Nietzsche Paperback – October 16, 2001
by Lou Salome (Author), Siegfried Mandel (Author)
4.6 out of 5 stars 34 ratings
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This English translation of Friedrich Nietzsche in seinen Werken offers a rare, intimate view of the philosopher by Lou Salomé, a free-thinking, Russian-born intellectual to whom Nietzsche proposed marriage at only their second meeting.
Published in 1894 as its subject languished in madness, Salomé's book rode the crest of a surge of interest in Nietzsche's iconoclastic philosophy. She discusses his writings and such biographical events as his break with Wagner, attempting to ferret out the man in the midst of his works.
Salomé's provocative conclusion -- that Nietzsche's madness was the inevitable result of his philosophical views -- generated considerable controversy. Nietzsche's sister, Elisabeth Förster-Nietzsche, dismissed the book as a work of fantasy. Yet the philosopher's longtime acquaintance Erwin Rohde wrote, "Nothing better or more deeply experienced or perceived has ever been written about Nietzsche."
Siegfried Mandel's extensive introduction examines the circumstances that brought Lou Salomé and Nietzsche together and the ideological conflicts that drove them apart.
Print length
240 pages
University of Illinois Press
Publication date
October 16, 2001
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4.6 out of 5 stars
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Leo Brown
4.0 out of 5 stars A fantastic, insightful, brilliant [and flawed] read.Reviewed in the United States on July 11, 2018
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One of the things that always stuck with me in Nietzche's work was the 'taunt', especially in his later works, that part of a full absorption of his philosophy of life was [paraphrasing] the "Denial of Zarathustra" - and of Nietzsche himself, before you could return to him. After reading this book, I feel that Salome helped me better understand why that was a point that stuck.
This book is less a biography of a man or the relationship between Salome and Nietzsche; much more so a summary of the relationship of Nietzsche the man, the work he produced and speculation on how those two were destined to be entwined. This is where my review comes up short of 5 stars. Don't get me wrong - this is an INCREDIBLE read, and I would strongly recommend it to anyone who is familiar with Nietzsche's work and wants to better understand what may have been influencing his brilliant observations. I felt, though, that while Salome's observations were often illuminating, she fell into the trap of romanticizing the contradictions and obvious biases in his work - she was his friend, after all. She even romanticizes his descent into madness as the logical conclusion of a man pushing himself to the edges of reason in the human mind and experience.
While some of these conclusions interesting to think about, I just can't agree with all of them. The intellectual titan that she was obviously close to was shown, in this work - and specifically in the introduction - as a man just as prone to envy, jealousy, revenge, and hypocrisy as the rest of us. It's unquestionable, if you are an astute student of Nietzsche, that he let those things bleed into his work, and in that, they are tainted by a man that - like us - was human - all too human. I believe Nietzsche knew that as well during his life, and this knowing lent to his demand for the denial of his work and person before it could be fully absorbed.
Something else that struck me - especially in the latter third of the book, as she discusses Nietzsche's return to mysticism, acting on faith and the metaphysical unknowables, was how similar some of her insights were to the insights of C.G. Jung on Nietzsche's work. Given how thorough the latter's research on Nietzsche was, I wouldn't be surprised at all if Salome influenced some of Jung's own points of view [on Nietzsche, and later his own work] with this book.
In summary, I enjoyed this read from beginning to end, but would caution against overindulgence of the author's convincing tone as relates to the conclusions Nietzsche was coming to [intentionally or not] toward the end of his productive years.
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Stanley Lippman
5.0 out of 5 stars why would you read this book?Reviewed in the United States on August 4, 2008
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you would not read this book to understand nietzche's philosophy. it is not even clear to me why anyone needs to understand neitzche's philosophy. but lou salome is this crazy incredible lady.
while married she become lovers with rilke and remained his intimate correspondent for all his life. she became intimate with nietsche. and later conquered freud, so to speak. so to me this book is an interesting artifact of this incredible woman's mind -- you don't read this book except as a way of knowing salome's mindfullness after rilke and nietzsche. that is, you read this book to learn something that you have to extrapolate from and fit into your life. it is not a passive reading.
