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Over the years we have heard from almost everyone who was anyone in Nietzsche's life, except Lou Salome. This makes the published reprint of her 1894 even more important for those involved in Nietzsche studies. To say that Salome brings a unique perspective to her work is a bit of an understatement, but those who simply expect this to be memoir of the man she knew will be, I think, somewhat joyfully disappointed. Instead she has written what well may be the first attempt to view the persona behind the works. After giving us an excellent analysis of Nietzsche's philosophy, she comes to the conclusion that perhaps Nietzsche's madness was the inevitable result of his philosophy. Was this, as Nietzsche's sister said, merely a fantasy of female revenge? Then simply compare the last page of her book with the events of Nietzche's last days in Turin, events which she cannot have known. Hers is a provactive and illuminating look at Nietzsche, made more powerful by the fact that she was first to the gate and that the strength of her book is the analysis, not the memories.
As with any book on Nietzsche that comes to us in a foreign language, translation is most important if we are to have not only a working understanding, but also a deeper understanding than we would ordinarily expect. That the translator should be the late Siegfried Mandel is only to the reader's advantage. His translation is crisp and clear. His excellent introduction makes it all the more clear to me that this man is, or should be at least considered, one of the formost Nietzschean scholars of his time. (For further reference, see his excellent "Nietzsche and the Jews.")
This is a book every serious student of Nietzsche should have in his or her library and a book that may contribute to a new vision of the tortured harbinger of the overman.
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It is wonderful to read a fresh, new story that will surely become a classic!
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It is a book full of a ripening faith that is turning outward to bless women. Clearly the author trusts God and women both. It's as if she has found new ways to connect us, to each other and to God, and joyfully holds both connecting ends of the cords and invites us to hold on too as she brings them together. Energy is released from one to the other. It is a healing energy, an inspiring energy, a forgiving energy, a liberating energy. I have known it in my life as the Christian gospel.
This book is worthy buying.
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I look forward to the revised edition and plan to buy several copies for friends and family.
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The only drawback being that it is was designed for used in priesthood meetings, so it is not designed for non-Saints. For anyone interesting in "first contact" with the Latter-day Saints, I would recommend reading "The Book of Mormon: Another Testament of Jesus Christ," or "Standing for Something" by Gordon B. Hinckley, the current world leader of the Church. Don't drink below the horses, including myself!
It should be noted that Brother Widtsoe comes from the point of view of a chemist and describes our theology in terms of rationality and a science. C. S. Lewis warned about "Christianity And," (Screwtape Letters, chapter 25) such as "Christianity and Pacifism," or "Christianity and Vegetarianism," the problem being that we are diluting the Gospel and rewriting it in the light of our own hobbies or profession.
True, our theology is rational and can stand the scrutiny of a Thomas Aquinas or a Jesse Ventura, but it is not the product of a test-tube or a syllogism. In other words, Joseph Smith didn't get our religion from re-shuffling verses of the bible, or just deep thinking or pondering, but he got revelations. He said, "I have got all the truth which the Christian world possessed, and an independent revelation in the bargain, and God will bear me off triumphant." (Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, 376)
Despite this one point, would recommend this book for a new member learning, a non-member curious, or an old member wanting to review basics. C. S. Lewis also said that we should alternate between reading old books, and new books, since the old ones have stood the test of time, whereas the new books, such as "Believing Christ," or John Bytheway books are still on trial. I'm not saying the are bad, but that there is a verdict of history associated with "Jesus the Christ," or "Mormon Doctrine" that these striplings do not yet have.
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Lou reported a conversation about the changes in his life in which Nietzsche raised the question, "When everything has taken its course--where does one run to then?" and told her, "In any case, the circle could be more plausible than a standing still." (p. 32). She described his books as the product of "his last period of creativity, Nietzsche arrived at his mystical teaching of the eternal recurrence: the picture of a circle--eternal change in an eternal recurrence--stands like a wondrous symbol and mysterious cypher over the entrance to his work." (p. 33).
This book does not have an index, and the notes on pages 160-8 merely clarify a few things, such as the date of the letter from Nietzsche to Lou at the beginning of Part III Nietzsche's "System" on page 91 which Lou used without the final comment, "be what you must be." The possibilities might not be considered so great. "In that regard, if the sickliness of man is, so to speak, his normal condition or his specific human nature itself, and if the concepts of falling ill and of development are seen as almost identical, then we will naturally encounter again the already mentioned decadence at the culmination of a long cultural development." (p. 102). The ascetic ideal "is also a third kind of decadence which threatens to make the described illness incurable and threatens the possibility of recovery. And that form of decadence is embodied in a false interpretation of the world, an incorrect perception of life encouraged by that suffering and illness. . . . every kind of intellectualism extols thinking at the expense of life and supports the ideal of `truth' at the expense of a heightened sensation of living." (p. 103). "In respect to Nietzsche's own psychic problem, it is of less interest to determine correctly the historicity of master morality and slave morality than it is to ascertain the fact that in man's evolution he has carried these contrasts, these antitheses, within himself and that he is the consequent sufferer of this conflict of instincts, embodying double valuations." (p. 113). Ultimately, "Nietzsche's thought of the Dionysian orgy as the means for release of the emotions" (p. 127) are considered "the necessary conditions for the creative act out of which one shapes the luminous and godly." (p. 127). Nietzsche and Schopenhauer are tied to "the deeply pessimistic nature of the Greeks because their innermost life, as revealed through the orgiastic, was one of darkness, pain, and chaos." (p. 127). Art is the answer, here. "The highest or the most religious art is the tragic because within it the artist delivers beauty from the terrifying." (p. 128). Modern society can hardly be comprehended without accepting that much of what is popular is produced in the attempt to satisfy that desire for art.