Nietzsche in Turin: An Intimate Biography

by Lesley Chamberlain

During 1888 in Turin, Italy, Nietzsche wrote three of his most important works-- Ecce Homo, Twilight of the Idols , and The Antichrist . In this accessible, moving biography, Lesley Chamberlain examines with passion and insight the mind of a genius at its creative pinnacle. In her account, Freidrich Nietzsche emerges as a gentle, tortured man, dominated by his rigorous mind and his love of music, and soothed by the strangely otherworldly city of Turin

Genres: Biography, Philosophy, Nonfiction, History, Germany, Magic, Italy

272 pages, Paperback

First published August 1, 1997

Reviews

[Valeriu Gherghel · Rating 2 out of 5]

Înainte de toate, aș menționa că Lesley Chamberlain (n. 1951) este specialistă în bucătăria rusă (The Food and Cooking of Russia, 1982). A făcut jurnalistică, a publicat însemnări de călătorie și s-a specializat în cărți despre celebrități (Van Gogh, Freud, Lenin).

Titlul grandilocvent (Sfîrșitul viitorului) oferă imediat o sugestie asupra acestei cărți bizare. Nu e nici descrierea ultimului an de relativă luciditate din viața lui Nietzsche (1888), nici analiza cîtorva scrieri de final (Antichristul, Amurgul idolilor, Ecce Homo, Nietzsche contra Wagner). Chamberlain povestește într-un stil pedestru ce a priceput din aceste cărți. Nu foarte mult.

Ea nu se îndoiește nici o clipă că Nietzsche s-a îmbolnăvit de sifilis, probabil în 1865, și că a fost una dintre victimele ilustre ale acestui morb. În opinia sa, sifilisul terțiar duce în chip implacabil la megalomanie, întrucît „spirocheții sifilisului se încolăcesc în jurul țesutului cerebral” și-l iau în stăpînire (p.320). Sifilisul pătrunde în creier ca un cariu și-i reduce masa nervoasă (p.321). Altfel spus, sifilisul se comportă asemenea unui rozător. E de presupus că, în final, craniul bolnavului rămîne gol. Cu toate acestea, bolnavul își păstrează funcția afectivă și cea verbală intacte. Mărturie stau ultimele „conversații” dintre Friedrich Nietzsche și mult iubitoarea lui soră, deliranta Elisabeth:

„Cît de des mă lăuda pentru ce făceam! Cît de des mă liniștea cînd păream tristă! Recunoștința lui era înduioșătoare. De ce plîngi, Lisbeth? - mă întreba. Doar sîntem fericiți...” (Elisabeth Förster-Nietzsche, The Life of Nietzsche, II, p.410).

Să mai spun că o astfel de discuție nu s-a petrecut decît în mintea biografei? Să ne ferească Domnul de iubirea încinsă a rubedeniilor! Pe Nietzsche Dumnezeu nu l-a ferit dintr-o pricină evidentă...

Mă întorc la relația indisolubilă dintre sifilis și megalomanie. Luesul distruge inhibițiile bolnavului, el nu se mai poate înfrîna, își exagerează importanța și „clocotește de megalomanie” (pp.319, 321). Încă un pasaj: „Megalomania sifilitică pare să se insinueze treptat, dar temeinic în mintea lui” (p.265). „Ravagiile luetice îi distrug judecata” (p.281). Nietzsche devine arogant, lăudăros, agresiv, ironic, disprețuitor cu ceilalți. Totul e potențat, firește, de sifilis (pp.287-288).

În fine, transcriu acest fragment oarecum pleonastic: „Bettmann avea o mare experiență în manifestările patologice ale megalomaniei ce însoțesc paralizia generală a alienaților mintal” (p.347).

Amatorismul lui Lesley Chamberlain mi-a dat fiori...

P. S. Ca să nu fie discuție, iată apucăturile rapace ale sifilisului: „Pe măsură ce își pierde masa de substanță nervoasă, ca rezultat al sifilisului terțiar, conștiința umană pare să clocotească de megalomanie” (p.321).

Și încă ceva. În 2001, mi-am procurat această carte cu 49.980 de lei. Abia acuma îmi dau seama cît de bogat am fost cîndva :)

[Jonfaith · Rating 2 out of 5]

We might take a mental snapshot of him now, as a brilliant wanderer in search of passing princely patronage, somehow strayed into the modern world.

