Then it becomes vexed and
indignant with the baseness of the world and the difficulties it
encounters. Its scorn increases, and becomes sarcastic _(Till
Eulenspiegel)_; it is exasperated with years of conflict, and, in
increasing bitterness, develops into a contemptuous heroism. How
Strauss's laugh whips and stings us in _Zarathustra_! How his will
bruises and cuts us in _Heldenleben_! Now that he has proved his power
by victory, his pride knows no limit; he is elated and is unable to see
that his lofty visions have become realities. But the people whose
spirit he reflects see it. There are germs of morbidity in Germany
to-day, a frenzy of pride, a belief in self, and a scorn for others that
recalls France in the seventeenth century. "_Dem Deutschen gehoert die
Welt_" ("Germany possesses the world") calmly say the prints displayed
in the shop windows in Berlin. But when one arrives at this point the
mind becomes delirious. All genius is raving mad if it comes to that;
but Beethoven's madness concentrated itself in himself, and imagined
things for his own enjoyment. The genius of many contemporary German
artists is an aggressive thing, and is characterised by its destructive
antagonism.
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