Death of a Noble

J. Ashworth S.

Description

A sick old man determines the day of his death and the means by which he will end his 'noble' existence. On his last day, he tells the story of his 'noble' past, and of his philosophy as a noble. The story is told in a nightmarish tone with the dramatic, clear and driving voice of a passionate protagonist who believes he has led an authentic life - one that is true to the person that he is:the life of a noble. He alone has given meaning to his existence and he disparages both religion and science.He lives and he dies; there is nothing more than this, and the time while he lives is his own - to make of it what he will -and he has 'willed himself to power'. Yet has he been a protagonist within the story that he relates, or is he simply delusional?The novel explores the Nietzsche 'noble' through the thoughts and experiences - real and imaginable - of the old man.It is an exploration of the theatre of the absurd, which is also the playground of the human species in a certain time and context. The time is the century after the passing away of the much acclaimed writer, Nietzsche, and the context is Europe:that continent of civility, modernism and post-modernism, developing technology, human diversity, industrialisation and individual liberty. But a continent also of nihilistic ambition and state repression, and of states with the greater capacity to mass destruct: a continent in almost perpetual conflict, and a civilisation increasingly uncertain of what meaning to give to life.

Informations

• Publié par: Troubador Publishing Ltd
• Date de parution: 01 juin 2013
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781783069682
• Langue: English

Extrait

DEATH
of a
NOBLE
S J Ashworth

Copyright © 2013 S J Ashworth
The moral right of the author has been asserted.
Apart from any fair dealing for the purposes of research or private study,
or criticism or review, as permitted under the Copyright, Designs and Patents
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any form or by any means, with the prior permission in writing of the
publishers, or in the case of reprographic reproduction in accordance with
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concerning reproduction outside those terms should be sent to the publishers.
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ISBN 9781783069682
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In memory of:
John (Jack) Ashworth (1922-1974) and Lourenco Piedade Pereira (1902-1986)
And also to thank:
Barry Supple, for reading through the manuscript and his helpful suggestions.
* * * *

‘We, who have already borne on the road to Paradise the lives of the best among us, want a difficult, erect, implacable Paradise; a Paradise where we can never rest and which has, besides the threshold of the gates, angels with swords.’ Jose Antonio Primo de Rivera.
‘I believe in one thing only, the power of human will.’
Joseph Stalin.
Contents

Cover


Preface


PART 1


On Being Noble


1


2


3 - Rudolf and St Just: The criminal and the radical


4


5


6- TYRANTS


7


8 - On Science and God


9 - The Noble


10


11


12


PART 2


On Falling and on Becoming


1 - On Falling


2 - In Never-Ever-Land (1): Conformity


In Never-Ever Land (2): Idealist’s Delusion


3 - A Riddle of life


4 - Beginnings


PART 3


The Death of a Noble


Epilogue
Preface

This is an interpretation and exploration of the Nietzsche ‘noble’ in the context of the twentieth and twenty-first century. The setting is Europe, a continent in perpetual political and economic turmoil, and the stories told and ideas propounded by the protagonist are abstractions on this state of affairs. What is interpreted and explored is the human theatre: a theatre of the possible, the imagined, and the absurd. It is an exploration of ideas linked to certain historical events and processes, and to certain personality types, that have influenced (and continue to influence) the course of history.
The novel is a work of fiction. The protagonist of the story believes he ‘wills himself to power’. In Part 1, the protagonist tells of his ‘noble’ past and of his ‘noble’ philosophy on the day that he chooses his death. Part 3 details the final hours of his life and of his dramatic demise. The story is driven by the voice of the protagonist.
Part 2 examines, through an existentialist perspective, aspects of the human condition in the twentieth century and beyond, and relates these loosely to the story of the protagonist and to the central themes of the novel.
The tone of the work is dark and intimidating. Yet there is an underlying core of optimism within the story that confronts the essential chaos of existence. To give meaning to a life that refutes both the attempts by religion and science to explain life’s purpose, and to live life solely with the meaning one creates for oneself, is an achievement for any man (or woman) and a cause for optimism. Yet paradoxes remain, because with the concept of individual subjective meaning comes an assertion by the Nietzsche noble to continually become the Self and to live a life that is true to the Self. And this process of continually becoming is aligned to the need to affirm life as a way of overcoming the absurdity and inevitable anxiety of a life that will one day end in death.
Individual choices also create the need for responsible behaviour, but there can be no fixed rules of conformity for an individual who desires authenticity in the process of affirmation, and conflict is a necessary consequence of the individual who seeks to exploit such individuality to the optimum, and to live a ‘noble’ existence.
The novel, furthermore, situates the protagonist with a powerful voice in an ever changing environment. He is a victim of his experiences and a recipient of ideas, including those Christian beliefs that he so vehemently rejects, but is unable to fully break away from. Yet in his affirmation of life and in his process of becoming, he creates not only himself, but also acts as an agent to create anew an external world. The protagonist sees this external process of creating as one of renewal through an alternating spiral of construction and destruction, taking, perhaps, the stretched and torn fabric of recent history as a model in the notion of becoming.
Just how real is the protagonist in history? Can his story possibly have any validity in the world of the reader? Or maybe it is just easier to live with another possible interpretation of the story: that the protagonist is simply a psychotic with delusions of grandeur! But perhaps this too is not an insignificant feature of the human condition!
PART 1
ON BEING NOBLE

