Nietzsche vs. Tolstoy

After reading both excerpts, I believe that both Nietzsche and Tolstoy are trying to get the same point across, provided my interpretation of the difficult NIetzsche text is not completely off base.

NIetzsche speaks of the "collapse of the principium individuationis" in art as that which marks "quality" art. He feels that the individuating qualities that are associated with this principal and Apollonian thought are not the only forces behind a true piece of art. Instead, he feels that the conflict between the Apollonian forces and the Dionysian forces within a work of art create a "quality" piece. Dionysian forces are those which dilute the individualizing qualities of the Apollonian forces; Dionysian represents the feelings of pleasure and emotion that humans are better able to identify with. Pieces that have purely individually qualities are not in touch with human emotions, and because of this, they are often hard to identify with and understand. By diluting these ideas, people are better able to understand the intent behind the idea of the artist; this realization enables them to take in the emotion that the artist might have felt as he created the work of art. This transfer of emotional qualities ensures that the piece of art is authentic, and not so individual in thought that it is beyond understanding.

Tolstoy's work relays the idea that "the stronger the infection the better the art" - - which I believe is also indicating the role emotion plays in the authenticity of a piece of work. Tolstoy provides three criteria which help us to determine the degree of infectiousness of a piece: individuality, clearness, and sincerity. The artist must move away from just an individual thought as there must be a feeling that the individual thought brings about in others, a clarity with which this feeling is felt, and the sincerity with which the feeling is transmitted from artist to viewer. An artist cannot sit down to work with simply an individual thought if he wants this piece to be considered a work of art; instead, he must have feelings about this thought that motivate him to work. In this way, the emotions are passed on to the onlooker, and once again, the individual thought has been diluted with emotion just as Nietzsche felt it should be.

Nietzsche and Tolstoy had the same basic idea on art. Both believed that the human condition and emotion played a role in the effectiveness of a piece of art to relay a message or evoke a feeling. Individual thought is not enough because it does not ensure that every person will understand that same thought.