Friedrich Nietzsche

by Curtis Cate

Excellent copy! Minimal shelve wear

Genres: Biography, Philosophy, History, Nonfiction

689 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2002

About the author

American biographer who chronicled the lives of several well-known European writers, among them Nietzsche, George Sand, and André Malraux. Cate was born in Paris in 1924 to transplanted American parents. He died of melanoma in Paris, France, where he had lived for most of his life, on November 16, 2006.

Curtis Wilson Cate was born in Paris on May 22, 1924, to transplanted American parents. From 1943 to 1946, he served in Europe with the United States Army.

Mr. Cate earned a bachelor’s degree in history from Harvard in 1947. This was followed by a master’s degree in Russian from the École des Langues Orientales in Paris and a master’s degree in philosophy, politics and economics from Oxford.

In 1954, Mr. Cate joined the staff of The Atlantic Monthly; he was the magazine’s European editor from 1958 to 1966. His writing also appeared in The New Republic, The New York Times Book Review and elsewhere.

Mr. Cate’s wife, the former Helena Bajanova, died in 2002.

Among Mr. Cate’s other books are “Antoine de Saint-Exupéry” (Putnam, 1970); “George Sand” (Houghton Mifflin, 1975); “The Ides of August: The Berlin Wall Crisis, 1961” (M. Evans, 1978); “The War of the Two Emperors: The Duel Between Napoleon and Alexander” (Random House, 1985); and “André Malraux” (Hutchinson, 1995).

He also wrote “My Road to Opera: The Recollections of Boris Goldovsky” (Houghton Mifflin, 1979), an as-told-to autobiography of the opera impresario.

Reviews

[Greg Hickey · Rating 4 out of 5]

An extremely thorough and illuminating biography of one of the most enigmatic philosophers in history. At times, Cate’s account is almost too thorough (see his almost week-by-week descriptions of Nietzsche’s travels, moods and physical condition). But the connections Cato notes between Nietzsche’s works and the events in his life as he was writing them make this book an extremely useful read for anyone looking to better understand this philosopher.

[Brad Lyerla · Rating 2 out of 5]

Nietzsche's philosophy feels very alien to me. Consequently, I am not confident that I am getting everything he intends. But it seems to me that his descriptions of the world and his moral judgments are based more so on his aesthetics than on any sense of what's true or what's right. For example, he rejects Christianity, but not because he thinks that Christianity is untrue. Rather, he thinks Christianity has lost its vigor and grown effete. He thinks we can invent more beautiful and compelling myths than the rigid dogmas of Christianity offer us. Similarly, he rejects egalitarianism. Not because he thinks it is in tension with a moral principle, but rather because he thinks the world becomes banal, mediocre and less beautiful when we don't treat those who create beauty as being superior. His psychology assumes that it is our nature to seek to be strong and to dominate weaker people. This is not based on anything empirical. He approves of this will to power because strong people will create and preserve beauty against the vulgar rabble. And so on.

I have some sympathy for favoring those with good taste. But as philosophy, this seems to me to be the product of an immature mind. I confess that I don't understand why the academics are so taken with Nietzsche.

As for the book, it is a slow read.

[alba ੈ✩‧₊˚ · Rating 2 out of 5]

No he leido la biografia que aparece, si no la del circulo de lectores; pero como no la he podido encontrar escogí esta que es la mas parecida.

A pesar de las 2 estrellas que le he dado, la biografía estuvo bien hasta que dejaron de lado la vida personal de Nietzsche y empezaron a describir su trabajo.
Miguel Morey, estoy aquí para saber como ere Nietzsche. Si quisiera saber mas sobre su obra, abriría mi libro de filosofía. Gracias

[Hugh · Rating 3 out of 5]

Knowing little about the life of Nietzsche before reading this book (beyond a few sordid rumors and mysteries that are not exactly proven or dispelled here), I'm glad I took the time. I've read critiques of the work because of how much time it takes with Nietzche's philosophy, but I was glad to have that development of thought laid side-by-side with the unfolding of his life....

The two things I found odd about the book were -- in cinematic terms -- the sudden extreme close-ups we'd get of very specific travel itineraries. "The boat took him from x to y to z to q" but with little real need to go into such detail. The other stumbling block to me at times was the prose which is infused with occasional adverbial giddiness when waxing about some of the major figures in Nietzsche's life. This is especially true when Cate's sets about a major theme of the book that tries to decouple Nietsche's writings from their use by Hitler and the Nazi Party.

Just as Cate's is unconvinced by several of the arguments made by Walter Kaufman, I was left unconvinced Nietzche was as ardently an anti-antisemite as Cate describes. What makes Zarathustra and other writings so powerful is the sheer audacity and, at times, bombast of his writing leaves itself open for use by extremists of all stripes.

Finally, the narrative that Nietzche woke up one day and went mad -- which is how it is depicted in this book strangely neglects the years of increasingly erratic behavior. At times, it seems that the idea of Nietzche's mental deterioration is kept at bay so as not to prejudice the reader against some of the later writings.

Overall, it's a worthwhile book. Cate's has certainly worked hard to bring a constantly-moving iconoclast to life.

[Hollis Williams · Rating 4 out of 5]

An excellent biography, although I am not sure it is worth the extra time it will take you when you could read the Safranski biography instead. I think Safranski's book is better on the philosophy whilst the Cate biography is much better at explaining Nietzsche's life. The only problem is that there is too much detail at times and a lot of focus on minor issues. Other times I have to say that Cate's prose can get a bit whimsical: he keeps muttering asides and making tenuous links with Nietzsche's thought and the modern world.

Like other reviewers here, I was not previously aware of the extent of the illnesses and sicknesses that Nietzche suffered: it really is quite incredible. Again, this image some people have of him as a totally robust, aggressive man is completely wrong. It amazes me that he managed to write anything at all, let alone the great essays and works of philosophy that he has left us.

[J. David Knecht · Rating 4 out of 5]

This biography helped me take a fresh look at Nietzche. Few who get upset with him for the "God is dead" thing realize that he was a pastor's child who witnessed his Father die as a young adolescent and his family had to be totally dependent upon others for their sustenance. For someone who spoke about a will to power it seemed that he was often powerless, ill, depressed, manipulated and thrown about the world. One can see how he develops a both the positive of his system- the sniffing out of hypocrisy, his criticism of resentment, and the negative -the hubris to do whatever one wants regardless of the consequences. Whether or not all of Cate's conclusions are correct, (I will leave that up the scholars), this book helped me see that there is a real relationship between the ideas philosophers espouse and the circumstances of their lives.

[Friedrick · Rating 3 out of 5]

Too much and not enough. Although the last quarter or third of this book was worthwhile, with excellent chapters on Zarathustra and On The Genealogy of Morals and very good passages on Twilight of the Idols and The Anti-Christian, much of the book seems bogged down in repetitive details, especially concerning N's headaches and nausea. At 650 dense pages, with notes, it's hard to stick with to the good parts toward the end. It did give me new insights, into Lou Salomé for instance and details of her personality issues and how they affected the triangular relationship among her, N, and Paul Reé, but I still place Ronald Hayman's critical biography and Lesley Chamberlain's "intimate biography " ahead of this one.

[Jim Coughenour · Rating 4 out of 5]

This big fat friendly biography of Nietzsche is great bedtime reading. Cate doesn't attempt to compete with the legion of learned commentators on Nietzsche's notoriously elusive philosophy. Instead he concentrates on the all-too-human suffering of the man, which only made me appreciate his genius and mourn his collapse all the more. Despite its length, I found it far more entertaining and informative than Hollingdale's standard biography.