# On German Style and the Art of Reading explained — Beyond Good and Evil

> Chapter companion for Beyond Good and Evil by Friedrich Nietzsche.

## What happens

Nietzsche contrasts the ancient art of reading aloud, which cultivated a refined ear and physiological mastery of speech, with the modern German practice of silent reading. He argues this has led to a poor German prose style, with the notable exception of the pulpit oratory that produced Luther's Bible, which he considers the true masterpiece of German prose.

## Themes in this chapter

### Critique of Modernity

Critiques modern Germans as being 'short of breath in every sense,' lacking the physiological and artistic refinement of the ancients in speech and writing.

## Character check-ins

### The Germans

Criticized for reading silently with their eyes, not their ears, leading to a poor sense of style and harmony in writing. Their good musicians are said to write badly.

### Demosthenes

Cited as an exemplar of ancient oratory, whose complex, breath-contained periods were a pleasure and a marvel to the refined ear of antiquity.

### Cicero

Presented alongside Demosthenes as a master of the physiological, breath-based period that constituted high art in ancient public speaking.

### Martin Luther

Implied as the author/translator of the Bible, which is declared the masterpiece of German prose, rooted in German hearts unlike mere 'literature'.

## Key lines

> The German does not read aloud, he does not read for the ear, but only with his eyes; he has put his ears away in the drawer for the time.

Germans engage in silent, visual reading, neglecting the auditory dimension of language.

_Highlights a sensory deficit in modern German culture._

> In the ancient sense, a period is above all a physiological whole, inasmuch as it is comprised in one breath.

Ancient rhetorical periods were artistic units defined by the physical capacity of a single breath.

_Connects artistic form to bodily discipline and capability._

> The masterpiece of German prose is therefore with good reason the masterpiece of its greatest preacher: the Bible has hitherto been the best German book.

Luther's Bible is the pinnacle of German writing because it springs from the only traditionally cultivated German art of public speech: preaching.

_Elevates a religious text as the supreme secular artistic achievement due to its oratorical roots._

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/beyond_good_and_evil_se/chapters/247
- Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/beyond_good_and_evil_se
- All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/beyond_good_and_evil_se/chapters