Remembering Friedrich Nietzsche:
October 15, 1844–August 25, 1900

717 words

Friedrich Nietzsche was born this day in 1844 in the small town of Röcken, near Leipzig, Saxony, in the Kingdom of Prussia. He died in August 25, 1900, in Weimar, Saxony, in the Second German Reich. The outlines of Nietzsche’s life are readily available online.

Nietzsche is one of the most important philosophers of the North American New Right because of his contributions to the philosophy of history, culture, and religion.

If you are thinking of reading Nietzsche’s works, the best introductions are The Twilight of the Idols and The Anti-Christ, preferably in the R. J. Hollingdale translations. The next volume should be Beyond Good and Evil: Prelude to a Philosophy of the Future, which Nietzsche described as the prose presentation of his entire worldview. I recommend the Judith Norman translation from Cambridge University Press.

Thus Spake Zarathustra is Nietzsche’s poetic presentation of his philosophy, but it should be saved for later. It is the worst possible introduction to Nietzsche. It has been many people’s first Nietzsche book, and for all too many it has been their last.

Such Nietzsche books as On the Genealogy of Morals, The Birth of Tragedy, Untimely Meditations, and The Gay Science are highly valuable, but should be saved till later. Daybreak: Thoughts on the Prejudices of Morality and Human, All Too Human: A Book for Free Spirits are products of a brief flirtation with certain Enlightenment ideas and are thus quite misleading as introductions. Ecce Homo, The Case of Wagner, and Nietzsche Contra Wagner should be saved for last. As a rule, the Cambridge University Press translations of Nietzsche should be preferred.

The introductory books on Nietzsche are mostly disappointing. I do recommend H. L. Mencken’s The Philosophy of Friedrich Nietzsche. Julian Young’s Nietzsche’s Philosophy of Art and Nietzsche’s Philosophy of Religion are very clear and exciting books that examine the development of Nietzsche’s ideas throughout his career. Because of the importance of art and religion to Nietzsche, they serve as excellent overviews of his philosophy. Young has also published an important biography, Friedrich Nietzsche: A Philosophical Biography, which combines overviews of Nietzsche’s life and works in a single volume. Although it is a long book, it is well worth the investment of time. (I recommend it despite the fact that Young has been accused of plagiarizing another biography of Nietzsche. Young’s “crime” strikes me as simply an editorial mistake. It is certainly not plagiarism of the kind practiced by Alan Dershowitz or Martin Luther King.)

Nietzsche is probably the author most often tagged on this website.

Here are the main works we have published by and about Nietzsche:

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By Nietzsche:

• “Nietzsche on the Code of Manu”
• “Nietzsche on Freedom”
• “Nietzsche’s Critique of Modernity”
• “Nietzsche on Conservatism”

About Nietzsche:

• Alain de Benoist, “Jünger, Heidegger, and Nihilism”
• Kerry Bolton, “Nietzsche and Spengler”
• Kerry Bolton, “Norman Lindsay,” Part 1, Part 2
• Jonathan Bowden, “Credo: A Nietzschean Testament” (Swedish translation here)
• Jonathan Bowden, “Paganism and Christianity, Nietzsche and Evola”
• Jonathan Bowden,”Theseus’ Minotaur: An Examination of Friedrich Nietzsche’s Thought”
• Jonathan Bowden, “The Uses and Abuses of Nietzsche”
• Jonathan Bowden, “Nietzsche’s On the Genealogy of Morals”
• Collin Cleary, “Evola’s Nietzschean Ethics: A Code of Conduct for the Higher Man in Kali Yuga”
• Collin Cleary, “What is the Metaphysics of the Left?,” Part 2
• Mark Dyal, “Nietzsche, Physiology, and Transvaluation”
• Mark Dyal, “Nietzsche’s Loneliness”
• Julius Evola, “Nietzsche for Today” (Translations: Czech, Portuguese)
• Julius Evola, “Nihilism and the Meaning of Life in Nietzsche”
• Julius Evola, “The Overcoming of the Superman”
• Guillaume Faye, “Guillaume Faye on Nietzsche” (Czech translation here)
• Greg Johnson, “Freedom, Determinism, and Destiny” (Spanish translation here)
• Greg Johnson, “Heidegger on Nietzsche, Metaphysics, and Nihilism” (Spanish translation here)
• Greg Johnson, “Historicizing the Historicists: Notes on Leo Strauss’ ‘The Living Issues of German Postwar Philosophy,'” Part 1, Part 2
• Greg Johnson, “Notes on Nihilism” (Translations: French, Spanish)
• Greg Johnson, “Ronald Beiner’s Dangerous Minds”
• Kurwenal, “Wagner, Nietzsche, and the New Suprahumanist Myth,” Part 1, Part 2, Part 3
• Anthony M. Ludovici, “Hitler and Nietzsche”
• James J. O’Meara, Review of Julian Young, Nietzsche’s Philosophy of Religion, Part One and Two
• Michael O’Meara, “Only a God Can Save Us” (French translation here)
• Sir Oswald Mosley, “Christ, Nietzsche, and Caesar” (Translations: French, Russian, Ukrainian)
• Ted Sallis, “The Overman High Culture: Future of the West” (Translations: French, Portuguese)
• Ted Sallis, Review of Abir Taha’s Nietzsche’s Coming God
• Oswald Spengler, “Nietzsche and His Century”