Page 12 - GALIET DIONYSUS´RETURN: Good and Evil Dithyrambs IV

While the Enlightenment’s Neo-Classicism revives order, purity and clarity 3⁄4 all art and music must represent nature as it is and must appeal to society rather than to the individual 3⁄4 Romanticism revives the expression of the individual and his search for unity and meaning in the world. Alexander Pope in his Essay on Man8 tells us that the universe is well ordered, that general laws govern it and that the dynamics of human life dwell in the harmony and symmetry of passion and self-love. Yet, like Milton in Paradise Lost, Pope faces the problem of the existence of evil in a world created presumably by a benevolent God. While Pope justifies evil by saying that those who exercise evil are at war with their own natures, Milton states that evil is part of the human condition. Because Lucifer and his entourage of Angels are shunned from the mighty heavens, they are bound to rebel, thus, affirming Camus “I rebel, therefore we exist.” Therefore, neo-classical ideals of order, restraint, simplicity and impersonality surrender to the Romantic ideals of chaos, exuberance, passion and emotions, which indeed include the gothic and barbaric as aspects of creativity.
Precisely because Camus believes that the literary integration of good and evil leading to nihilism begins with Marquis de Sade, he peculiarly neglects its Dionysian origins. The Bacchean festivals, renowned for their cruelty and sensuality, a
8 Pope, Alexander. An Essay on Man. Epistle I. Of the Nature and State of Man with respect to the Universe. In Epistles to a Friend (Epistle III). London: Printed for J. Wilford. 1733.
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