it is not school learning or becoming educated. it is trying to understand what sort of mind a woman would have that has done such gloriously free and courageous acts such as standing and lying toe2toe with three of the most visionary humanitarian thinkers -- it's an artifact. you read this to be your own archeologist into the human psyche. the content itself literally is of little interest if you want to become an expert in philosophical thinking in order to be a professional. this book isn't that at all. nobody would publish something like this today -- that is, without the hindsight of knowing who nietzsche and salome are now -- at the time this was published, that wasn't apparent, and without that apparentness, this book is no longer a kind of book our educated culture tolerates -- it is too subjective and does not follow any accepted rules of discourse that are recognized by our cultural canon. that is, you don't read this book for any of the reasons it was written or published. you read it because of who nietsche and salome turned out to be in terms of our intellectual flowering. of course, he was destroyed by his sister, who allowed the fascists to make shameful use of him the same way they made ill-use of evolution to justify genocide. you take nietzsche and darwin and if you are powerful enough you get 70-100 million dead without anyone believing they were not morally justified in their actions. nowadays, people seem to once again need religion to justify such pain and suffering for personal advantage. so i think everyone should buy this book and try to make sense of its author -- this is after rilke and N, but i think before freud. a snapshot of a brillian mindful woman articulating her extraordinary experiences ...
19 people found this helpful
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William C.
5.0 out of 5 stars What Nietzsche went through to create his philosophy from someone who was there.Reviewed in the United States on June 10, 2018
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Unlike any other book on/about/by Nietzsche I have read, this one has a direct and personal angle. Here is an intelligent, educated woman writing about a man SHE KNEW and whose work she studied and helped him with. Her book is well-written, clear and lacking in any technical jargon, either philosophical or psychological. Not a bad choice for someone who has some familiarity with Nietzsche's work and wants to see just who he was.
She paints a clear and believable portrait of a man who created his philosophy by wrestling with his own life, it's joys and pain. Thus we see not just that his work was incomparable, but the process that brought it into being was incomparable. As another reviewer said, an excellent addition to Nietzsche studies, especially showing what he went through to create what he did. There are those who will point out that Nietzsche's writing of "the overman", "the warrior" and such types is ironic considering he was polite and sickly. But it turns out in his own life, in his own mind, he was fighting a battle.
9 people found this helpful
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The Dhimmi Philosopher
5.0 out of 5 stars Readers of this book would like "Jenna's Flaw"Reviewed in the United States on November 26, 2015
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One of Nietzsche's friends wrote of this book: "Nothing better or more deeply experienced or perceived has ever been written about Nietzsche." I agree. I had put off reading Salome's biography for a long time, but I'm glad I finally read it. It offers a very unique perspective of Nietzsche from somebody who knew him intimately. Salome says that Nietzsche's philosophy was an expression of his psychology and that he went mad because of his philosophical ideas. It's a very controversial thesis, but it's a fascinating one nonetheless.
Readers of this biography may also like "Jenna's Flaw," a novel about Nietzsche, the death of God, the crumbling of Western civilization, and what the West can do to stop it.
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Humberto Batista Leal
5.0 out of 5 stars Nietzsche na perspectiva de uma psicanalista admirável.Reviewed in Brazil on August 7, 2022
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Nietzsche na perspectiva de uma psicanalista admirável. O essencial, reconheço, é meditar a filosofia nietzschiana, mas não há dúvida: esse livro aprofunda o entendimento de Nietzsche. Sugiro ler simultaneamente com o Nietzsche de Gianni Vattimo.
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George Mori
5.0 out of 5 stars The truth about NietzscheReviewed in Canada on September 28, 2019
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Any follower of Nietzsche has to include Salome's book as a must read. It is the only narrative that includes a deep reading of his works combined with a face-to-face person-to person encounter. The latter is the most important..Of all the secondary sources on Nietzsche her's is the most insightful and the closest to the truth of who Nietzsche really was: a genius and a puppet put on the world stage to articulate a philosophy that would justify right wing reactionary idiocy.
