The ensuing chapters answer all the difficult questions: what does the drama mean; where does its meaning reside; are we to understand it through allegory or symbolism (or neither); what do the characters stand for (not least, why is Siegfried such a difficult hero for the modern listener to digest); what is the philosophy of The Ring; where do we find it; is The Ring worth the effort and if so why? These questions are answered in a way which corresponds with Scruton’s deep prior convictions, and also in accordance with his habits of clear writing and direct confrontation of the most difficult of issues.
What the reader will not find in The Ring of Truth is any further lengthy contribution to the topic of Wagner and the Nazis. For some, this is an inescapable issue, and any book that does not at least attempt a rehabilitation of Wagner (in the light of his supposed responsibility for events 50 years and more after his death) evades a key issue. Scruton touches on this question in his introductory chapter, but only in order to dismiss it. (He perhaps does not help himself by the unfortunate use of the word “mistakes” to describe Wagner’s gross character defects, including his anti-Semitism. He might better have assumed the tone of Magee’s magisterial opening remark in his definitive treatment of that subject: “The repellent nature of Wagner’s anti-Semitism is not a licence to misrepresent it”). There is an enormous body of writing on all of this, and on the extent if at all to which Wagner’s attitudes towards Jews infects his work. There is no obligation for every writer on the composer and his music dramas to be drawn into the debate. Scruton seeks instead to demonstrate that Wagner’s odious prejudices are simply not what The Ring is about, nor relevant to understanding it, and he makes that negative case positively — by explaining, with tremendous intellectual, musical and philosophical grip, what it means.
What the reader will not find in The Ring of Truth is any further lengthy contribution to the topic of Wagner and the Nazis. For some, this is an inescapable issue, and any book that does not at least attempt a rehabilitation of Wagner (in the light of his supposed responsibility for events 50 years and more after his death) evades a key issue. Scruton touches on this question in his introductory chapter, but only in order to dismiss it. (He perhaps does not help himself by the unfortunate use of the word “mistakes” to describe Wagner’s gross character defects, including his anti-Semitism. He might better have assumed the tone of Magee’s magisterial opening remark in his definitive treatment of that subject: “The repellent nature of Wagner’s anti-Semitism is not a licence to misrepresent it”). There is an enormous body of writing on all of this, and on the extent if at all to which Wagner’s attitudes towards Jews infects his work. There is no obligation for every writer on the composer and his music dramas to be drawn into the debate. Scruton seeks instead to demonstrate that Wagner’s odious prejudices are simply not what The Ring is about, nor relevant to understanding it, and he makes that negative case positively — by explaining, with tremendous intellectual, musical and philosophical grip, what it means.
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