Nietzsche Book Reviews
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Updated monthly. Last update: March 1996
Please help this page grow by contributing to the book review section. Reviews should be brief (less than 500 words) and should provide a recommendation of the book's value for Nietzsche scholarship and for a general, well-informed readership.
This month's Reviews
When Nietzsche Wept
I am now almost complete with Irvin D. Yalom's book of "When Nietzsche Wept".
The venue is an interesting one with basically a "what would happen if" you
were to put together highly intellectual minds such as Nietzsche, Josef
Breuer ( considered the one of the founding fathers of psychoanalysis), and
even Freud! The book is indeed fiction, but is very carefully a "well-wrought
tale" giving good insight as to perhaps the everyday thinking (and physical
pain) of Professor Nietzsche. I have often found myself unable to put it
down for some periods of time! Irvin Yalom, M.D. is a professor of psychiatry
at Stanford University.
Review by: William Lockett
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To submit a brief review of Georges Bataille's *On Nietzsche* click here
Old Reviews
Walter Kaufmann's Nietzsche: Philosopher, Psychologist, Antichrist
Kaufmann's informative work "Nietzsche: Philosopher,
Psychologist, Antichrist"is an in-depth and informative
masterpiece. Unlike many earlier critiques offered by
zealots and scholars alike, Kaufmann's work seems to approach
the multi-faceted and oft-times apparently contradictory
Nietzsche with a distanced eye. Slowly Nietzsche's thoughts
become more intelligible to the reader.
By drawing from a wide-variety of works, including many
letters Nietzsche wrote to Lou Salome and others, Kaufmann is
able to paint a portrait which seems as true to the real
Nietzsche as any to date.
Though his book is an excellent source for one to investigate
certain concepts and explore other tenents, there is no
substitute for reading Nietzsche firsthand. As Kaufmann
suggests, the intrigued reader should most likely first pick
up a copy of Ecce Homo (available from Penguin Books with
an excellent translation from R.J. Hollingdale, a scholar who
at times worked with Kaufmann).
Review by:
Ens. Ryan Smalley
United States Navy
rsmalley@eagle.lhup.edu
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Alexander Nehamas's Nietzsche: Life as Literature (Cambridge:
Harvard UP, 1985)
"Life as Literature" could not be a better title for a book on Nietzsche.
With a careful eye for Nietzsche's tendency toward autobiography, Nehamas
illuminates the many intricacies of Nietzsche's thought with passion and
artistery. Covering all aspects of Nietzsche's work, pre and post
Wagner, Nehamas gives rare insight into the Nietzsche's writings.
As the title indicates, Nehamas is not afraid to uncover the Nietzsche
within Nietzsche. In fact, he places special emphasis on it. Using
Nietzsche's own assertions of the relationship between a philosopher and
his work, Nehamas begins with Nietzsche's life. He eloquently ties the
various aspects of Nietzsche the man with Nietzsche's work and does not
apologize for this muddling. Those looking for a dispassionate analysis
of Nietzsche should not look here.
As it may be clear, I would highly recommend this work to both the
Nietzsche scholar and those of us who simply enjoy Nietzsche for his
passion and insight. "Life as Literature," in my view, is one of the
best supplementary texts availble on Nietzsche's life and work.
Reviewed by John D. Downing
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