Friedrich Nietzsche

Friedrich Nietzsche did not marry. He is said to have proposed to Lou Salomé, a Russian student, in around 1892-1893 thrice; but each time he was rejected by her. Some modern scholars also believe that he was homosexual; but others dismiss this view.

Nietzsche had a close bond with his sister, Therese Elisabeth Alexandra Förster-Nietzsch, who used to look after him. Later, as she got married to Bernhard Förster, and developed anti-Semitic mindset, there was a rift between the two.

On 3 January 1889, Nietzsche had a mental breakdown, originally diagnosed as tertiary syphilis. It is said that he saw a horse being flogged in Turin and running to save it, he threw himself around its neck. What happened thereafter is not known; but he was found loitering on the road.

Friedrich Nietzsche was born on 15 October 1844, in a small town called Röcken, located near Leipzig, in the Prussian Province of Saxony. His father, Carl Ludwig Nietzsche, was a Lutheran pastor in Röcken. His mother’s name was Franziska nee Oehler.

Friedrich was the eldest of his parents’ three children. Next to him was his sister, Therese Elisabeth Alexandra Nietzsche, who in later years became anti-Semitic. The third sibling was a brother named Ludwig Joseph.

In 1849, Friedrich’s father, Carl Ludwig died from some kind of brain disorder. Friedrich’s younger brother Ludwig Joseph also passed away in 1851. Franziska, Friedrich and Elisabeth now left Röcken to live with Franziska’s mother in Naumburg. Two of Franziska’s unmarried sisters-in-law also lived in the same house.

In 1854, Friedrich he was admitted to Domgymnasium in Naumburg, studying there till 1858. Thereafter, he entered ‘Schulpforta’, an internationally famous boarding school, on scholarship. According to most scholars he got the admission because his father, a pastor, was no more.

At Schulpforta, apart from studying classical languages like Greek, Latin, Hebrew, French and German, he also studied religion, history, natural sciences and mathematics. Moreover, he became acquainted with works of non-conformist writers through private reading.

In 1869, a professorship in classical philology fell vacant at the University of Basel in Switzerland. Although Friedrich Nietzsche was yet to complete his doctoral work, Ritschi strongly recommended his name, declaring that in his forty years of teaching he had had not found anybody like him.

Also at his Ritschi’s insistence, the University of Leipzig conferred the doctoral degree on Nietzsche, basing their decision on his published papers. They did not take any further examination.

Before he moved to Basel in 1869, Friedrich Nietzsche gave up his Prussian citizenship, remaining stateless for the rest of his life. Initially, he was appointed an extraordinary professor of classical philology, being promoted to the post of full professor in the following year.

During this period, he developed closed friendship with Richard Wagner and his wife Cosima, becoming frequent guest at their villa. May be under their influence, he published his first major work, ‘Greek Music Drama’ in 1870.

Also in 1870, Nietzsche decided to work for his second doctoral degree, writing ‘Beiträge zur Quellenkunde und Kritik des Laertius Diogenes’ (Contribution toward the Study and the Critique of the Sources of Diogenes Laertius) as his dissertation. But he never submitted it.

After resigning from his job, Nietzsche lived in near isolation. Financed by his pension from Basel and aid from his friends, he now started moving around in Italy and Switzerland, publishing number of books.

‘Morgenröte – Gedanken über die moralischen Vorurteile’ (The Dawn), published in 1881, was his first important work of this period. In the following year, he had ‘Die fröhliche Wissenschaft‘(The Gay Science) published. His famous quote, ‘Gott ist tot’ (God is Dead), first appeared in this work.

From 1882, as his health worsened, he started taking huge quantity of opium; but it did not help. In 1883, he tried to obtain professorship at the University of Leipzig; but because of his views on Christianity, it was denied to him. He was now unemployable and without many friends.

Going into seclusion, he wrote ‘Also sprach Zarathustra: Ein Buch für Alle und Keinen' (Thus Spoke Zarathustra: A Book for All and None), a philosophical novel, composed in four parts between 1883 and 1885. In it he elaborated his idea on the death of God, an idea he introduced in ‘The Dawn’.

In 1886, he wrote 'Jenseits von Gut und Böse: Vorspiel einer Philosophie der Zukun' (Beyond Good and Evil: Prelude to a Philosophy of the Future). But due to a dispute with his publisher, he had it printed at his own expense, also acquiring publication rights for his earlier works.