Rockport Public Library

I am dynamite!, a life of Nietzsche, Sue Prideaux

eng

Includes bibliographical references (pages [407]-432) and index

individual biography

illustrations

index present

non fiction

I am dynamite!

bibliography

1016387377

Sue Prideaux

a life of Nietzsche

A biography of the philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche"A groundbreaking new biography of philosophy's greatest iconoclast. Friedrich Nietzsche is one of the most enigmatic figures in philosophy, and his concepts--the Übermensch, the will to power, slave morality--have fundamentally reshaped our understanding of the human condition. But what do most people really know of Nietzsche--beyond the mustache, the scowl, and the lingering association with nihilism and fascism? Where do we place a thinker who was equally beloved by Albert Camus, Ayn Rand, Martin Buber, and Adolf Hitler? Nietzsche wrote that all philosophy is autobiographical, and in this vividly compelling, myth-shattering biography, Sue Prideaux brings readers into the world of this brilliant, eccentric, and deeply troubled man, illuminating the events and people that shaped his life and work. From his placid, devoutly Christian upbringing--overshadowed by the mysterious death of his father--through his teaching career, lonely philosophizing on high mountains, and heart-breaking descent into madness, Prideaux documents Nietzsche's intellectual and emotional life with a novelist's insight and sensitivity. She also produces unforgettable portraits of the people who were most important to him, including Richard and Cosima Wagner; Lou Salomé, the femme fatale who broke his heart; and his sister Elizabeth, a rabid German nationalist and anti-Semite who manipulated his texts and turned the Nietzsche archive into a destination for Nazi ideologues. [This book] is the essential biography for anyone seeking to understand history's most misunderstood philosopher."--Dust jacket

A musical evening -- Our German Athens -- Become what you are -- Naxos -- The birth of tragedy -- Poison cottage -- Concept-quake -- The last disciple and the first disciple -- Free and not so free spirits -- Human, all too human -- The wanderer and his shadow -- Philosophy and Eros -- The philosopher's apprentice -- My father Wagner is dead. My son Zarathustra is born -- Only where there are graves are there resurrections -- He ambushed me! -- Declaiming into the void -- Llamaland -- I am dynamite! -- Twilight in Turin -- The cave minotaur -- The empty occupant of furnished rooms