Summary
Dominique Pagani does not approach the United States head-on: he brings them in obliquely, in sessions devoted to other subjects. In 2015, discussing the Nietzschean overman, he follows Domenico Losurdo to show that the notion of the subhuman does not come from Nazism. It comes from the American Lothrop Stoddard, whose "underman" refers to Native Americans, Black people, Asians and the white socialists who support them, and whom Rosenberg read and then imported into Germany. He concludes that the criterion is political, not physical1. In music, he compares Russians and Americans, dancing peoples whose rhythmic obsession would stem from the vast spaces, steppe or Midwest, that the horse's trot divides up2. Commenting on Aragon's "Le Paysan de Paris chante", he contrasts the historical depth that great poetry expresses with American civilization which, having a recent history, lacks this long span of time3.
- 1U for Übermensch4 Jan 2015
- 2Tchaikovsky: from the steppes to the Midwest15 Jun 2022
- 3Aragon, “The Paris Peasant Sings”5 Aug 2023
Introduction produced automatically from the 3 sessions on this theme, to be reviewed; the numbers link to the sessions.
The 3 videos
Readings on the spotAragon, “The Paris Peasant Sings”
5 Aug 2023What does Aragon's "Le Paysan de Paris chante" say about working-class Paris and demonstrations, and how does this poem from the Resistance connect with current events?
Pagani Parle MusiqueTchaikovsky: from the steppes to the Midwest
15 Jun 2022What is a concerto, and what does the slow movement of Tchaikovsky's Concerto No. 1 reveal about Russian music?
A Philosophical AlphabetU for Übermensch
4 Jan 2015What does Nietzsche's notion of the superman cover, and what does it become when related to the notion of the subhuman?