MEASURE AND EXCESS: AHMED NURUDDIN – TRANSFORMING APOLLO INTO DIONYSUS

Abstract

This paper deals with Apollo and Dyonisian elements in dervish Ahmed Nuruddin's characterisation. This paper analyses the dervish Ahmed Nuruddin in light of Nietzche's understanding of Apollo and Dionysus deities in terms of their divine roots originating from ancient Greek mythology without any intention whatsoever to present Nietzche's entire philosophical system on the relationships between Dionysus, Greek tragedy, and the connections between art and nature with these principles. The dichotomy will be analysed on the example of the Serbian novel, Death and the Dervish written by Meša Selimović. The paper tackles the characterisation of the literary hero, protagonist Ahmed Nuruddin as a bridge between dervish-Apollo to Nuruddin-avenger, which is Dionysus focusing on revenge resulting in human and moral destruction caused by hatred, the opposite of Ahmed Nuruddin˙s neutrality, while performing the dervish duty. The avenger Nuruddin, the one surfacing after the murder of his sibling, will be considered Dionysus in light of an injustice inflicted on him by Harun's murder, a flywheel for his revenge. Special emphasis will be placed on Nuruddin's human defeat – moral decadence in the form of his transfiguration from a priest to a Machiavellian character. Taking Nietzche's understanding of Hellenic tragedy into consideration, this paper aims to prove Ahmed Nuruddin turning Apollo into Dionysus.