Stavros
06-06-2024, 09:22 AM
A day or so ago, while travelling into town on the bus, and gazing out of the window at familiar sights, I decided I don't like The Great Gatsby because it is a book about resentment. Nick Carraway, the narrator of the story, resents the wealth Gatsby has, and is determined to 'bring him down', even though it doesn't replace their position -he doesn't become rich or as rich as Gatsby through his own efforts, and at the end, Gatsby meets a dismal end before his time.
Through this random idea, I decided it has been a mistake to call the people who vote for Trump, or voted for Brexit, as the 'left behind' who are angry with their fate, and thus vote for something -Brexit- or a person -Trump- who will reverse their fate and solve their problems.
Rather, I see it as a form of, if not Resentment, then Ressentiment. The use of the word in French, Ressentiment, by Nietzsche, was designed to suggest that while Resentment is merely an emotion, Ressentiment is a structure, part of the 'Slave Morality' of Judeo-Christian theology which in social terms locks individuals into a relationship they cannot get out, in which they feel impotent.
It bears a striking resemblance to Class and Class Conflict in Marx, so one could say what Marx argues for the collective mass of humanity, Nietzsche argues for the individual.
Nietzsche was a Philologist which may explain his use of the word in French to distinguish it in the way he wants to. He did the same with the word Decadence, or Décadence.
If there is another key difference, it is that in Marx there is the possibility of Liberation from Class Conflict, through Revolution, whereas in Nietzsche the individual is mostly trapped, unless he or she can reject the source of their oppression, through philosophical investigation, or artistic creativity (and thereby test the boundaries of what they know and feel, Wagner for Nietzsche being the model, but particularly Tristan und Isolde).
This asks a lot. Rather, I am more inclined to the view that Resentment and Ressentiment offer a narrative of complaint that in reality, and thus in Politics, has no solution. It becomes a permanent form of Grievance. Brexit, after all, did happen, and either one takes the view it was 'Betrayed' by the Establishment, or that it has not worked as intended because it was doomed to fail and and has thus been a disaster. The debate can go on and on, and I am probably as guilty of this as others, though one notes the absence of serious Brexit-related issues in our General Election 'debates'. So successful has this narrative been, that re-joining the EU is considered both impossible and even undesirable.
Trump in 4 years did more damage to the US than to repair what he said were its faults, and again, the permanent state of Ressentiment is to style it as a 'betrayal', in his case by the 'Deep State', with the promise of more to come, but with the inevitable thought that another 4 years would do nothing to heal the mental anguish and wounds of his supporters. Things can only get worse, or stay the same.
Like Israel and HAMAS they are all locked into a paradigm that is a prison, and that nobody will know anything different from what they have -endless violence and complaint -until they change the paradigm, or it is changed for them.
Or is the idea that we can free ourselves from Ressentiment, from religious or class oppression, from economic slavery a Utopian idea? Politics in this context offers a bandage on the wound, and little else. But perhaps we can take measures to at least not harm each other to such an extent that the wounds are too deep to heal.
Some useful guides-
Ressentiment - Oxford Reference (https://www.oxfordreference.com/display/10.1093/oi/authority.20110803100416129#:~:text=Jameson's%20qu arrel%20with%20ressentiment%2C%20or,bourgeoisie%20 elite%20to%20simultaneously%20justify)
Good for the relevance to contemporary events
Ressentiment: the World-Improving Poison (substack.com) (https://thelivingphilosophy.substack.com/p/ressentiment-the-world-improving)
Through this random idea, I decided it has been a mistake to call the people who vote for Trump, or voted for Brexit, as the 'left behind' who are angry with their fate, and thus vote for something -Brexit- or a person -Trump- who will reverse their fate and solve their problems.
Rather, I see it as a form of, if not Resentment, then Ressentiment. The use of the word in French, Ressentiment, by Nietzsche, was designed to suggest that while Resentment is merely an emotion, Ressentiment is a structure, part of the 'Slave Morality' of Judeo-Christian theology which in social terms locks individuals into a relationship they cannot get out, in which they feel impotent.
It bears a striking resemblance to Class and Class Conflict in Marx, so one could say what Marx argues for the collective mass of humanity, Nietzsche argues for the individual.
Nietzsche was a Philologist which may explain his use of the word in French to distinguish it in the way he wants to. He did the same with the word Decadence, or Décadence.
If there is another key difference, it is that in Marx there is the possibility of Liberation from Class Conflict, through Revolution, whereas in Nietzsche the individual is mostly trapped, unless he or she can reject the source of their oppression, through philosophical investigation, or artistic creativity (and thereby test the boundaries of what they know and feel, Wagner for Nietzsche being the model, but particularly Tristan und Isolde).
This asks a lot. Rather, I am more inclined to the view that Resentment and Ressentiment offer a narrative of complaint that in reality, and thus in Politics, has no solution. It becomes a permanent form of Grievance. Brexit, after all, did happen, and either one takes the view it was 'Betrayed' by the Establishment, or that it has not worked as intended because it was doomed to fail and and has thus been a disaster. The debate can go on and on, and I am probably as guilty of this as others, though one notes the absence of serious Brexit-related issues in our General Election 'debates'. So successful has this narrative been, that re-joining the EU is considered both impossible and even undesirable.
Trump in 4 years did more damage to the US than to repair what he said were its faults, and again, the permanent state of Ressentiment is to style it as a 'betrayal', in his case by the 'Deep State', with the promise of more to come, but with the inevitable thought that another 4 years would do nothing to heal the mental anguish and wounds of his supporters. Things can only get worse, or stay the same.
Like Israel and HAMAS they are all locked into a paradigm that is a prison, and that nobody will know anything different from what they have -endless violence and complaint -until they change the paradigm, or it is changed for them.
Or is the idea that we can free ourselves from Ressentiment, from religious or class oppression, from economic slavery a Utopian idea? Politics in this context offers a bandage on the wound, and little else. But perhaps we can take measures to at least not harm each other to such an extent that the wounds are too deep to heal.
Some useful guides-
Ressentiment - Oxford Reference (https://www.oxfordreference.com/display/10.1093/oi/authority.20110803100416129#:~:text=Jameson's%20qu arrel%20with%20ressentiment%2C%20or,bourgeoisie%20 elite%20to%20simultaneously%20justify)
Good for the relevance to contemporary events
Ressentiment: the World-Improving Poison (substack.com) (https://thelivingphilosophy.substack.com/p/ressentiment-the-world-improving)