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Nietzsche
A concise summary of Nietzsche's life and thought, this book is considered by many as the ablest short summary of the subject.
144 pages, Library Binding
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December 4, 2014
This book is exactly what you might expect it to be a short (140p) exposition of Nietzsche's life, touching on the major events, listing his achievements, and not going too much into the nitty-gritty of his philosophy, although there is enough information here to enable a reader to get started with his works in the right way.
The book is very British, with the faint (but never explicit) feeling throughout the text that the Germans are all a dashed rum lot, with some mighty strange ideas. In fact Nietzsche is treated here as not really a philosopher at all, but a German literary stylist who was showing signs of madness before his final breakdown. Of course one must bear in mind that this book was published the year Hitler ascended to power, so the connection of Nietzsche's thought to the Nazis had not yet been exposed fully. In fact one thing Abraham does point out is that far from being Anti-Semitic, Nietzsche abhorred such views - the beginnings of the fatal influence Nietzche's sister Elisabeth had on his legacy are mapped out here in the descriptions of Nietzche's torturous relationship with her.
Abraham spends a fair proportion of the text on Nietzche's musical achievements, as well as his relationship with Wagner. This comes as no surprise given that Abraham is more noted as a musicologist than a scholar of philosophy.
As a starting point into the milieu of Nietzsche, I guess this wouldn't be bad, but there are better texts around to do that job.
Check out my other reviews at http://aviewoverthebell.blogspot.com.au/
The book is very British, with the faint (but never explicit) feeling throughout the text that the Germans are all a dashed rum lot, with some mighty strange ideas. In fact Nietzsche is treated here as not really a philosopher at all, but a German literary stylist who was showing signs of madness before his final breakdown. Of course one must bear in mind that this book was published the year Hitler ascended to power, so the connection of Nietzsche's thought to the Nazis had not yet been exposed fully. In fact one thing Abraham does point out is that far from being Anti-Semitic, Nietzsche abhorred such views - the beginnings of the fatal influence Nietzche's sister Elisabeth had on his legacy are mapped out here in the descriptions of Nietzche's torturous relationship with her.
Abraham spends a fair proportion of the text on Nietzche's musical achievements, as well as his relationship with Wagner. This comes as no surprise given that Abraham is more noted as a musicologist than a scholar of philosophy.
As a starting point into the milieu of Nietzsche, I guess this wouldn't be bad, but there are better texts around to do that job.
Check out my other reviews at http://aviewoverthebell.blogspot.com.au/
Displaying 1 of 1 review