Nietzsche



Introduction

If the number of books written about a subject is any proof of interest in it, Nietzsche must have become one of the most popular of authors among Englishmen and Americans. Besides the authorized version of his Works appearing under the editorial care of Dr. Levy, [1] every season for the past three or four years has brought at least one new interpretation of his theories or biography of the man. Virtually all of these books are composed by professed and uncritical admirers, but even without rectifying our judgment by comparison with the equally violent diatribes of his enemies in German, we can see the figure of Nietzsche beginning to stand out in its true character. He was not quite the Galahad of philosophy that he appeared to his sister; [2] above all we begin to see that the roots of disease were more deeply implanted in his nature than those would have us believe who think to find in his works a return to sanity and strength; yet neither was he the monster of immorality which frightened us when first his theories began to be bruited abroad. The stern, calculating Superman turns out on inspection to be a creature of quivering nerves and of extreme sensitiveness to the opinion of his fellows, yet with a vein of dauntless resolution through it all.

Part I


1. The Complete Works of Friedrich Nietzsche. The first complete and authorized English translation. Edited by Dr. Oscar Levy. London: T. N. Foulis; New York: The Macmillan Co. 18 volumes. Eight volumes have already appeared.

2. Das Leben Friedrich Nietzsche's. Von Elisabeth Forster-Nietzsche. Leipzig, 1895, 1897, 1904. The best biography in English is The Life of Friedrich Nietzsche, by Daniel Halevy; translated [from the French] by J. M. Hone; New York: The Macmillan Co., 1911.



Revised February 3, 2001

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