THE WORLD OF FRIEDRICH NIETZSCHE AND THUS SPOKE ZARATHUSTRA

THE WORLD OF FRIEDRICH NIETZSCHE AND THUS SPOKE ZARATHUSTRA

1844 Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche is born on October 15 in the Prussian town of Röcken, near Leipzig. His father, Karl Ludwig, is the town’s Lutheran pastor, an appointee of King Friedrich Wilhelm IV, for whom young Friedrich is named.1846 Nietzsche’s sister, Elisabeth is born; ultimately she will be the controversial executor of his estate. Søren Kierkegaard publishes Afsluttende uvidenskabelig Efterskrift (The Concluding Unscientific Postscript).1848 Revolutions in France, Italy, Germany, and the Austrian Empire rock Europe. Karl Nietzsche injures his head and damages his brain. Nietzsche’s brother Josef is born.1849 Nietzsche’s father dies at the age of thirty-five, leaving Friedrich and his siblings in the care of their mother, Franziska.1850 Nietzsche’s brother, Josef, dies just months after his father’s death. The family has to vacate the pastor’s house and moves to Naumburg. Friedrich will live for much of his childhood in a household of females: his mother, sister, two paternal aunts, and paternal grandmother.1851 Friedrich starts studying the piano and soon after composes a short piece.1853 After an unsuccessful stint at the local public school, he is enrolled at a private school to prepare him for the Domgymnasium, a preparatory school.1854 Friedrich enters the Domgymnasium.1855 Herbert Spencer publishes Principles of Psychology. 1858 Friedrich receives a scholarship to Schulpforta, Germany’s leading Protestant boarding school.1859 Charles Darwin’s On the Origin of Species is published.1862 Otto von Bismarck becomes prime minister of Prussia.1864 An excellent student, Nietzsche graduates from Schulpforta with a solid classical education and enters the University of Bonn to study theology and classical philology (literature and language). His academic performance suffers due to enmity between two of his classics professors. He continues to write musical compositions.1865 Following his philology professor, Friedrich Wilhelm Ritschl, Nietzsche transfers to the University of Leipzig, where he cements his academic reputation in articles published in Ritschl’s journal. For the first time he reads philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer’s Die Welt als Wille und Vorstellung (1819; The World as Will and Idea). Gregor Mendel presents findings to a scientific society that are to lay the groundwork for the study of genetics.1866 Nietzsche discovers philosopher Friedrich A. Lange’s Geschichte des Materialismus (1866; History of Materialism), which will have an influence on his thinking.1867 In October Nietzsche begins a year of mandatory military service in the cavalry of an artillery regiment. Bismarck defeats the Austrian army in the Austro-Prussian war and opens the path to the establishment of the German Empire. Karl Marx publishes the first volume of Das Kapital. 1868 While serving in the military, Nietzsche is seriously injured as he mounts his horse. His wounds are slow to heal, but he returns to his studies in Leipzig in the fall. Already drawn to Richard Wagner’s operas, Nietzsche meets the composer, with whom he begins a profoundly affecting friendship that involves considerable intellectual debate. Fyodor Dostoevsky publishes The Idiot. 1869 With the strong recommendation of Ritschl, Nietzsche is offered a professorship in classical philology at the University of Basel, in Switzerland, which he accepts.1870 At the outbreak of the Franco-Prussian War Nietzsche leaves Basel and volunteers as a medical orderly. He contracts dysentery and diphtheria, which will lead to lifelong health problems.1871 France surrenders to Prussia, ending the war. The German Empire is established, with Bismarck as chancellor. Nietzsche’s interest in philosophy grows, but he is denied a chair in the university’s philosophy department. He rekindles his friendship with Wagner, now living in Triebschen, Switzerland, with his wife, Cosima, daughter of composer Franz Liszt. The serialization of Middlemarch, by English novelist George Eliot, begins.1872 Nietzsche spends many weekends and holidays with Wagner and his wife and the artists and intellectuals of their circle. Die Geburt der Tragödie (The Birth of Tragedy), Nietzsche’s first book, is published; an original work, it stirs controversy among academics.1873 Nietzsche publishes an attack on a popular theologian and culture critic with “David Strauss der Bekenner und der Schriftsteller” (“David Strauss, the Confessor and the Writer”), the first of the four parts of Unzeitgemässe Betrachtungen (Untimely Meditations), a critique of European culture. Suffering from eye pain and headaches, he dictates his manuscripts at times.1874 Two more meditations are published: “Vom Nutzen und Nachteil der Historie für das Leben” (“On the Uses and Disadvantages of History for Life”) and “Schopenhauer als Erzieher” (“Schopenhauer as Educator”).1875 Frequently ill, Nietzsche travels to Germany to “take a cure.” Though a doctor helps alleviate his stomach discomfort, he continues to suffer from stomach pain and headaches, and his health deteriorates.1876 The final meditation, “Richard Wagner in Bayreuth,” is published. Because of ill health, Nietzsche takes a year’s leave from the university. A schism in his friendship with Wagner opens over intellectual and artistic disagreements.1878 Menschliches Allzumenschliches (Human, All Too Human), a book of philosophical aphorisms, is published; it is criticized by many, including the anti-Semitic Wagner, who sees it as too favorable to the Jews.1879 Worsening health forces Nietzsche to resign his professorship at Basel. “Vermischte Meinungen und Sprüche” (“MixedOpinions and Maxims”)—an appendix to Human, All Too Human—is published.1880 Plagued by health problems, Nietzsche begins a lonely, peripatetic life, traveling almost every year during the coming decade between various French, Swiss, Italian, and German cities, always focusing on his writing. The second and final sequel to Human, All Too Human—“Der Wanderer und sein Schatten” (“The Wanderer and His Shadow”) is published.1881 Die Morgenröte: Gedanken über die moralischen Vorurteile (Daybreak: Thoughts on the Prejudices ofMorality) is published; it contains themes that Nietzsche will develop more fully in later writings. Russian tsar Alexander II is assassinated.1882 Die fröhliche Wissenschaft (The Gay Science) is published; in it Nietzsche introduces his concepts of “eternal recurrence” and the death of God. In Rome Nietzsche meets and falls in love with Lou Andreas-Salomé, a young student who is also admired by Nietzsche’s close friend Paul Rée. Nietzsche’s attempts to woo Andreas-Salomé fail.1883 Nietzsche publishes the first part of his masterpiece Thus Spoke Zarathustra. Richard Wagner dies. Elisabeth, whose relationship with her brother is often strained, announces her engagement to Bernhard Förster, a noted anti-Semite.1884 The second part of Zarathustra is published; as in the case of the first part, few copies are sold. Soon after, the third part, also a poor seller, appears in print.1885 Nietzsche privately prints the fourth part of Zarathustra. Elisabeth Nietzsche marries Förster, inciting the anger of her brother, who unequivocally opposes her husband’s anti-Semitism.1886 Nietzsche publishes Jenseits von Gut und Böse (Beyond Good and Evil). Elisabeth travels to Paraguay to help her husband found an Aryan society. Nietzsche begins to revisit and rework some of his earlier writings. The first three parts of Zarathustra are published together for the first time.1887 Zur Genealogie der Moral (On the Genealogy of Morals) is published.1888 In a year of intense productivity, Nietzsche writes a polemic against Christianity, Der Antichrist (1895; The Antichrist); Die Götzen-Dämmerung (1889; Twilight of the Idols), a critique ofesteemed philosophers and cultural figures; Ecce Homo (1908), in which he examines his own work; and Nietzsche contra Wagner (1895). He writes and publishes an attack on Wagner, Der Fall Wagner (The Case of Wagner). 1889 In January Nietzsche collapses in the streets of Turin, Italy, suffering a complete breakdown of his mental abilities from which he will never recover. Franz Overbeck, Nietzsche’s close friend, takes him to a psychiatric clinic in Basel, but soon afterward he is transferred to an asylum in Jena, Germany. Bernhard Förster, deep in debt, commits suicide.1890 Nietzsche is released from the clinic into the care of his mother in Naumburg. William James publishes The Principles of Psychology. 1891 The first English edition of Thus Spoke Zarathustra, translated by Thomas Common, is published.1893 Elisabeth returns from Paraguay for the last time and establishes the Nietzsche Archive, a library of Nietzsche’s letters, manuscripts, and published writings.1894 In a French case fueled by anti-Semitism, Capt. Alfred Dreyfus is convicted of giving military secrets to the Germans.1895 Pressured by Elisabeth, Nietzsche’s mother signs away all rights to his works, allowing Elisabeth to assume complete control over her brother’s writings.1896 Richard Strauss’s tone poem Thus Spoke Zarathustra premieres.1897 Nietzsche’s mother dies, and Elisabeth moves her brother to Weimar, where she will take care of him until his death.1900 Friedrich Nietzsche dies on August 25. Some say his condition is symptomatic of syphilis; however, recent research points to a brain tumor as the cause of his physical and mental disease. Sigmund Freud publishes Die Traumdeutung (The Interpretation of Dreams). 1901 Cobbling together notes by Nietzsche, including many he had used in his works, but with important changes, Elisabeth publishes Der Wille zur Macht (The Will to Power), which she claims represents her brother’s true philosophy.1903 George Bernard Shaw publishes his play Man and Superman. 1914 World War I begins following the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir to the throne of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, by a Slav nationalist.1918 World War I ends with the defeat of the Central Powers (Austria-Hungary, Germany, and Italy).1930 Elisabeth becomes associated with the Nazis; through her influence so, too, does the work of Nietzsche.1933 The Nietzsche Archive receives financial support from Hitler’s government.1935 Elisabeth Nietzsche dies; her funeral is attended by Adolf Hitler.1939 World War II begins as Germany invades Poland.1945 The Nazis’s unconditional surrender on May 7 brings an end to World War II in Europe.1950 Walter Kaufmann, who will become one of the primary modern translators of Nietzsche’s work, publishes Nietzsche: Philosopher, Psychologist, Antichrist. The book exposes Elisabeth’s manipulations of her brother’s writings and ushers in a new era of Nietzsche scholarship that distances the philosopher’s work from the taint of Nazism.