The Apollonian and Dionysian is a philosophical and literary concept, or dichotomy, based on certain features of ancient Greek mythology. Many Western philosophical and literary figures have invoked this dichotomy in critical and creative works.

In Greek mythology, Apollo and Dionysus are both sons of Zeus. Apollo is the god of the Sun, dreams, and reason while Dionysus is the god of wine, ecstasy, and intoxication. The Greeks did not consider the two gods to be opposites or rivals. However, Parnassus, the mythical home of poetry and all art, was strongly associated with each of the two gods in separate legends.

German philosophy[link]

Although the use of the concepts of the Apollonian and Dionysian is famously related to Nietzsche's The Birth of Tragedy, the terms were used before him in Prussia.^[1] The poet Hölderlin spoke of them, while Winckelmann talked of Bacchus, the god of wine.

Nietzsche's usage[link]

Nietzsche's aesthetic usage of the concepts, which was later developed philosophically, was first developed in his book The Birth of Tragedy, which was published in 1872. His major premise here was that the fusion of Dionysian and Apollonian "Kunsttrieben" ("artistic impulses") forms dramatic arts, or tragedies. He goes on to argue that this fusion has not been achieved since the ancient Greek tragedians. Nietzsche is adamant that the works of Aeschylus and Sophocles represent the apex of artistic creation, the true realization of tragedy; it is with Euripides, he states, that tragedy begins its "Untergang" (literally "going under", meaning decline, deterioration, downfall, death, etc.). Nietzsche objects to Euripides' use of Socratic rationalism in his tragedies, claiming that the infusion of ethics and reason robs tragedy of its foundation, namely the fragile balance of the Dionysian and Apollonian.

The relationship between the Apollonian and Dionysian juxtapositions is apparent, Nietzsche claimed in The Birth of Tragedy, in the interplay of Greek Tragedy: the tragic hero of the drama, the main protagonist, struggles to make order (in the Apollonian sense) of his unjust and chaotic (Dionysian) Fate, though he dies unfulfilled in the end. For the audience of such a drama, Nietzsche claimed, this tragedy allows us to sense an underlying essence, what he called the "Primordial Unity", which revives our Dionysian nature - which is almost indescribably pleasurable. Though he later dropped this concept saying it was “...burdened with all the errors of youth” (Attempt at Self Criticism, §2), the overarching theme was a sort of metaphysical solace or connection with the heart of creation.

Different from Kant's idea of the sublime, the Dionysian is all-inclusive rather than alienating to the viewer as a sublimating experience. The sublime needs critical distance, while the Dionysian demands a closeness of experience. According to Nietzsche, the critical distance, which separates man from his closest emotions, originates in Apollonian ideals, which in turn separate him from his essential connection with self. The Dionysian embraces the chaotic nature of such experience as all-important; not just on its own, but as it is intimately connected with the Apollonian. The Dionysian magnifies man, but only so far as he realizes that he is one and the same with all ordered human experience. The godlike unity of the Dionysian experience is of utmost importance in viewing the Dionysian as it is related to the Apollonian because it emphasizes the harmony that can be found within one’s chaotic experience.

Paglia's usage[link]

American humanities scholar Camille Paglia writes about the Apollonian and Dionysian in her controversial 1990 bestseller Sexual Personae.^[2] The broad outline of her concept is borrowed from Nietzsche, an admitted influence, although Paglia's ideas diverge significantly.

The Apollonian and Dionysian concepts comprise a dichotomy that serves as the basis of Paglia's theory of art and culture. For Paglia, the Apollonian is light and structured while the Dionysian is dark and chthonic (she prefers Chthonic to Dionysian throughout the book, arguing that the latter concept has become all but synonymous with hedonism and is inadequate for her purposes, declaring that "the Dionysian is no picnic."). The Chthonic is associated with females, wild/chaotic nature, and unconstrained sex/procreation. In contrast, the Apollonian is associated with males, clarity, celibacy and/or homosexuality, rationality/reason, and solidity, along with the goal of oriented progress: "Everything great in western civilization comes from struggle against our origins."^[3]

She argues that there is a biological basis to the Apollonian/Dionysian dichotomy, writing: "The quarrel between Apollo and Dionysus is the quarrel between the higher cortex and the older limbic and reptilian brains."^[4] Moreover, Paglia attributes all the progress of human civilization to masculinity revolting against the Chthonic forces of nature, and turning instead to the Apollonian trait of ordered creation. The Dionysian is a force of chaos and destruction, which is the overpowering and alluring chaotic state of wild nature. Rejection of – or combat with – Chthonianism by socially constructed Apollonian virtues accounts for the historical dominance of men (including asexual and homosexual men; and childless and/or lesbian-leaning women) in science, literature, arts, technology and politics. As an example, Paglia states: "The male orientation of classical Athens was inseparable from its genius. Athens became great not despite but because of its misogyny."^[5]

Apollonianism in linguistics[link]

