The Good European: Nietzsche's Work Sites in Word and Image [Hardcover]

David Farrell Krell (Author), Donald L. Bates (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0226452786 | ISBN-13: 978-0226452784 | Publication Date: November 24, 1997 | Edition: 1

Through photographs and translations of Friedrich Nietzsche's evocative writings on his work sites, David Farrell Krell and Donald L. Bates explore the cities and landscapes in which Nietzsche lived and worked.

"A brilliant juxtaposition of life and thought. . . . The sympathy of this pictorial biography is rivaled by few books on Nietzsche."—Charles M. Stang, Boston Book Review

"[A] distinguished addition to the Nietzsche-friendly corpus."—Alain de Botton, Los Angeles Times Book Review

"An odd and oddly endearing record of Nietzsche's travels."—John Banville, New York Review of Books

Editorial Reviews

From Kirkus Reviews

``For even if I should be a bad German,'' the peripatetic philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche wrote to his mother in 1886, ``I am at all events a very good European.'' This heavily illustrated volume marshals considerable evidence to demonstrate just how accurate that statement was: For much of his life, Nietzsche wandered restlessly around Europe, preferring to keep his distance from a Germany he found suffocatingly oppressive and second-rate. But his wanderings were motivated by something more than flight. Philosopher Krell (DePaul Univ.) and photographer Bates argue persuasively that Nietzsche had a strong, persistent appetite for natural and man-made beauty, and that he sought out sites as different as the Alps and the Mediterranean to stimulate his creative powers. Relying heavily on excerpts from Nietzsche's letters, journals, and published works, and on the recollections of friends and colleagues, and on both period and contemporary photographs of everything from Nietzsche's various rooms and homes to street scenes in Nice, Genoa, and Turin (among the many places Nietzsche visited), the authors do make a convincing case for viewing Nietzsche as a true cosmopolitan and as a writer sensitive to a sense of place. But readers who don't have a special interest in the philosopher are likely to find this too narrow (and, at times, too much of a case of special pleading for a kinder, gentler Nietzsche) to be of use. -- Copyright ©1997, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 266 pages
• Publisher: University Of Chicago Press; 1 edition (November 24, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0226452786
• ISBN-13: 978-0226452784
• Product Dimensions: 11.2 x 9.6 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,088,065 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #46 in Books > Biographies & Memoirs > People, A-Z > ( N ) > Nietzche, Friedrich

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Travel with Nietzsche, June 24, 2001

By 

Dennis M. Clark (Oakland, CA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Good European: Nietzsche's Work Sites in Word and Image (Paperback)

Although at first glance this book might appear to be simply a "coffee table" book, it actually presents a totally engaging, very personal view of Nietzsche by Krell and Bates. After I recently read various works by Nietzsche, and was somewhat astonished by the heart-on-the-sleeve baring of the soul that characterizes so much of Nietzsche's writing (e.g. Thus Spoke Zarathustra), I found it very interesting to read Mr. Krell's splendid prose as he shares with us highlights of the many journals, notes, and letters that document the inner life of Nietzsche. In particular, the wonderful way that Krell matches up Nietzsche's physical surroundings with the various images and metaphors of his published work provide a tremendous insight into both the meaning and the poetic beauty of Nietzsche's writings. I especially appreciated learning about the internal tension and ambivalence that Nietzsche experienced regarding whether his work would be interpreted as genuine philosophy or merely poetry. This is an excellent book to read from cover to cover as well as to browse.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Beautiful Book, February 7, 2007

By 

Mr. Steiner (New York) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: The Good European: Nietzsche's Work Sites in Word and Image (Paperback)

David Krell and Donald Bates trace the major sites of Nietzsche's productive period, tracing the French and Italian Riviera, Sils Maria, Turin, and the mountains of the Engadine in an attempt to examine the role of space in the creative work of this great philosopher. The book also serves the role of a miniature biography, the authors have done a great deal of research in the primary literature, reproducing a number of letters between friends, family, and colleagues. The book does not attempt to pinpoint the exact influence of landscape on the content of Nietzsche's work per se, still one does get the impression that the atmosphere of these places contributed to the dramatic flare of Nietzsche's style. The photographs are truly beautiful, but one still feels unsatisfied by the lack of analysis of the actual philosophy itself.

5.0 out of 5 stars Spazierengehen mit Nietzsche, March 13, 2011

By 

Jack Wander (UK) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Good European: Nietzsche's Work Sites in Word and Image (Hardcover)

A beautiful, inspiring and informative book! I find Krell's erudition and passion for the subject matter beyond challenge; Bates' exquisite photography makes the feast complete. I have also travelled in Nietzsche's footsteps...