Editing Dionysus (section)

===Modern literature and philosophy===
[[File:Los borrachos o el triunfo de Baco 1629 Velázquez.jpg|thumb|''[[The Triumph of Bacchus]]'', [[Diego Velázquez]], c. 1629]]
[[File:Cornelis de Vos - El triunfo de Baco.jpg|thumb|''The Triumph of Bacchus'' by [[Cornelis de Vos]]]]
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Dionysus has remained an inspiration to artists, philosophers and writers into the [[modern era]]. In ''[[The Birth of Tragedy]]'' (1872), the German philosopher [[Friedrich Nietzsche]] proposed that a tension between [[Apollonian and Dionysian]] aesthetic principles underlay the development of [[Greek tragedy]]; Dionysus represented what was unrestrained chaotic and irrational, while Apollo represented the rational and ordered. This concept of a rivalry or opposition between Dionysus and Apollo has been characterized as a "modern myth", as it is the invention of modern thinkers like Nietzsche and [[Johann Joachim Winckelmann]], and is not found in classical sources. However, the acceptance and popularity of this theme in Western culture has been so great, that its undercurrent has influenced the conclusions of classical scholarship.<ref>Isler-Kerényi, C., & Watson, W. (2007). "Modern Mythologies: 'Dionysos' Versus 'Apollo'". In ''Dionysos in Archaic Greece: An Understanding through Images'' (pp. 235–254). Leiden; Boston: Brill. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1163/j.ctt1w76w9x.13</ref>

Nietzsche also claimed that the oldest forms of Greek Tragedy were entirely based upon the suffering Dionysus. In Nietzsche's 1886 work ''[[Beyond Good and Evil]]'', and later ''[[The Twilight of the Idols]]'', ''[[The Antichrist (book)|The Antichrist]]'' and ''[[Ecce Homo]]'', Dionysus is conceived as the embodiment of the unrestrained [[will to power]]. Towards the end of his life, Nietzsche famously went mad. He was known to sign letters as both Dionysus and "The Crucified" in this period of his life.  In ''The Hellenic Religion of the Suffering God'' (1904), and ''Dionysus and Early Dionysianism'' (1921), the poet [[Vyacheslav Ivanov (poet)|Vyacheslav Ivanov]] elaborates the theory of [[Dionysianism]], tracing the origins of literature, and [[tragedy]] in particular, to ancient Dionysian mysteries. Ivanov said that Dionysus' suffering "was the distinctive feature of the cult" just as Christ's suffering is significant for Christianity.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Rosenthal|first=Bernice Glatzer|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IGpOo6IV74IC&pg=PA344|title=Sacred Stories: Religion and Spirituality in Modern Russia|publisher=Indiana University Press|year=2007|isbn=978-0-253-21850-6|editor-last=Steinberg|editor-first=Mark D. and Heather J. Coleman|location=Bloomington and Indianapolis|page=344|language=en|chapter=Chapter 13. A New Spirituality: The Confluence of Nietzsche and Orthodoxy in Russian Religious Thought}}</ref> [[Karl Kerényi]] characterizes Dionysus as representative of the psychological life force (Greek ''Zoê'').<ref>Kerenyi, K., ''Dionysus: Archetypal Image of Indestructible Life'' (Princeton/Bollingen, 1976).</ref> Other psychological interpretations place Dionysus' [[emotionality]] in the foreground, focusing on the [[joy]], [[Fear|terror]] or [[hysteria]] associated with the god.<ref>Jeanmaire, H. Dionysus: histoire du culte de Bacchus, (pp. 106ff) Payot, (1951)</ref><ref>Johnson, R. A. 'Ecstasy; Understanding the Psychology of Joy' HarperColling (1987)</ref><ref>Hillman, J. 'Dionysus Reimagined' in The Myth of Analysis (pp. 271–281) HarperCollins (1972); Hillman, J. 'Dionysus in Jung's Writings' in Facing The Gods, Spring Publications (1980)</ref><ref>Thompson, J. [http://www.mythopoetry.com/mythopoetics/scholar09_thompson.html 'Emotional Intelligence/Imaginal Intelligence'] in Mythopoetry Scholar Journal, Vol 1, 2010</ref><ref>Lopez-Pedraza, R. 'Dionysus in Exile: On the Repression of the Body and Emotion', Chiron Publications (2000)</ref> [[Sigmund Freud]] specified that his ashes should be kept in an Ancient Greek vase painted with Dionysian scenes from his collection, which remains on display at [[Golders Green Crematorium]] in London.

J. M. Tolcher's autobiography, ''Poof'' (2023), features Dionysus as a character and a force of modern liberation in [[Australia]], incorporating traditional myth and Nietzschean philosophy to represent [[homophobia|queer suffering]].<ref>Tolcher, J. M. (2023). ''Poof''. ISBN 9780646875873.</ref><ref>Dayton, P. (1 August 2023). "Pain and Prejudice". ''DNA Magazine'', 283, 76–78.</ref>