one would have to desire the anarchical collapse of our entire civilisation.
Napoleon made Nationalism possible: that is its excuse ".
[WP 877 (1888)]

But Nationalism is only a vehicle for the production of Great Men;

"The highest human beings, such as Caesar and Napoleon".
[WP 544, (1888)]

"Napoleon!
Caesar!
Alexander! ".
[WP 751 (1888)]

"Napoleon ...[...]
The heir to a stronger, longer-lasting, older civilisation ..."
[Twilight of the Idols IX 44 (1888)]

"Napoleon was a piece of 'return to nature' ".
[ib., IX 48]

And there is another clue - the creation of the Super Human is necessary to create ever greater Souls within men;

"Napoleon - the passion of new possibilities of the soul, an expansion of the soul".
[WP 829 (1888)]

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