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ANA MARÍA OCHOA VILLALBA
3.0 out of 5 stars Nietzsche al desnudoReviewed in Spain on May 12, 2019
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Lou Salomé conoció mejor que nadie a Nietzsche, fue su discípula y escribió sus impresiones más personales sobre el filósofo. Dibujó a un hombre enfermo, mayor y en declive. Nada que ver con su superhombre, pero de inteligencia sutil y brillante y una gran sensibilidad. Nada que ver con el proto-nazi que muchos han querido ver en sus teorías (Nietzsche es un poeta, usa una retórica tan literaria que siempre es ambiguo y sugerente, pero no era un monstruo sólo un hombre que deseaba estar sano y disfrutar los placeres de la vida con intensidad y delicadez a la vez...
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19 people found this helpful
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William C.
5.0 out of 5 stars What Nietzsche went through to create his philosophy from someone who was there.Reviewed in the United States on June 10, 2018
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Unlike any other book on/about/by Nietzsche I have read, this one has a direct and personal angle. Here is an intelligent, educated woman writing about a man SHE KNEW and whose work she studied and helped him with. Her book is well-written, clear and lacking in any technical jargon, either philosophical or psychological. Not a bad choice for someone who has some familiarity with Nietzsche's work and wants to see just who he was.
She paints a clear and believable portrait of a man who created his philosophy by wrestling with his own life, it's joys and pain. Thus we see not just that his work was incomparable, but the process that brought it into being was incomparable. As another reviewer said, an excellent addition to Nietzsche studies, especially showing what he went through to create what he did. There are those who will point out that Nietzsche's writing of "the overman", "the warrior" and such types is ironic considering he was polite and sickly. But it turns out in his own life, in his own mind, he was fighting a battle.
9 people found this helpful
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The Dhimmi Philosopher
5.0 out of 5 stars Readers of this book would like "Jenna's Flaw"Reviewed in the United States on November 26, 2015
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One of Nietzsche's friends wrote of this book: "Nothing better or more deeply experienced or perceived has ever been written about Nietzsche." I agree. I had put off reading Salome's biography for a long time, but I'm glad I finally read it. It offers a very unique perspective of Nietzsche from somebody who knew him intimately. Salome says that Nietzsche's philosophy was an expression of his psychology and that he went mad because of his philosophical ideas. It's a very controversial thesis, but it's a fascinating one nonetheless.
Readers of this biography may also like "Jenna's Flaw," a novel about Nietzsche, the death of God, the crumbling of Western civilization, and what the West can do to stop it.
6 people found this helpful
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Humberto Batista Leal
5.0 out of 5 stars Nietzsche na perspectiva de uma psicanalista admirável.Reviewed in Brazil on August 7, 2022
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Nietzsche na perspectiva de uma psicanalista admirável. O essencial, reconheço, é meditar a filosofia nietzschiana, mas não há dúvida: esse livro aprofunda o entendimento de Nietzsche. Sugiro ler simultaneamente com o Nietzsche de Gianni Vattimo.
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George Mori
5.0 out of 5 stars The truth about NietzscheReviewed in Canada on September 28, 2019
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Any follower of Nietzsche has to include Salome's book as a must read. It is the only narrative that includes a deep reading of his works combined with a face-to-face person-to person encounter. The latter is the most important..Of all the secondary sources on Nietzsche her's is the most insightful and the closest to the truth of who Nietzsche really was: a genius and a puppet put on the world stage to articulate a philosophy that would justify right wing reactionary idiocy.
Report
ANA MARÍA OCHOA VILLALBA
3.0 out of 5 stars Nietzsche al desnudoReviewed in Spain on May 12, 2019
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Lou Salomé conoció mejor que nadie a Nietzsche, fue su discípula y escribió sus impresiones más personales sobre el filósofo. Dibujó a un hombre enfermo, mayor y en declive. Nada que ver con su superhombre, pero de inteligencia sutil y brillante y una gran sensibilidad. Nada que ver con el proto-nazi que muchos han querido ver en sus teorías (Nietzsche es un poeta, usa una retórica tan literaria que siempre es ambiguo y sugerente, pero no era un monstruo sólo un hombre que deseaba estar sano y disfrutar los placeres de la vida con intensidad y delicadez a la vez...
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