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anatl's review against another edition
Zweig on Nietzsche like it says in the forward is not so much a biography as a hagiography, a gushing portrait of a man he greatly admires. The book is actually part of a larger work Hölderlin, Kleist, and Nietzsche: The Struggle with the Daemon. Zweig romanticizes the struggle with the Daemon, the so called inner creative force, as “a tragedy of the spirit", as well as a "work of dramatic art.” To quote Zweig "Nietzsche practised philosophy like art, and like the artist he did not search for results, something in cold definition, but a style: ‘the great style of morality’, and like the artist he experiences all those quiverings of sudden inspiration This is perhaps why labelling Nietzsche a philosopher in the first place is a mistake, that is to say a friend of Sophia, of wisdom."
This is a poetical endeavor to canonize Nietzsche as He is portrayed as a very passionate man at war with himself and in constant search for more knowledge and intellectual challenges but also very solitary vehement and impatient. He struggles constantly with his over active mind and nerves becoming more overheated and chaotic as times go by. As a young man while his friends were carousing and indulging themselves, Nietzsche was already a professor in the prestigious university of Basel. At thirty he abandons his chair at Basel. Zweig often draws comparisons between Nietzsche Dostoyevsky and Goethe. While other thinkers like Goethe and Schiller became more conventional and Bourgeoisie, Nietzsche moves away from stability severing all of his former ties:
"Nietzsche had no desire to find happiness but only to be true. He did not seek rest (like nine-tenths of philosophers), but rather in the position of slave and server of the demon, the final superlative to express all excitations and all movements. Every struggle for the inaccessible acquires the character of heroism and all heroism must end in that most sacramental of all consequences: downfall. Inevitably this virtual fanaticism for integrity,"
I am very impressed with the beautiful translation. There were paragraphs I would have liked to listened to being read aloud because the language and cadence were so beautiful. Reading Zweig on other artists and thinkers reveals a lot about Zweig himself and what he aspired to. What he sees as escaping the subjugation and releasing the primordial artistic freedom while embracing the Dionysian spirit that gladly accepts excesses without fearing the danger.
Many thanks to NetGalley and Pushkin Press for an e-arc in exchange for an honest review!
#Nietzsche #NetGalley
This is a poetical endeavor to canonize Nietzsche as He is portrayed as a very passionate man at war with himself and in constant search for more knowledge and intellectual challenges but also very solitary vehement and impatient. He struggles constantly with his over active mind and nerves becoming more overheated and chaotic as times go by. As a young man while his friends were carousing and indulging themselves, Nietzsche was already a professor in the prestigious university of Basel. At thirty he abandons his chair at Basel. Zweig often draws comparisons between Nietzsche Dostoyevsky and Goethe. While other thinkers like Goethe and Schiller became more conventional and Bourgeoisie, Nietzsche moves away from stability severing all of his former ties:
"Nietzsche had no desire to find happiness but only to be true. He did not seek rest (like nine-tenths of philosophers), but rather in the position of slave and server of the demon, the final superlative to express all excitations and all movements. Every struggle for the inaccessible acquires the character of heroism and all heroism must end in that most sacramental of all consequences: downfall. Inevitably this virtual fanaticism for integrity,"
I am very impressed with the beautiful translation. There were paragraphs I would have liked to listened to being read aloud because the language and cadence were so beautiful. Reading Zweig on other artists and thinkers reveals a lot about Zweig himself and what he aspired to. What he sees as escaping the subjugation and releasing the primordial artistic freedom while embracing the Dionysian spirit that gladly accepts excesses without fearing the danger.
Many thanks to NetGalley and Pushkin Press for an e-arc in exchange for an honest review!
#Nietzsche #NetGalley
partypete's review against another edition
4.0
good character sketch of nietzsche the man as he existed outside of his work. not recommended unless you’re familiar with his work. i doubt he would have approved of this lmao
annarella's review against another edition
5.0
This was a marriage made in heaven: an excellent writer like Stefan Zweig and a great philosopher like Nietsche.
I loved this book and it's strongly recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine
I loved this book and it's strongly recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine
the_endless_tbr's review against another edition
2.0
This book, is a translation by Will Stone of Zweig's biography of Nietzsche. I am a huge Stefan Zweig fan and was super excited to see this book. Moreover I wanted to learn Nietzsche and hence this pick. But here is an advice, do not pick this book if you want to know more about him because the it is more of an account of what Zweig thinks of Nietzsche. Go ahead if you are a Stephen Zweig fan. The translation is done really well but overall it is slightly boring.
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