Nietzsche vs. Tolstoy

Compare/discuss Nietzsche and Tolstoy. Nietzsche talks about "this collapse of principium individuationis" (p. 164) and Tolstoy talks about 'infection': "The stronger the infection the better is the art" (p.179). Are they talking about the same thing/dynamic or something different?

After reading Nietzsche and Tolstoy, I feel that they are both expressing similar concepts as both of their philosophies demand that art, especially art of quality, must deviate from the podium of individualism. Nietzsche’s philosophy about “this collapse of principium individuationis,” calls for true art to be in tension between the Apollonian force of individual character and the Dionysian force of chaotic emotions. Tolstoy’s belief that “the stronger the infection the better the art,” calls that in art the emotions of the creator must be shared, become less individualized, among those who experience the art. In both theories, art digresses from the individual who creates it to a sense of communal emotions or feelings.

Nietzsche conveys his thoughts about “this collapse of principium individuationis,” in which he composes two separate forces—Apollonian and Dioysian. Apollonian force was named after Apollo, the Greek God of Sun who represented luminosity and clearness. In Nietzsche’s account, Apollonian force served to define individualism, individual thought, and individual character. Whereas Dioysian force was named after Dionysus, the Greek God of wine, who represented pleasure and drunkenness. Dioysian force served to define illogical, chaotic emotions and feelings.

In critiquing art, Nietzsche believed that authentic art must contain a conflict between the Apollonian and Dioysian forces in that the clear individualism behind each piece must be convoluted with drunkenness emotion.

Tolstoy had a similar perception of art in that, to qualify as art, the piece must expand beyond the individual and contain the three components of (1) evoking the individual feeling in others, (2) have clearness about that feeling, and (3) have sincerity amongst it. To be considered art, individualism must be diluted as each art piece becomes less unique as more people experience the feeling that the artist experienced while creating it. Tolstoy believed, “to evoke in oneself a feeling one has once experienced, and having evoked it in oneself then by means of movements, lines, colors, sounds, or forms expressed in words, so to transmit, that feeling, that others experience the same feeling—this is the activity of art.” It is in such a sense that both Tolstoy and Nietzsche have similar views when it comes to qualifying art. In the perspectives of both men, art cannot be purely individualistic in nature.

Above Image: Image of Tolstoy