Product Description

No modern philosopher has been more maligned and misunderstood or more cynically exploited than Friedrich Nietzsche. Physically handicapped by weak eyesight, violent headaches and bouts of nausea, this paradoxical thinker fashioned a philosophy, which made short shrift of self-pity and the ostentatious display of compassion. The son of a Lutheran clergyman, whom he adored, he became a fearless agnostic who proclaimed, in "Thus Spake Zarathustra" that 'God is dead!' Of modest bourgeois origins, he detested middle-class conformity, and turned to an uncompromising cult of 'aristocratic radicalism'. Nietzsche was the first major philosopher to place psychology, rather than mathematics, logic, physics, or history, at the very centre of his thinking. The wealth and diversity of Nietzsche's aphorisms and brief essays - close to 2,700 - make him the most seminal and provocative thinker of modern times. Many of his aphorisms, highly personal statements of his likes and dislikes, are puzzling. They become truly comprehensible only within the context of his restless life, revealed in this enthralling biography.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1225340 in Books
• Published on: 2003-11-06
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 720 pages

From the Publisher
A major biography of a towering genius.

From the Back Cover
Friedrich Nietzsche succeeds, as no previous book has, in making sense of the thought without contriving at the sime time to make it boring.' New Statesman
No modern philosopher has been more maligned and misunderstood or more cynically exploited than Friedrich Nietzsche. Physically handicapped by weak eyesight, violent headaches and bouts of nausea, this paradoxical thinker fashioned a philosophy, which made short shrift of self-pity and the ostentatious display of compassion. The son of a Lutheran clergyman, whom he adored, he became a fearless agnostic who proclaimed, in Thus Spake Zarathustra that 'God is dead!' Of modest bourgeois origins, he detested middle-class conformity, and turned to an uncompromising cult of 'aristocratic radicalism'.
Nietzsche was the first major philosopher to place psychology, rather than mathematics, logic, physics, or history, at the very centre of his thinking. The wealth and diversity of Nietzsche's aphorisms and brief essays - close to 2,700 - make him the most seminal and provocative thinker of modern times. Many of his aphorisms, highly personal statements of his likes and dislikes, are puzzling. They become truly comprehensible only within the context of his restless life, revealed in this enthralling biography.
'Beautifully written and extremely detailed.' Literary Review

About the Author
Born of American parents in Paris, Curtis Cate was educated in France, England, and the United States. He is the holder of three university degrees - from Harvard (History), the -cole des Langues Orientales, Paris (Russian), and Magdalen College, Oxford, where he read Politics and Economics and studied English and German philosophy with Harry Weldon. After serving as a correspondent in the Middle East, he joined the staff of the Atlantic Monthly, and was for eight years its European Editor in Paris. His published works include three highly acclaimed biographies (of Antoine de Saint-Exup-ry, George Sand, and Andr- Malraux), a harrowing description of Napoleon's disastrous invasion of Russia in 1812, and The Ides of August, which he wrote to condemn the building of the Berlin Wall in August 1961. This is his seventh book.

Customer Reviews

Cate's Nietzsche
Nietzsche, who despised the mediocre and pedestrian, would have loathed this book. Cate provides a wordy but thin description of the events of Nietzsche's life without having or providing any insight into his exceptional character. He summarises Nietzsche's writings, demonstrating its continuing relevance by references to such events as the death of Princess Diana, but without anywhere indicating why Nietzsche is such a major figure in contemporary thought. In attempting to write a popular biography Cate has produced something bland and unilluminating. There are better books about Nietzsche and better biographies.

Some niggles
This biography is very readable, and is valuable precisely because (despite the other review) it gives one a feel for Nietzsche as a person, rather than just being a biographical sketch, as are most books. However, I have some concerns.

First, given that Nietzsche has been claimed for just about every political and philosophical position known to exist, from fascist to communist to sexist to feminist, I feel a more honest biographer would acknowledge this fact and, being aware of it, let us know up front what their prejudice is, which will inform their interpretation. Mr Cate portrays a Nietzsche who is a reactionary conservative who thinks it a great shame we don't all speak Latin and Greek. But is this really Nietzsche, or is it (as I suspect, based on some rather unpleasant comments in the introduction) Mr Cate? We aren't told.

Other minor points which made me wonder just how well acquainted with the philosophical and literary world Mr Cate is. It is seldom one sees Lord Byron described as Scottish. It took me some while to work out that when Mr Cate wrote of Plato's 'Dinner Party' he meant the 'Symposium'. Similarly, Hesiod's great work is 'Works and Days', not (as Mr Cate has it) 'the Days'. Bracketing Shakespeare and Racine together in one literary pigeon-hold is inept. Oh yes, and a history of philosophy which raises Hegel on high and mentions Locke and Hume only in passing is so eccentric as to beggar belief. Putting all this together, one gets the feel of an author who doesn't really know his subject.

Disappointing
This book promises a great deal. It is written by a highly intelligent man who knows his subject, and who can write well. The introduction and the first couple of chapters appear to fulfil that promise. However, about mid-way through the book, if not long before, the reader comes to a realisation: this book is not much more than a glorified diary and travelog. Why? Because despite having a deep understanding of one of the most profound thinkers in humanity's history Curtis Cate manages to fill his book with the everyday details and vexations of a peripatetic philosopher's life. His relationships, his thoughts and his whereabouts are covered in detail, but in unsatisfying detail: the journeys and problems of accomodation and difficulties with a publisher receive 6 pages to the philosophy's one.
There is one thing a book about Nietzsche never be, that is boring. (He never is.) But despite having the potential to be the best biography available about Nietzsche the author fails to provide us with the gold standard he so tantalisingly dangles in front of us, at times.
Worth a look if you have an ardent interest in Nietzsche; if you are unacquainted with him don't read this book, read the man himself. A missed opportunity.