A couple of days ago on the plane from New York to Amsterdam I read Avishai Margalit’s balanced obituary on Ariel Sharon in the New York Review of books:

‘He was a pre-ideological general who fought in ideological wars. This gave him the aura of a medieval warlord, or a Roman political general, of the kind that populates Plutarch’s Parallel Lives. Part of Sharon’s dark charm, of which he had plenty, was the feeling that in him you could encounter primordial elements—unmediated and uncluttered by ideological superstructures. Among these elements were military glory, gluttony, and, in his later years as a politician, a Nietzschean will to power. As prime minister, his ambition was to do a great historical deed in order to shape the future map of Israel. He wanted to be worthy of David Ben-Gurion’s stature; other Israeli politicians he held in contempt.’

(…)

‘A close friend of Sharon’s family once said to me: “Sharon is a kept man.” This was true from the time he bought the largest ranch in Israel with money given to him from a wealthy friend, while he was still living on a modest military salary. By this criterion—of having rich friends pay for a luxurious way of life—the list of kept men in Israel is substantial. But as in so many other things, Sharon was one of the first. Indeed, when it came to the pursuit of real estate, Sharon never stopped at a red light (he barely escaped indictment for bribery in 2004). But was he, at the end of his political life, willing to stop at the red light flashed by Palestinians?’

(Read the article here.)

A kept man with dark charm, suffering from gluttony with a Nietzschean will to power. It could be a novel or a tragedy. Dark charm must be one of the secrets of the Nietzschean will to power.