Transatlantic Wisdom #1: Wiping Away the Horizon: Friedrich Nietzsche and Wallace Stevens

Everything that matters is difficult to understand. In the first episode of Transatlantic Wisdom, Michael Coyle and Alan Swensen unpack the meaning of Nietzsche’s famous line that we have killed God. They then assess the influence of Nietzsche on Wallace Stevens’ poetry, namely his famous poems The Snow Man, The Surprises of the Superhuman, and The Emperor of Ice-Cream. Key themes include the seduction of language, problems with subjectivity, and the importance of patient interpretation.