‘Only where life is, there is also a will: not will to life, but will to power.’ Friedrich Nietzsche: ‘Thus Spoke Zarathustra’.
1

Hot and clammy, perspiring from the brow, my chest thumping, the vibrations pounding in my head, I’m waking again from another restless night. It’s only 5 a.m. I look around in the vacant mutating light. The sheet is down at the end of the bed, the pillow is damp and cold. I feel it against the unshaven hair on my cheek. I raise my upper torso with both my arms outstretched. My chest is beating, beating; the rhythm is fast and steady and the blood pulsates through the blue channels of my person, tensing the back of my neck and squeezing tightly around the sides of my cranium. The pressure is too great.
I’m becoming insane I tell myself. The words reverberate around my inner mind. I’m not the person I was. This is not who I am. I was not mad before, but that was before. I look toward the window, up to the ceiling then to the four walls. They seem to warp in front of me. The room is silent, yet it screams aloud. It says nothing to me. I see pieces of furniture that adorn the room: a wooden bookcase with many books to stir the intellect, a stool with a half empty plastic cup placed upon it, a wooden wardrobe with a choice of someone’s attire, maybe mine. Pictures entertain the walls, a coffee stain on the ceiling to entertain my insanity. I have a vision to entertain my mind, it is one that reoccurs.
A young woman is in the street. It is a dull day and daylight is coming to an autumnal conclusion. The street lights shine dimly through the misty atmosphere. People are mulling around, neither contented nor melancholic, in the semi – darkness, many on their way home from work. Yet I can see the young woman with clarity. The image I have is not at all dull, but there is not a hint of colour. The clarity is in the sharpness of a black and white projection. Men and women are in long unseemly overcoats, the only difference between any of them is within the black – white spectrum, but dull light grey is the dominant ray on the eye. The scene is like an American movie from the 1930’s or maybe early 1940’s. The men all have Humphrey Bogart type Fedora hats with their distinctive crown that is creased along the centre and pinched at the front. Women are wearing headscarves, each and every one, with the scarf tied firmly around behind the base of the chin. There is a drizzle in the air and some are raising umbrellas, but in a hesitant manner. The young woman is not dressed in an overcoat, nor is she with an umbrella. She is attired only in a pleated plain dress. Her hair is neither dark nor light. It is neither long nor short. It is pushed up in the centre but hangs at the sides and back toward her shoulders. It is curly in parts, but also wavy and straight. Her face is round, a fringe half covers her brow. In her arms she carries a doll. It is large and she holds it tenderly to her small bosom. There is a smile on her face that is not natural: not at all natural, and the lipstick around her petite lips glistens momentarily as she passes each streetlight. She is watched by some and observed by others. As she moves through the people they stand aside and watch more intensely. Those that observe, observe more intensely. People are almost mystified by her presence, but they are not surprised. Their faces are expressionless. The young woman releases the doll from her embrace and holds it out with her arms semi – stretched. She looks at the doll, almost in fear. Her arms tremble as she puts the doll on the sidewalk. She has gone down on her knees. Her dress is pulled up over her knees and her skin is touching the hard sidewalk. People have stopped, now a little aghast at the sight, but there is not much change in their impassive amorphous reflections to show this. They are only there to watch or observe. But not all watch or observe, some continue on their way. Yet one man is different. He looks agitated as he watches the young woman. His jerky movement is the only thing that distinguishes him as he is dressed like all the other men: a long overcoat, light grey in colour and a Fedora, pulled low on his brow and tilted slightly on one side.
The young woman lays the doll flat. A camera from somewhere seems to go in close: very close to the doll’s face. It can be observed in detail. It has large rounded cheeks with deep contours and the inner patches have darker shades than the outer ones. The lips are large and almost comical looking, but no one is laughing. There are two large cavernous openings that fill the upper facial feat