Similar to Nietzsche's usage, some linguists use Apollonianism to denote "the wish to describe and create order, especially with unfamiliar information or new experience. An updated, albeit frivolous, example of this general tendency is the story about the South Dakotan who went to Athens and was happily surprised to find out that the Greeks are fans of NASA’s projects: wherever he went, he saw the name Apollo. As this anecdote shows, the ‘Apollonian tendency’ would also seem to include a significant dimension of ethnocentricity."^[6]

"Specifically in linguistics, Apollonianism is manifested in justifications for the use of a word and in the craving for meaningfulness. Consider the perception of naïve young Israeli readers of the name דוקטור סוס dóktor sus (cf. Dr Seuss). Many Israelis are certain that he is ‘Dr Horse’ since in Hebrew סוס sus means ‘horse’ - cf. the etymythology that this arises from the prevalence of animals in Dr Seuss’s stories. This ‘misunderstanding’ might correspond to Einar Haugen’s general claim with regard to borrowing, that ‘every speaker attempts to reproduce previously learned linguistic patterns in an effort to cope with new linguistic situations’ (1950: 212)."^[7]

Post-modern reading [link]

Nietzsche's idea has been interpreted as an expression of fragmented consciousness or existential instability by a variety of modern and post-modern writers, especially Martin Heidegger in Nietzsche and the Post-modernists.^[8] According to Peter Sloterdijk, the Dionysian and the Apollonian form a dialectic; they are contrasting, but Nietzsche does not mean one to be valued more than the other.^[9] Truth being primordial pain, our existential being is determined by the Dionysian/Apollonian dialectic.

Extending the use of the Apollonian and Dionysian onto an argument on interaction between the mind and physical environment, Abraham Akkerman has pointed to masculine and feminine features of city form.^[10]

Michael Pollan[link]

The dichotomy is a major theme in Michael Pollan's book, "The Botany of Desire" in which he details humanity's attempt at controlling nature through large-scale production of food crops. He argues any attempt to bring control to a single variable in a natural system only results in more variables to which disorder and entropy will reign. Thus, all control is partial, temporary and largely illusory. Some farmers accept this and use strategies like crop rotation, variety and secondary crops which complement their main crops with beneficial insects and such. Other farmers try to sustain monocultures, which is the ultimate attempt at order among chaos, and must depend on chemicals or genetic tampering to defend against encroaching disorder. Farmers who embrace the chaos are usually far more successful and less beholden to corporations, but can't match the production or homogeneity necessary to supply restaurant chains.

Stephen King's usage [link]

American novelist Stephen King uses Apollonian and Dionysian analysis in Danse Macabre (1981),^[11] a non-fiction survey of horror literature that was expanded from King's lecture notes for creative writing and literature courses he taught at the University of Maine in the late 1970s. Though wary of indulging in what King describes as "academic bullshit," he nevertheless argues that mythology can illuminate recurring themes in horror, saying "I used the terms Apollonian (to suggest reason and the power of the mind) and Dionysian (to suggest emotion, sensuality, and chaotic action)."^[12]

See also [link]

• Weimar Classicism
• Folk etymology
• Phono-semantic matching
• Caledonian Antisyzygy
• Cygnus X-1 duology (Rush songs)

Apollo (Apollonian or Apollinian): the dream state or the wish to create order, principium individuationis (principle of individuation), plastic (visual) arts, beauty, clarity, stint to formed boundaries, individuality, celebration of appearance/illusion, human beings as artists (or media of art's manifestation), self-control, perfection, exhaustion of possibilities, creation, the rational/logical and reasonable.

Dionysus (Dionysian): chaos, intoxication, celebration of nature, instinctual, intuitive, pertaining to the sensation of pleasure or pain, individuality dissolved and hence destroyed, wholeness of existence, orgiastic passion, dissolution of all boundaries, excess, human being(s) as the work and glorification of art, destruction, the irrational and non-logical.

References [link]

v t e Friedrich Nietzsche Works The Birth of Tragedy Philosophy in the Tragic Age of the Greeks On Truth and Lies in a Nonmoral Sense Untimely Meditations Hymnus an das Leben Human, All Too Human The Dawn The Gay Science Thus Spoke Zarathustra Beyond Good and Evil On the Genealogy of Morality The Case of Wagner Twilight of the Idols The Antichrist Ecce Homo Nietzsche contra Wagner The Will to Power (posthumous) Concepts Amor fati Apollonian and Dionysian Eternal return Free will God is dead Herd instinct Last man Master-slave morality Nietzschean affirmation Perspectivism Ressentiment Transvaluation of values Tschandala Übermensch World riddle Will to power Related articles Works about Nietzsche Influence and reception of Nietzsche Anarchism and Nietzsche Nietzsche-Archiv Nietzsche-Haus, Naumburg Nietzsche-Haus, Sils-Maria Nietzsche Music Project Relationship with Max Stirner My Sister and I

