Friedrich Nietzsche: A Philosophical Biography
Cambridge University Press
Edition: Illustrated, 3/8/2010
EAN 9780521871174, ISBN10: 0521871174
Hardcover, 676 pages, 25.4 x 17.8 x 3.7 cm
Language: English
In this beautifully written account, Julian Young provides the most comprehensive biography available today of the life and philosophy of the nineteenth-century German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche. Young deals with the many puzzles created by the conjunction of Nietzsche's personal history and his work: why the son of a Lutheran pastor developed into the self-styled 'Antichrist'; why this archetypical Prussian came to loath Bismarck's Prussia; and why this enemy of feminism preferred the company of feminist women. Setting Nietzsche's thought in the context of his times - the rise of Prussian militarism, anti-Semitism, Darwinian science, the 'Youth' and emancipationist movements, as well as the 'death of God' - Young emphasises the decisive influence of Plato and of Richard Wagner on Nietzsche's attempted reform of Western culture.
Part I. Youth
1. Da campo
2. Pforta
3. Bonn
4. Leipzig
5. Schopenhauer
Part II. The Reluctant Professor
6. Basel
7. Richard Wagner and the birth of The Birth of Tragedy
8. War and aftermath
9. Anal philology
10. Untimely Meditations
11. Aimez vous Brahms?
12. Aufwiedersehen Bayreuth
13. Sorrento
14. Human, All-Too-Human
Part III. The Nomad
15. The wanderer and his shadow
16. Dawn
17. The Gay Science
18. The Salomé affair
19. Zarathustra
20. Nietzsche's circle of women
21. Beyond Good and Evil
22. Clearing the decks
23. The Genealogy of Morals
24. 1888
25. Catastrophe
26. The rise and fall of The Will to Power
27. The end
Postscript
Nietzsche's madness.
'Julian Young brings together his fine scholarly skills, his delightful writing style, and a solid grasp of Nietzsche's thought to produce a philosophical biography that will be unparalleled for years to come. Especially valuable is Young's way of showing how events in Nietzsche's life hooked up with intellectual developments in this multi-faceted philosopher. A pleasure to read and a valuable source of information.' Charles Guignon, University of South Florida