Unpublished Writings from the period of Unfashionable Observations: Volume 11 (The Complete Works of Friedrich Nietzsche) (Paperback)

by Friedrich Nietzsche (Author), Richard T. Gray (Afterword, Translator) "At the proper height everything comes together and harmonizes-the philosopher's thoughts, the artist's works, and good deeds..." (more)
Key Phrases: solid mediocrity, disguised theology, tragic age, David Strauss, Unpublished Writings, Middle Ages (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

This is the third volume to appear in an edition that will be the first complete, critical, and annotated English translation of all of Nietzsche’s work. Volume 2: Unfashionable Observations, translated by Richard T. Gray, was published in 1995; Volume 3: Human, All Too Human (I), translated by Gary Handwerk, was published in 1997. The edition is a new English translation, by various hands, of the celebrated Colli-Montinari edition, which has been acclaimed as one of the most important works of scholarship in the humanities in the last half century.

The present volume provides for the first time English translations of all of Nietzsche’s unpublished notebooks from the summer of 1872 to the end of 1874. The major works published in this period were the first three Unfashionable Observations: “David Strauss the Confessor and the Writer,” “On the Utility and Liability of History for Life,” and “Schopenhauer as Educator.” Translations of the preliminary notes for these pieces are coordinated with the translations of the published texts printed in Volume 2: Unfashionable Observations.

The content of these notebooks goes far beyond the notes and plans for published and unpublished Unfashionable Observations, encompassing numerous sketches related to Nietzsche’s major philological project from this period, a book on the pre-Platonic Greek philosophers. The ideas that emerged from Nietzsche’s deliberations on these early Greek thinkers are absolutely central to his thought from this period and contribute in significant ways to the development of several of his major themes: the role of the philosopher vis-à-vis his age and the surrounding culture; the relationships among philosophy, art, and culture; the metaphorical nature of language and its relationship to knowledge; the unmasking of the modern drive for absolute “truth” as a palliative against the horror of existence; and Nietzsche’s “unfashionable” attack on modern science and modern culture, especially on the Germany of the Bismarck Reich. These notebooks represent important transitional documents in Nietzsche’s intellectual development, marking, among other things, the shift away from philological studies toward unabashed cultural criticism.

Language Notes
Text: English (translation)
Original Language: German --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 536 pages
• Publisher: Stanford University Press; 1 edition (November 5, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0804736480
• ISBN-13: 978-0804736480
• Product Dimensions: 7.3 x 4.8 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.1 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #981,109 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

32 of 34 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Thumbs up to Stanford Univ Press, June 28, 2000

By	eupraxis "eupraxis" (New Orleans, LA USA) - See all my reviews

Nietzsche has gained much fame and notoriety over the 100 years since his death. This has, unfortunately, led many people to believe that they have some idea what he wrote, why and when. The other "reviews" here are a case in point.

The writings here are from the period just after The Birth of Tragedy. Specifically, these are notes and fragments from the period of the Untimely Meditations, here called Unfashionable Observations, basically 1872-74.

I was struck by the richness of these jottings, and by the breadth of topic and subject. You can find insights concerning semiology and linguistics, politics and sociology, etc., written with refreshing originality and boldness. What surprised me most of all is how readable this volume is. In some ways, it is more engaging than the published texts of the same period.

One more thing, Nietzsche's cerebral breakdown occurred many years after this period, and even so, it is quite dubious to call his writings into question even from that later period. His problem was organic, not psychological. And secondly, anyone who thinks that the value of reading Nietzsche is for "a couple of clever quotes to throw around at dinner-parties", has really missed something.

Anyone who has studied Nietzsche's philosophy will be thrilled by this collection of notes. Not only do they throw light on the Unfashionable Observations; they show how wide reaching Nietzsche's interests were at such an early period.

5.0 out of 5 stars Has a great index, notes, and an afterword., March 6, 2003

By	Bruce P. Barten (Saint Paul, MN United States) - See all my reviews

The value of this book depends entirely on the ability of the reader to think about it. I happened to enjoy it as confirmation of many efforts I have previously made to understand Nietzsche and the world at large, and this review pays far too much attention to the world, which is as at large as ever.

Long ago, I had the opportunity to consider what Nietzsche thought about a normal appreciation for the truth, compared to the opposite which he discovered in what was most forceful. "When the Christian crusaders in the Orient encountered the invincible order of Assassins, . . . whose lowest ranks followed a rule of obedience the like of which no order of monks ever attained, they obtained in some way or other a hint concerning that symbol and watchword reserved for the highest ranks alone as their secretum: `Nothing is true, everything is permitted.' " (ON THE GENEALOGY OF MORALS, translated by Walter Kaufmann, p. 150). This collection of notebooks of private thoughts, which Nietzsche did not publish, reflect the process in which he prepared his work. Trying to find some secret doctrine, which the public could never understand, seems to be like trying to understand everything, as dangerous as any other aspect of his thought.

