The Birth of Tragedy

　　Attempt at a Self-Criticism（1886）

　　Preface to Richard Wagner（1871）

　　To keep at a distance all the possible scruples, excitements, and misunderstandings that the thoughts united in this essay will occasion, in view of the peculiar character of our aesthetic public, and to be able to write these introductory remarks, too, with the same contemplative delight whose reflection――the distillation of good and elevating hours――is evident on every page, I picture the moment when you, my highly respected friend, will receive this essay. Perhaps after an evening walk in the winter snow, you will behold Prometheus unbound on the title page, read my name, and be convinced at once that, whatever this essay should contain, the author certainly has something serious and urgent to say; also that, as he hatched these ideas, he was communicating with you as if you were present, and hence could write down only what was in keeping with that presence. You will recall that it was during the same period when your splendid Festschrift on Beethoven came into being, amid the terrors and sublimities of the war that had just broken out, that I collected myself for these reflections. Yet anyone would be mistaken if he associated my reflections with the contrast between patriotic excitement and aesthetic enthusiasm, of courageous seriousness and a cheerful game: if he really read this essay, it would dawn on him, to his surprise, what a seriously German problem is faced here and placed right in the center of German hopes, as a vortex and turning point. But perhaps such readers will find it offensive that an aesthetic problem should be taken so seriously――assuming they are unable to consider art more than a pleasant sideline, a readily dispensable tinkling of bells that accompanies the "seriousness of life," just as if nobody knew what was involved in such a contrast with the "seriousness of life." Let such "serious" readers learn something from the fact that I am convinced that art represents the highest task and the truly metaphysical activity of this life, in the sense of that man to whom, as my sublime predecessor on this path, I wish to dedicate this essay.

　　Basel, end of the year 1871

　　《悲劇的誕生》繆郎山1965年

　　獻給理查．瓦格納

　　為了，鑒于我們審美大眾的特殊性質，我對集中在這篇論文里的思想會引起的種種可能的懷疑、興奮和誤解，要敬而遠之；而且，為了我能夠懷著同樣靜觀的快感――這種快感像我興高采烈的時光之化石似的在每一頁上都留下標志――來寫此文的前言；因此，我設想您，我最敬愛的朋友，接受這篇論文的那一剎間；您，也許是在冬雪的黃昏散步之后，在書名頁上見到那被幽囚的普羅密修斯，讀到我的名字，便立刻相信；無論此文的內容是甚么，作者總有一些重要而動人的話要說，況且他把他的一切感想對您訴說，好象是當面傾談那樣，他也只能寫下適合于當面傾談的話。于此，您將記得，當您醞釀您那篇輝煌的貝多芬紀念文時，也就是說，在戰爭爆發時的恐怖和激昂情緒中，我同時正專心致力這篇論文。但是，如果有人以為我的專心是審美的陶醉而非愛國的熱情，是怡情的游戲而非英勇的摯誠，那就錯了；這種讀者，在認真地讀完這篇論文之后，將會愕然發現；我們要討論的是多么重要的德國問題，我們把這問題恰好正確地放在德國的希望之中心地位。然而，或許這種讀者見到一個審美問題被這樣嚴肅地處理，畢竟會覺得欠妥，尤其是如果他們認為藝術不過是一種娛樂的閑事，不過是系在“生活的莊嚴”上可有可無的風鈴；仿佛無人能體會到所謂“生活的莊嚴”之對立面有什么意義。我應該告訴誠懇的讀者，我相信藝術乃是人類所了解的人生底最高使命及其正確的超脫活動，現在我將這篇論文摘給他們――我在這條路上的崇高的戰友們。

　　一八七一年歲末．于巴塞爾。

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