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.
''This translation of Salom's early portrait of Nietzsche the man and her insightful study of the poetic, psychological, religious, and mystical aspects of his thought is long overdue... Salom's account of the life, feelings, and thoughts of the man whose proposal of marriage she rejected is dramatic... [It] skirts the more technical aspects of his thought but faithfully presents his psychological observations and his poetic-mystical way of thinking and writing.'' -- Choice ''Russian-born woman of letters Lou Salome (1861-1937) had a brief but tempestuous relationship with Nietzsche in 1882. In 1894, while Nietzsche languished in madness, Salome published Friedrich Nietzsche in seinen Werken , here translated for the first time into English. Salome attempts to show how Nietzsche's philosophy can be seen as a reflection of his psychology. She construes his philosophical development as driven by a series of illnesses and recoveries, his later philosophy as mystical, and his madness as the inevitable result of his philosophizing. The book will interest scholars as the first full-scale account of Nietzsche's thought.'' -- Library Journal ''Salom set out to write a very specific book on Nietzsche, one which attempts to present the 'thought-experience' of Friedrich Nietzsche... Her text succeeds superbly... Salom's book remains one of the rare instances of intelligent consideration given to Nietzsche's philosophy.'' -- Paul Wessels, Cape Times Newspaper