Zach Randolph

Randolph during his tenure with the Clippers
No. 50 – Memphis Grizzlies
Power forward
Personal information
Born	(1981-07-16) July 16, 1981 (age 30) Marion, Indiana
Nationality	American
High school	Marion HS (Marion, Indiana)
Listed height	6 ft 9 in (2.06 m)
Listed weight	260 lb (118 kg)
Career information
College	Michigan State (2000–2001)
NBA Draft	2001 / Round: 1 / Pick: 19th overall
Selected by the Portland Trail Blazers
Pro career	2001–present
Career history
2001–2007	Portland Trail Blazers
2007–2008	New York Knicks
2008–2009	Los Angeles Clippers
2009–present	Memphis Grizzlies
Career highlights and awards
NBA All-Star (2010) All-NBA Third Team (2011) NBA Most Improved Player (2004)
Stats at NBA.com

Zachary Randolph (born July 16, 1981), nicknamed Z-Bo,^[1] is an American professional basketball player who plays for the Memphis Grizzlies of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He played college basketball at Michigan State University and was drafted in the 2001 NBA Draft by the Portland Trail Blazers.

High school career[link]

Randolph grew up in Marion, Indiana and attended Marion High School, where his coach was Moe Smedley. As a sophomore, he helped lead the Marion Giants to the 1998 Indiana Class 4A Championship Game. As a senior, he again led his team to the state championship game in which Marion High School won its seventh state basketball championship. He finished second in Indiana's 'Mr. Basketball' voting that year, closely behind Jared Jeffries, who played for the team that the Giants beat in the state championship game that year and would later become Randolph's teammate with the Knicks.

College career[link]

After high school, Randolph attended and played basketball for the Michigan State University Spartans, coached by Tom Izzo. His teammates at MSU included Jason Richardson and Charlie Bell. In his single season at Michigan State, he averaged 10.8 points and 6.7 rebounds per game over 33 games, with a team that finished with a 28–5 record and went to the NCAA Final Four. After his freshman season he entered the 2001 NBA Draft.

NBA career[link]

Portland Trail Blazers[link]

He was drafted by the Blazers in the first round (19th overall) in 2001. He plays the power forward position. In 2004 he won the NBA's Most Improved Player award, after which he signed a 6-year, 84-million dollar extension with the Blazers. Randolph averaged 23.6 points and 10.1 rebounds per game in the 2006–07 season, which was cut short in March 2007 due to a hand injury. In what would turn out to be his final game as a Trail Blazer, he accumulated a career high 43 points and 17 rebounds.

New York Knicks[link]

On June 28, 2007, Randolph, along with Dan Dickau, Fred Jones and draft rights to Demetris Nichols, was traded to the Knicks in a draft day deal for Steve Francis, Channing Frye, and a 2008 2nd round draft pick.^[2] On July 2, 2007, Randolph was introduced at a press conference in New York,^[3] where he revealed he would wear the jersey #50.

Los Angeles Clippers[link]

On November 21, 2008, he was traded to the Los Angeles Clippers along with Mardy Collins in exchange for Cuttino Mobley and Tim Thomas.^[4] During a game against the Phoenix Suns on February 17, 2009, Randolph was ejected,^[5] and subsequently suspended,^[6] for punching Louis Amundson in the jaw.

Memphis Grizzlies[link]

On July 17, 2009, he was traded to the Memphis Grizzlies in exchange for Quentin Richardson.^[7] Randolph was selected for his first NBA All Star Game in 2010 and helped the Grizzlies improve despite failing to make it to the 2010 playoffs. On April 18, 2011, Zach Randolph agreed to a four-year extension with the Grizzles worth $71 million, with $66 million guaranteed.^[8] The Grizzlies made the playoffs in 2011 as the eighth seed and eliminated the top-seeded San Antonio Spurs in the first round, just the second time the eighth seed defeated the first seed since the league expanded to a seven-game first round series. The series marked the first four wins in franchise playoff history for the Grizzlies and the first time the franchise won a playoff series. In the decisive sixth game, Randolph scored a then playoff career-high 31 points, including 17 in the 4th quarter.^[9]

Randolph would then lead the Grizzlies to an opening game win in their second round playoff series, posting a playoff-career high 34 points as the Grizzlies defeated the Thunder 114–101.^[10] However, the Memphis Grizzlies would fall in the second round after losing game 7 to the Oklahoma City Thunder 105–90.

Career transactions[link]

• June 27, 2001: Drafted 19th overall by Portland Trail Blazers in 2001 NBA Draft.
• June 28, 2007: Traded by Portland Blazers along with Dan Dickau, Fred Jones and draft rights of 53rd pick Demetris Nichols to the New York Knicks for Channing Frye, Steve Francis and a future second-round draft pick.^[11]
• November 21, 2008: Traded by New York Knicks along with Mardy Collins to the Los Angeles Clippers for Tim Thomas and Cuttino Mobley.^[4]
• July 17, 2009: Traded by Los Angeles Clippers to the Memphis Grizzlies for Quentin Richardson.

NBA career statistics[link]

Regular season[link]

Playoffs[link]

References[link]

External links[link]

• Profile at NBA.com
• Zach Randolph at ESPN.com
• Profile at Basketball-Reference.com
• Profile at ArmchairGM.com
• A Chance to Steady an Up-and-Down Life
• Zach the Gym Rat