I Am Dynamite!: A Life of NietzscheNEW YORK TIMES Editors’ Choice • THE TIMES BIOGRAPHY OF THE YEAR • WINNER OF THE HAWTHORNDEN PRIZE 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. I Am Dynamite! is the essential biography for anyone seeking to understand history's most misunderstood philosopher. |
From inside the book
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Page 2
... gave me more information. Wagner was strictly incognito in Leipzig. The Press knew nothing and the servants had been instructed to stay as quiet as liveried graves. Now, Wagner's sister, Frau Professor Brockhaus, that intelligent woman ...
... gave me more information. Wagner was strictly incognito in Leipzig. The Press knew nothing and the servants had been instructed to stay as quiet as liveried graves. Now, Wagner's sister, Frau Professor Brockhaus, that intelligent woman ...
Page 8
... gave birth to Nietzsche's father, Karl Ludwig, on October 10, 1813, a few days before the Battle of Nations, also called the Battle of Leipzig, in the immediate vicinity of the battlefield on which Napoleon was defeated. Nietzsche loved ...
... gave birth to Nietzsche's father, Karl Ludwig, on October 10, 1813, a few days before the Battle of Nations, also called the Battle of Leipzig, in the immediate vicinity of the battlefield on which Napoleon was defeated. Nietzsche loved ...
Page 30
... gave endless opportunities for group joy and military marching, but it is within this discipline of music that we can trace more easily than in his other school subjects—all based on the idea of self-realization through submission to ...
... gave endless opportunities for group joy and military marching, but it is within this discipline of music that we can trace more easily than in his other school subjects—all based on the idea of self-realization through submission to ...
Page 31
... gave way to the same impartial examination of Christian texts that Nietzsche was used to applying to his Greek or Roman studies. He expressed his ideas in a couple of long essays entitled Fate and History and Freedom of Will and Fate ...
... gave way to the same impartial examination of Christian texts that Nietzsche was used to applying to his Greek or Roman studies. He expressed his ideas in a couple of long essays entitled Fate and History and Freedom of Will and Fate ...
Page 37
... gave her a portfolio containing a number of his own compositions for piano. She thanked him in a graceful note and with that his first, gentle, introduction to love was over. 1864 was his last year at school. There was less ...
... gave her a portfolio containing a number of his own compositions for piano. She thanked him in a graceful note and with that his first, gentle, introduction to love was over. 1864 was his last year at school. There was less ...
Contents
1 | |
23 | |
40 | |
NAX0S 61 | 88 |
POlson CDTIAGE | 113 |
CONCEPTQUAKE | 126 |
THE LAST DISCIPLE AND THE FIRST DISCIPLE | 143 |
FREE AND NOT SO FREE SPIRITS | 157 |
MY FATHER WAGNER IS DEAD MY SON IARATHUSTRA is BORN | 243 |
DECLAIMING INTO THE WOID | 267 |
LLAMALAND | 281 |
TWILIGHT INTURIN | 307 |
THE CAVE MINOTAUR | 331 |
Aphorisms | 383 |
Photography Credits Insert | 397 |
Notes | 407 |
HUMAN All TDD HUMAN 111 | 182 |
PHILOSOPHY AND EROS | 198 |
THE PHILOSOPHERS APPRENTICE | 211 |
Select Bibliography | 429 |
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Common terms and phrases
anti-Semitic aphorisms archive arrived Basel Bayreuth become Bernhard Förster Birth of Tragedy brother Bülow called Carl von Gersdorff Christian Cosima Wagner culture death described Diary Dionysian Dionysus Ecce Homo Elisabeth Nietzsche Erwin Rohde eternal everything Evil eyes father felt festival Förster Förster-Nietzsche Franz Overbeck Franziska free spirit gave Gay Science German Greek Harry Kessler Human Ibid idea Idols intellectual King Ludwig lectures Leipzig letter live look Lou Salomé Malwida von Meysenbug mother Naumburg never Nietz Nietzsche to Franz Nietzsche's Nueva Germania opera Paraguay Paul Rée Peter Gast Pforta philology philosopher piano play poem Professor published Rée Resa Richard Wagner Ring sche Schmeitzner Section sent Sils-Maria sister soul Spoke Zarathustra things thought tion took Tribschen truth Turin Übermensch University Untimely Meditations Wagner and Cosima Wahnfried walk wanted Weimar writing wrote