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Are we Alexandrian ?

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Traditions as sources for reuse

Traditions as sources for reshaping

Our art reveals this universal distress: in vain does one depend imitatively on all the great productive periods and natures; in vain does one accumulate the entire 'world-literature' around modern man for his comfort; in vain does one place oneself in the midst of the art styles and artists of all ages, so that one may give names to them as Adam did to the beasts; one still remains eternally hungry, the 'critic' without joy and energy, the Alexandrian man, who is at bottom a librarian and a corrector of proofs. Nietzsche 1967a, section 18, 113f

Is this still our condition now? Perhaps not. We have an Alexandrian, collector, side, but much more we use and reuse, we force the past to be present in pastiche or irony. We detach chunks, heedless of their places in original unities. Should Nietzsche then approve the commercials and the buildings that raid the past? They show a will to make new -- though usually not what he would call a strong will. They are careless and often ignorant -- maybe they are not Alexandrian enough?