In 1872 or early 1873, he had written, "Conversely, we are returning to culture in a sectarian manner, we are trying once again to suppress the philosopher's immeasurable knowledge and convince him of the anthropomorphic character of all knowledge." (p. 57). This is so true, I need only mention GENIUS by Harold Bloom, in which "A Mosaic of One Hundred Exemplary Creative Minds" are explained by classifications which seek to glorify how individuals think. Otherwise, in our culture, "Groupthink is the blight of our Age of Information, and is most pernicious in our obsolete academic institutions, whose long suicide since 1967 continues. The study of mediocrity, whatever its origins, breeds mediocrity." (Bloom, p. ix).

When Nietzsche was becoming an expert in Greek civilization, learning about the Pre-Platonic philosophers, a battle was fought at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, early in July, 1863. The Confederacy lost that battle, but in 1870-1871, the newly united states of Germany, under Prussia, having organized its troops for rapid deployment, had triumphed in a war with France. Long years of division and deprivation had prepared Germany to become the economic powerhouse which it is today, third in the world, following the United States and Japan. In the monetary system of the world, the dollar, the yen, and now the euro are the leading currencies. The state of financial collapse which is now a threat to the dominance of globalization is best imagined by considering Iraq like Gettysburg, a battle dragged out for years instead of days, in which the United States, the chief invader (England was the foreign power which offered the most support for the Confederacy during the American Civil War), has managed to remain in the area, which it considers a battlefield on which it may yet triumph. In his notebook, Nietzsche sought the "Value of truthfulness. --It does indeed improve things! Its aim is decline. It sacrifices. Our art is the likeness of desperate knowledge." (p. 57)

Though Nietzsche has been dead for over a hundred years, the range of his thought is accessible to people who are willing to search within themselves for whatever is the matter with their situations. Trouble? I could show you trouble. Compared to the twentieth century, thinking about America in Iraq seems to be the most hopeful way to go for anyone who has hoped for money, or oil, or power, or the opportunity to be right in a way that the world can't deny. But Nietzsche went looking into the big question, and found:

"When among the tumult at the outbreak of the last great war an embittered French scholar called the Germans barbarians and accused them of lacking culture, people in Germany still listened closely enough to take deep offense at this; and it gave many journalists the opportunity to polish brightly the armor of their culture, . . . and venerable Carlyle publicly praised precisely those qualities in the Germans and, for the sake of these qualities, gave their victory his blessing, then everyone was clear about German culture; and after the experience of success, it was certainly quite innocuous to speak of the victory of German culture. Today, when the Germans have enough time to examine in retrospect many of the words flung at us then, there are probably a few who recognize that the Frenchman was right: the Germans are barbarians, despite all those human qualities." (p. 93). The distinction Nietzsche would like to draw is regarding the future: "the hope for an emerging culture vindicates the Germans: whereas one gives no deference to a degenerate and exhausted culture." (p. 93). It is necessary to look in another book to find the phrase of Goethe which Nietzsche was to include in his published work. "But another couple of centuries may have to pass before our countrymen will have absorbed sufficient spirit and higher culture for one to be able to say of them: it has been a long time since they were barbarians." (UNFASHIONABLE OBSERVATIONS, p. 10). Since the United States bombed bridges and buildings in Europe in 1999 to react to a civil war in which a ruling party there seemed uncivilized to us, perhaps the stance of the German and French people today tries to seem more cultured than the Americans as their last, best hope to avoid the terrorists that can do far more to hasten the decline of civilization than America would acting alone.

4 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Our Messiah, April 12, 2000

By	"lcundin" (New Orleans - Home of the Nihil) - See all my reviews

Nietzsche is a rising star in westwern philosophy, also, he stands as one of the worlds most recognized names in philosophy. Deserving or not, especially when considering the giants: like Kant or Jesus, Nietzsche has captured the hearts and minds of modern man. A philosopher who lives his philosophy, a philosophy that enlightens the thoughts of men like Jesus and brings down two their knees men like Kant. For those readers afraid of 'high-brow' tautologies, difficult and arcane terminology, then fear not Nietzsche, he is approachable. The only warning I may provide is, 'beware of Nietzsche, for he holds the power to change your life; worse, he will change the way you live it!'.