Finding an Ending: Reflections on Wagner's Ring [Hardcover]

Philip Kitcher (Author), Richard Schacht (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 31, 2004

Few musical works loom as large in Western culture as Richard Wagner's four-part Ring of the Nibelung. In Finding an Ending, two eminent philosophers, Philip Kitcher and Richard Schacht, offer an illuminating look at this greatest of Wagner's achievements, focusing on its far-reaching and subtle exploration of problems of meanings and endings in this life and world.

Kitcher and Schacht plunge the reader into the heart of Wagner's Ring, drawing out the philosophical and human significance of the text and the music. They show how different forms of love, freedom, heroism, authority, and judgment are explored and tested as it unfolds. As they journey across its sweeping musical-dramatic landscape, Kitcher and Schacht lead us to the central concern of the Ring--the problem of endowing life with genuine significance that can be enhanced rather than negated by its ending, if the right sort of ending can be found. The drama originates in Wotan's quest for a transformation of the primordial state of things into a world in which life can be lived more meaningfully. The authors trace the evolution of Wotan's efforts, the intricate problems he confronts, and his failures and defeats. But while the problem Wotan poses for himself proves to be insoluble as he conceives of it, they suggest that his very efforts and failures set the stage for the transformation of his problem, and for the only sort of resolution of it that may be humanly possible--to which it is not Siegfried but rather Br�nnhilde who shows the way.

The Ring's ending, with its passing of the gods above and destruction of the world below, might seem to be devastating; but Kitcher and Schacht see a kind of meaning in and through the ending revealed to us that is profoundly affirmative, and that has perhaps never been so powerfully and so beautifully expressed.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"The most seriously engaged book of the many written on this endlessing challenging masterpiece.... An intelligent and careful 'philosophical excursion' through Wagner's Ring, conducted with the intention of explaining the emotional and intellectual impact of one major work of art. The organization of the book, in short and coherent chapters which nevertheless take us through the complicated course of four operas, is exemplary; there is a helpful, detailed synopsis of the whole work; the discussion is concerned with profound questions, yet is readily comprehensible to a reader without specialist knowledge. It is difficult to imagine anyone interested in The Ring, from old Wagner hands to beginners attracted by bits of music, who would not gain much from reading this book."--Lucy Beckett, Times Literary Supplement

"In Finding an Ending Kitcher and Schacht break free from the contemporary clich�s of producers determined to show Wotan as nothing more than a capitalist crook, and of commentators more interested in Wagner's political and ideological opinions than in his surpassing artistic achievement. It is the latter that they are exclusively concerned with, and they argue their case with style and passion. The result is the most rewarding new account of the Ring that I have read in many years, and it will surely take its place as one of the classics of Wagner criticism." --Michael Tanner, Corpus Christi College, Cambridge University, and author of Wagner

"Eloquent...there is none of the extreme tone which so dominates both anti-Wagner tirades and expressions of Wagner idolatry. Instead, the mood introduced at the outset and maintained throughout is dignified and circumspect.... An analytic gem...[Kitcher and Schacht's] definitions and explanations [are] crystal clear.... Their discussion on the Ring teems with intimate references to musical movements, some of them truly moving.... This book will surely satisfy Wagner aficionados as much as it will make those who are new to the Ring feel welcome."--Nicholas Vazsonyi, Wagner Notes

"Each chapter contains thought-provoking discussions that will intellectually engage readers, even those who are unmoved, or perhaps repelled, by Wagner's music and ideas.... This book plunges more deeply into the intricacies of character development in the Ring itself, touching more lightly upon the details of philosophical inquiry. Recommended for all collections."--Library Journal

"This book examines the richness and complexity of Der Ring des Nibelungen. I particularly enjoyed the careful analysis of each of the important characters in their society, their psychological undercurrents, and their reactions to others. Philip Kitcher and Richard Schacht demonstrate how these mythological gods and heroes are ultimately recognizable as purely human." --Jane Eaglen

"Determined like no other composer to 'fathom the depths of philosophy,' Wagner wrote operas exploring the elemental passions and conflicts of the human condition. Kitcher and Schacht, distinguished philosophers in their own right, present a profound analysis of the guiding ideas of the Ring which enables us to grasp as never before the power of Wagner's most ambitious work." --Charles E. Larmore, University of Chicago Law School

"A strikingly successful reading of Wagner's music drama as a philosophical meditation on the meaning of human existence and freedom." --Paul Boghossian, New York University

