Tony bolted out after him. Three or four minutes
later the two of them reentered the room, Philip now
wearing Tony`s San Francisco Giants sweater, and Tony
stripped to his tight black T–shirt.
Philip looked at no one but simply collapsed into his
seat, obviously exhausted.
«Bring вЂ?em back alive,” said Tony.
«If I weren`t married,” said Rebecca, «I could fall in
love with both you guys for what you just did.»
«I`m available,” said Tony.
«No comment,” said Philip. «That`s it for me
today—I`m drained.»
«Drained? Your first joke here, Philip. I love it,” said
Rebecca.
39
Fame, at Last
_________________________
Some cannot
loosen
their own
chains yet
can
nonetheless liberate
their
friends.
—
Nietzsche
_________________________
There are few things that Schopenhauer vilified more than
the craving for fame. And, yet, oh how he craved it!
Fame plays an important role in his last
book,Parerga and Paralipomena, a two–volume
compilation of incidental observations, essays, and
aphorisms, completed in 1851, nine years before his death.
With a profound sense of accomplishment and relief, he
finished the book and said; «I will wipe my pen and say,
вЂ?the rest is silence.`”
But finding a publisher was a challenge: none of his
previous publishers would touch it, having lost too much
money on his other unread works. Even his magnum
opus,The World as Will and Representation, had sold only
a few copies and received only a single, lack–luster review.
Finally, one of his loyal «evangelists» persuaded a Berlin
bookseller to publish a printing of 750 copies in 1853.
Schopenhauer was to receive ten free copies but no
royalties.
The first volume ofParerga and Paralipomena
contains a striking triplet of essays on how to gain and
maintain a sense of self–worth. The first essay, «What a
Man Is,” describes how creative thinking results in a sense
of inner wealth. Such a path provides self–esteem and
enables one to overcome the basic vacuity and boredom of
life, which results in a ceaseless pursuit of sexual
conquests, travel, and games of chance.
The second essay, «What a Man Has,” dissects one
of the major techniques used to compensate for inner
poverty: the endless accumulation of possessions, which
ultimately results in one becoming possessed by one`s
possessions.
It is the third essay, «What a Man Represents,” that
most clearly expresses his views on fame. A person`s self–worth or inner merit is the essential commodity, whereas
fame is something secondary, the mere shadow of merit. «It
is not fame but that whereby we merit it that is of true
value.... a man`s greatest happiness is not that posterity
will know something about him but he himself will develop
thoughts that deserve consideration and preservation for
centuries.» Self–esteem that is based on inner merit results
in personal autonomy which cannot be wrested from us—it
is in our power—whereas fame is never in our power.
He knew that ablating the desire for fame was not
easy; he likened it to «extracting an obstinate painful thorn
from our flesh» and agreed with Tacitus, who wrote, «The
thirst for fame is the last thing of all to be laid aside by wise
men.» And he, himself, was never able to lay aside the
thirst for fame. His writings are permeated with bitterness
about his lack of success. He regularly searched
newspapers and journals for some mention, any mention, of
himself or his work. Whenever he was away on a trip, he
assigned this scanning task to Julius Frauenstädt, his most
loyal evangelist. Though he could not stop chaffing at
being ignored, he ultimately resigned himself to never
knowing fame in his lifetime. In later introductions to his
books he explicitly addressed the future generations who
would discover him.
And then the unthinkable came.Parerga and
Paralipomena, the very book in which he described the
folly of pursuing fame, made him famous. In this final
work he softened his pessimism, staunched his flow of
jeremiads, and offered wise instruction on how to live.
Though he never renounced his belief that life is but a
«mouldy film on the surface of the earth,” and «a useless
disturbing episode in the blissful repose of nothingness,” he
took a more pragmatic path in theParerga and
Paralipomena. We have no choice, he said, but to be
