How Nietzsche Came in From the Cold: Tale of a Redemption

by Philipp Felsch, Daniel Bowles (Translator)

Nietzsche’s reputation, like much of Europe, lay in ruins in 1945. Giving a platform to a philosopher venerated by the Nazis was not an attractive prospect for Germans eager to cast off Hitler’s shadow. It was only when two ambitious anti-fascist Italians, Giorgio Colli and Mazzino Montinari, began to comb through the archives that anyone warmed to the idea of rehabilitating Nietzsche as a major European philosopher. 

Their goal was to interpret Nietzsche’s writings in a new way and free them from the posthumous falsification of his work. The problem was that 10,000 barely legible pages were housed behind the Iron Curtain in the German Democratic Republic, where Nietzsche had been officially designated an enemy of the state. In 1961, Montinari moved from Tuscany to the home of actually existing socialism to decode the ‘real’ Nietzsche under the watchful eyes of the Stasi. But he and Colli would soon realize that the French philosophers making use of their edition were questioning the idea of the authentic text and of truth itself.

Felsch retraces the journey of the two Italian editors and their edition, telling a gripping and unlikely story of how one of Europe’s most controversial philosophers was resurrected from the baleful clutch of the Nazis and transformed into an icon of postmodern thought.

Genres: Philosophy, Nonfiction, Biography, History

264 pages, Hardcover

Published April 29, 2024

Reviews

[JR Roach · Rating 5 out of 5]

A delightful episode in the history of Nietzsche's reception and Cold War intellectual history. Felsch brilliantly uncovers the story of how two Italians, both enthusiasts, but neither experts on Nietzsche or philology, came to rescue Nietzsche's writings from the distortions of his sister by producing a new critical edition of his writings from the archives of East Germany. Felsch uses the story of their adventures and misadventures as they discovered and labored over Nietzsche's notebooks to explore aspects of French, German, and Italian intellectual history as Nietzsche himself moved from fascist prophet to post-modern pioneer as Europe navigated the traumas of World War and Cold War.

[Herb · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is the story of two Italian academics who reinterpreted and rescued Nietzsche's reputation and philosophy from the taint the Nazi's put on it during WWII. I was hoping for more about the philosophy itself and less about the men who did it.

[Judy · Rating 1 out of 5]

Way above my head. Wanted to learn about Nietzsche and did somewhat, but it was more about the two Italians who wanted to write a book about Nietzsche and their struggle to publish.