ABSTRACT
Dionysian rapture can be interpreted as both a collective ritual and a structure of individual experience. Early Nietzsche seeks a universal language (of music) prior to language and sets out counterpoles (Dionysian and Apollonian) in terms of relative differences as part of a complementary interplay. This invites strong parallels with differences between concentric and diametric spaces. Whereas Heidegger interprets Nietzsche’s rapture along an axis of sedative versus stimulant, as a reversal of Schopenhauer, it is being argued here that the axis of openness versus closure is the key concern of Nietzsche with rapture. Concentric spatial features of Nietzsche’s rapture include a restructuring movement towards an opening, a shift from diametric spatial boundaries of splitting and assumed separation, together with immersion in a mode of prerepresentational experience based on an assumed connection prior to the subject–object division. However, ultimately this opening is largely conceived by Nietzsche in monistic terms as fusion with background and obliteration of self. Key words: Dionysus, Apollo, rapture, principium individuationis, will to life
