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Posted by Joe on 6/25/2006, 11:44 pm Thanks, During the year 1882, Friedrich Nietzsche became acquainted with Lou Andreas Salome through their mutual friend Paul Ree. Nietzsche soon fell in love with her despite his denials to friends. His feelings were unrequited. Out of his failure to win the heart of Salome, Nietzsche was able to produce Thus Spoke Zarathustra. To demonstrate this conclusion, this paper looks critically at Nietzsche's thoughts on suffering, pain, friendship, love, Christianity, and conventional morality as espoused in The Gay Science, written prior to his relationship with Salome. When these attitudes are compared with the sentiments expressed in the letters he wrote to Salome, Ree, and other friends, we see that despite his defiance of conventional morality, Nietzsche was involved whole-heartedly in a conventional infatuation. The collapse of his relationship with Salome was devastating and consequential because it forced him to re-evaluate himself, his goals, and his philosophy. This introspection invigorated him and strengthened his ideas as well as kept the integrity of his previous works in tact. The result was the birth of Zarathustra, the main character and mouth-piece of his now further refined philosophy. Included within Thus Spoke Zarathustra are direct references to his relationship with Salome. By understanding his relationship with Salome and its consequences, a more complete understanding of his philosophy emerges.
155.246.192.X
I've just recently graduated from college and I took a second major in Philosophy. My thesis was on Nietzsche's failed yet consequential relationship with Lou Salome. This website and its letters from this period in Nietzsche's life were helpful in my task so I figured I'd give you all the opportunity to read it. Just shoot me an e-mail and I'll send it to you. I've posted the abstract below.
Joe
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