Marsyas und Apoll Über den Schmerz und die Entstehung der Kunst
Marsyas and Apollo. On Pain and the Emergence of Art

Summary/Abstract: The myth of the confrontation between Apollo and Marsyas, as described in Ovid’s Metamorphoses has created a long history of diverse interpretations and works of art. The paper follows this history, including its reception in contemporary literature. Further, it tries to fill the gap between visual arts, which are primarily focused on showing the pain of the skinned satyr, and the literary tradition, which is interested in the political and social aspects involved in the genesis of art. The different approaches of the theme are being discussed under one central question that revolves around an unsolved mystery capable to explain the long list of answers throughout art history and the literary tradition of interpretation: Is it the artist the one who creates art, or is it art, the one who creates the artist? Both of the creation processes seem to presuppose a series of painful transformations which lead to a particular kind of knowledge.

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