Nihilism is the idea that old norms must be destroyed and replaced with new ones in order to create a better society. This idea was very popular in Germany after World War I. It was at this time when the German people felt as though the war had destroyed their economy and society. The responses to Germany’s participation in the war came in the form of art work such as Dadaism and films such as Blue Angel and Dr. Caligiri’s cabinet. We have been studying different forms of nihilism throughout the semester. The Dada artists tended to express their ideas by meshing aspects of humanity with technology while fiction such as Ernst Junger’s On Pain and Herman Hesse’s Siddartha expressed their ideas by exploring the meaning of reality and life.
Dadaism was an anti-war cultural movement which started after World War I and took particular interest in Germany. The artworks in this movement present a negative portrayal of society. Whereas the industrial advances of Europe were widely seen as a great achievement, the dada artists saw these advances as steadily destroying humanity and taking away from the human imagination. Raoul Haussman’s “Direktion,” is the perfect example.
The head and upper part of the body are the first noticeable parts of a person. In Haussman’s picture, the upper body’s internal organs are exposed. The chest cavity and vessels are emphasized with bright colors, red and blue and significant detail meaning it is easy to see the texture of the chest cavity. The head on the other hand has been replaced with a dust colored kind of clock. In examining this picture, the focal point for the eye would be the chest cavity. The clock is in direct contrast with these human features. This picture is saying that technology is turning humans into brainless robots who do not have to think because now technology is doing that for them.
With Haussman’s intergration of humanity and technology, we are getting a negative depiction of the two. He is saying that both entities cannot coexist because technology takes away from human creativity. In another of Haussman’s paintings, Dada Seigt, we are shown how machinery affects human activities. It seems as though, Haussman is saying that machines ignite the flame of war.
In Ernst Jungers’ novel On Pain, his feelings towards technology are somewhat ambiguous. This was discussed in the class blog as well where it was mentioned that the use of technology is counterproductive to human society. Its emergence takes away jobs and makes people feel useless. Technology in itself takes away from basic human nature and brings out vicious a quality which in turn leaves the whole of society in a disarray.
On one hand, Junger is against technology for those reasons. On another hand, Junger supports the use of technology because it forces people to leave the past behind and seek a better future. “The masses kill with machines, they tear apart and trample underfoot; by contrast, the lumpenproletariat is directly familiar with the joys of torture. The masses are moved morally; they unite in situations of excitement and indignation. They must be convinced that the opponent is evil and that they are prosecuting justice against this evil. The lumpenproletariat is beyond moral valuations and thus always and everywhere ready to seize the opportunity, i.e., with every disturbance of the social order regardless of origin. The lumpenproletariat therefore functions beyond the more limited space of politics; instead, one must regard the lumpenproletariat as a kind of underground army reserve that the social order keeps on alert.” (p.26) Junger. This quote is saying that even though this integration between technology and humanity causes chaos, it prepares society for change.
Another work that we have discussed in the class blog as well as on our separate blogs is Herman Hesse’s Siddhartha. This book was written in 1922 shortly after the end of World War I. Siddhartha, which is a mixture of two words meaning “Achieve” and “Wealth”, is a young man who leads a very sheltered life until he decides to seek a path of enlightenment.
Siddhartha feels as though something is missing and even though he follows the rituals of his religion to a tee, he still unsatisfied. He leaves his father’s home because he feels he has learned all his father knows. Siddhartha goes through various stages of development on his path to enlightenment. First, he decides that in order to become one with the universe, one must detach themselves from their wants and desires. He and his best friend Govinda travel with the Samanas in order to learn how to rid themselves of their desires.
After traveling for some time, Siddhartha comes to the realization that this is not the way to reach nirvana. “Siddhartha learned a great deal from the Samanas; he learned many ways of losing the Self. He traveled along the path of self-denial through pain, through voluntary suffering and conquering of pain, through hunger, thirst and fatigue. He traveled the way of self-denial through meditation, through the emptying of the mind through all images. Along these and other paths did he learn to travel? He lost his Self a thousand times and for days on end he dwelt in non-being. But although the paths took him away from Self, in the end they always led back to it.” (34) Siddartha, then, makes the decision to leave. He makes the decision to wander around the village and observe the townspeople in which he becomes disgusted at the hypocrisy he sees.
He then meets Gotma who convinces him that there is no specific way to achieve enlightenment. Siddartha then leaves Gotma and comes to the realization that every religion has their own ritual. So he decides to find the ritual that is best for him. It is on his path that he meets Kamala and develops a relationship. In this relationship with Kamala, he experiences love and loss, which in turn helps him find peace and finally nirvana.
Siddhartha’s rejection of all things known is in exact correlation with the ideals of Nihilism. He rejected the old norms in order to find himself and once he was able to completely shed himself of all past habits, he was able to do so. Herman Hesse’s book was a reflection of Germany’s nihilist attitude post world war I.
In conclusion, the ideas we have studied differ in many ways but they all reflect one idea: Nihilism. Raoul Haussman’s art work mocked technological advances and mourned humanity which led to the inference that he wanted these ways to be destroyed so that new ones could surmount. Ernst Junger essentially supported technology and its causes because he believed it would eventually transform humanity. Siddartha worked hard to drop his habits in order to find his true self.
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