Blogging Nietzsche—Nietzsche's Poetry: "The Pen Scribbles"

In his own time, Nietzsche was something of an outcast. His books and other writings were not praised or accepted by the intelligentsia of the day. And yet Nietzsche wrote with such fervor and authenticity that he cannot help but be admired for it, no matter what you might think of his work philosophically.

This fervor of Nietzsche’s writing is made quite clear in his poem “The Pen Scribbles” (Nietzsche, The Gay Science, ‘Joke, Cunning, and Revenge’: Prelude in German Rhymes, No. 59):

59. The Pen Scribbles

My pen, it scribbles: this is hell!
Have I been damned to have to scribble? —
I dip it boldly in the well
and write broad streams of inky drivel.
See how it flows, so full, so pure!
See how each thing I try succeeds!
The text’s not lucid, to be sure —
So what? What I write no one reads.

When writing, either professionally or academically, there is immense external pressure to write in the usual, accepted way, usually at the expense of your own authenticity, at the expense of the words and messages and insights that speak to you personally and individually.

Nietzsche’s sentiments on writing here remind me very much of the words of the fictional author William Forrester, portrayed by Sean Connery, in the film Finding Forrester:

William Forrester: Why is it that the words that we write for ourselves are always so much better than the words we write for others?

This might be a bit of an overstatement, but I tend to agree with Nietzsche and Sean Connery: I’ll take someone else’s most authentic drivel over another person’s most polished or philosophical prose any day.

Perhaps this makes me more a student of literature and poetry than a proper philosopher, since authentic drivel, Nietzsche’s drivel, my drivel, or otherwise, doesn’t live up to the standards of rigor and argument analysis so praised by mainstream philosophers, or perhaps by mainstream culture in general. And yet, I try to adopt this Nietzschean spirit in my own writing. Even if you are reading this blog and enjoying it (and perhaps especially if you hate it!), I am not writing it for you. These words are my own journey, my own interests, my own viewpoint—on philosophical topics or otherwise, and they flow from my fingertips as mightily as from Nietzsche’s pen.

We can teach students to be good, run-of-the-mill philosophers and writers. But we can’t teach them to be individuals, no matter how much we show them the way and try to illustrate the whole concept of individuality for them in our lives and in our classrooms. And, really, why would we aim so low as to breed mere philosophers instead of strong individuals anyway?

The irony, of course, is that people did end up reading Nietzsche’s words far more than even he himself could ever have dreamed of. Well, sort of—many philosophers today couldn’t give a tinker’s dam about Nietzsche. And even the ones who do read and think about Nietzsche often don’t really understand the spirit behind Nietzsche’s writings. I’ve sat through many an uninspired lecture on Nietzsche that entirely missed the point of most of what Nietzsche was trying to tell us.

Undoubtedly most philosophers think of themselves as heroes of their own philosophical dramas, and they don’t think of their own words as drivel. Nietzsche at least had the courage to self-identify as a writer of drivel that no one reads, but drivel that flowed from him like a mighty river when writing most authentically—for himself and for no one else.

For Further Reading/Viewing:

• The Gay Science by Friedrich Nietzsche

• Finding Forrester (Blu-ray)