(Ebook) Finding an Ending: Reflections on Wagner's Ring by Philip Kitcher, Richard Schacht ISBN 9780195173598, 0195173597

(Ebook) Finding an Ending: Reflections on Wagner's Ring by Philip Kitcher, Richard Schacht ISBN 9780195173598, 0195173597

Finding and Ending offers an illuminating look at this great opera, focusing on the work's far-reaching and subtle exploration of the search for the meaning of life.We intend this book not only for readers who already know and love Wagner’s Ring, but also for those who have doubts about the work, or who have encountered parts of it but find them bewildering, or who even do not know it at all and are simply curious. To help those who are relatively unfamiliar with the drama in whole or in part, we have included a relatively detailed synopsis of what transpires in the four operas of which it consists. This synopsis may also be helpful to readers who wish to refresh their memories with respect to some of the scenes we discuss. We have placed it at the end of the volume, but it might usefully be read first. There is a large literature about Wagner and about the Ring. We aim to do something rather different from most of it: to probe its philosophical and psychological themes with some precision and to relate them in some detail to the action of the four-part cycle. For our purposes, and for what we hope readers will gain from our discussion, we have not felt it necessary to provide an extensive scholarly apparatus. We have drawn on a number of excellent sources, to which we would refer anyone who wishes to grapple seriously with Wagner’s music drama. We list some of them in the Bibliography and also men-tion some large-scale approaches to the Ring that contrast with our own. We hope this will be helpful to those who want to reflect further on the ideas we present and the aspects of the Ring we discuss.