About the Author

Philip Kitcher is John Dewey Professor of Philosophy at Columbia University. He is the author of seven previous books, is a past president of the American Philosophical Association (Pacific Division), and is a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He currently holds the Romanell Professorship in Philosophy, awarded annually by Phi Beta Kappa. Richard Schacht is Professor of Philosophy and Jubilee Professor of Liberal Arts and Sciences, at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. His previous books include Hegel and After, Nietzsche, The Future of Alienation, and Making Sense of Nietzsche.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 256 pages
• Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA (March 31, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0195173597
• ISBN-13: 978-0195173598
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 5.9 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,963,767 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Philip Kitcher (New York, NY) is John Dewey Professor of Philosophy at Columbia University. He is the author of twelve books, including Living with Darwin: Evolution, Design, and the Future of Faith; In Mendel's Mirror: Philosophical Reflections on Biology; Science, Truth, and Democracy; and The Lives to Come: The Genetic Revolution and Human Possibilities. Professor Kitcher was the first recipient of the Prometheus Prize awarded by the American Philosophical Association for "lifetime contribution to expanding the frontiers of research in philosophy and science." He is also the winner of many other awards, most recently the Award for Distinguished Service to the Columbia Core Curriculum, the Lenfest Distinguished Faculty Award from Columbia University, the Lannan Foundation Notable Book Award (given for Living with Darwin), and the Friend of Darwin Award (given by the National Committee on Science Education).

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Superb Philosophic Guide to The Ring, April 12, 2009

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P. Fan "avid reader" (Los Angeles, CA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Finding an Ending: Reflections on Wagner's Ring (Paperback)

We are currently (2009)working our way through the Ring Cycle in Los Angeles and I find this an invaluable guide to the deeper philosophic meaning of these operas. It has a useful synopsis of the 4 operas at the end of the book including the hidden action between operas. It gives you a brilliant crash course on 19th century German philosophy with accurate discussions of Feuerbach, Schopenhauer and Nietzsche as viewed through the lens of Wagner. If you have no ax to grind about religion and faith you will enjoy the very detailed reading of the text and music in explicating Wotan's growth in understanding of his role as law-giver to the World, gradual acceptance of his ultimate failure and the failure of all "Gods" to impose any solution to the human dilemma. You'll appreciate the poignancy of his attempt to "find an ending," one that allows him to end his quest with dignity and meaning. The style is clear and elegant and I find the book deeply moving and profound. I also come to understand the young Nietzsche's adoration of Wagner whose Ring cycle is nothing short of a re-enactment of our attempt to find meaning out of life without the easy solace of religions and blind faith.

Parenthetically, it also reveals how shallow our LA Ring is and what a travesty Achim Freyer's staging has made of this magnificent work. But that is the subject of another discussion.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The Tragedy of Wotan and His Children, April 22, 2011

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R. Albin (Ann Arbor, Michigan United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Finding an Ending: Reflections on Wagner's Ring (Paperback)

Written by 2 distinguished philosophers who are also amateur musicians, this book is a very interesting exploration of Wagner's great Ring cycle. Kitcher and Schacht argue that the Ring is an extended exploration of the existensial dilemma of establishing meaning in life. The analysis is based on a close examination of the libretto, Wagner's stage directions, the music itself, and what we know of Wagner's intentions and thought during the prolonged gestation of the Ring cycle. This is a particularly sympathetic analysis of Wotan, whom Kitcher and Schacht present as struggling to establish a meaningful, better, and lawful world. The alternatives to Wotan's efforts are the beautiful but heedless natural world of the Rhinemaidens and the corruption and brutality of characters like Alberich and Hunding. Wotan's efforts, however, are ultimately self-defeating, something that Wotan himself appreciates as a tragic destiny. Wotan's greatest successor is his daughter Brunnhilde, the Valkyrie become human whose ability to combine what Kitcher and Schacht describe as empathic love with eros constitutes a redemptive alternative to Wotan's struggle to establish rational, lawful order. But Brunnhilde also fails and the plot of the Ring seems to point to unavoidable failure to wrest meaningfullness from the universe. Wagner's incredibly powerful music, however, indicates that it is Brunnhilde's efforts to establish meaningfulness that vindicates human existence.

This is a very ambitious undertaking and my brief description doesn't do justice to the careful development of the authors' analysis. I certainly found it convincing. If anything, Kitcher and Schacht may not go far enough. Their analysis emphasizes human construction of meaning. Wagner certainly thought of himself as a "maker" (kunstler) with a very expansive and typically Romantic view of the constructive power of art. The authors establish the Ring as a sophisticated and powerful allegory-analysis of the effort to establish meaning in life but this can also be seen as an allegory of Wagner's craft.

0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars pretentious, October 12, 2011

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Nom de plume "nom de plume" (saginaw, michigan) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Finding an Ending: Reflections on Wagner's Ring (Paperback)

The writing style in this book is both painfully obtuse and condescending. It reads as though the writers were trying to find a complicated way to write something that is simple while dispensing eruditon ex cathedra along the way. A quarter of a century ago one of the authors tried to attack sociobiology, which is the study of the genetic basis of social behavior, and which has the support of evolutionary theory. Both the attempt on the creative work of Wagner and the creative work of E. O. Wilson were unsuccessful. As a scientist who spends most of his time discovering and very little time criticizing as I do in this review, I think it pretentious for others to make a living writing what amounts to those little comments you see scribbled on bathroom walls. It was once said that we don't erect statues to critics. I think that is a good way to sign off on my own very few moments of critical comments about the prolix pronunciations of those who do not discover, but who take potshots at those who create.