Nietzsche in Turin is a dreary muck. A spectacular mess would have been at least engaging, if only because of the ambition displayed. Not so, here. This effort, however, became gradually immobilized by authorial self-regard and our poor Fritz was left commiserating with the nag on the Turin street. Chamberlain documents Nietzsche's time in Turin before his mental collapse. She divides the time with focus on his body and his mind, the latter implying emergence of the syphilitic paralysis. Such an approach should have been fascinating. Instead, it is an annoying round of citation leap frog, prompting one to gather that the author wasn't exactly immersed with Nietzsche's thought. The books Nietzsche composed in Turin are examined, but too much time and parsing goes to convince the reader of a maddening decline in the professor. Chamberlain is more than fair towards Nietzsche with respect to the philosopher's views on anti-Semitism, Germany and women. The book beckoned for rigor and an editor. Readers should pursue Ronald Heyman's masterful biographyNietzsche: A Critical Life or even for The Philosopher's Touch: Sartre, Nietzsche and Barthes at the Piano its treatment of Nietzsche and music.

[Julio The Fox · Rating 5 out of 5]

"On the one-hundredth and twenty second anniversary of the death of the Great One". Yes, I really do sign letters that way. History comes Before Nietzsche (BN) and after Nietzsche (AN). In the debate "God is dead", Nietzsche and "Nietzsche is dead", God, Nietzsche clearly one. The death of God had been proclaimed before, by the Greeks and Romans. Total skepticism in everything from science to morals had been advocated before, notably by David Hume. But no one before Nietzsche had ever prophesied that the proclamation an acceptance of both would mean the end of civilization and the need to birth an Overman, who would live beyond good and evil. (A few bars of "Thus Spracht Zarathustra, please.) Nietzsche is our bitchy, kvetching contemporary and will be until the end of time. Lesley Chamberlain has decided to focus on Nietzsche's last sane year, 1888-1889, when he resided in Turin, Italy and churned out three masterpieces, NIETZSCHE CONTRA WAGNER, THE ANTICHRIST (which she prefers to call THE ANTICHRISTIAN---I disagree. Chamberlain wants to make Nietzsche anti-christian but pro-Christ.) and ECCE HOMO. All three are autobiographies in disguise. If this is madness, let's have more insanity in the world! Chamberlain takes Nietzsche at his word, as I do, that physiology, not psychology, is the root of philosophy. The Great One's stomach troubles, his walks, Spartan diet and migraines are all key to understanding Nietzsche at twilight; laughing at his critics, foreseeing a global war "more terrifying than all before it" and finding in Bizet a joyful counterpart to his nemesis, the bombastic, patriotic and would-be Christian Wagner. Nietzsche agreed with his contemporary Oscar Wilde that "only the shallow truly know themselves" and that a man wears many masks, including the mask of madness, from womb to tomb. Life is appearance. If you haven't read Nietzsche, well, shame on you, but here is a good place to start.

[Jim Coughenour · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another book purchased and started years ago (in this case, March 1995), long buried at the back of my shelves. I disinterred it over Christmas and began again. Last year I read (or re-read) Untimely Meditations; Beyond Good and Evil and Thus Spake Zarathustra - so this time around, the book was more accessible.

Chamberlain picks up the story at the beginning of 1888, the last year of Nietzsche's sanity, during which he wrote three short impassioned books: Twilight of the Idols; The Antichrist and as his final testament, Ecce Homo – in which brilliance is laced with madness. Chamberlain does a masterly job of blending the philosophy with the life, bringing us close to both the misery and the heroism of this brilliant, doomed man. This is indeed an "intimate biography," brimming with intellectual sympathy, illumination and almost harsh humor. Her writing is fresh, sometimes startling, as tender as it is penetrating.

I can't say if this is the best book on Nietzsche, but it's now my favorite.

[Erik Graff · Rating 2 out of 5]

Impressionistic and, to me, obscure, Chamberlain attempts to get at the character of Friedrich Nietzsche by means of an account of his final years (1888-89) in Turin, Italy and Sils Maria, the years during which he composed 'The Wagner Case', 'Twilight of the Idols', 'The Antichristian', 'Ecce Homo', 'Contra Wagner' and 'The Dionysus Dithyrams', as well as a voluminous correspondence. While ostensibly sympathetic, I found the portrait off putting and this in contrast to the more accessible representations found in the Kaufman and Hollingdale biographies.

[Dario Andrade · Rating 4 out of 5]

Um bom livro, que trata dos meses que Nietzsche passou em Turim, de abril de 1888 a janeiro de 1889. Esses meses compreendem, também, o final da sua vida funcional. Depois disso, viveu até 1900, mas, fundamentalmente, em estado catatônico.
A minha impressão – junto com a biografia de maior fôlego que li há pouco – é a de que a vida dele é de algum modo a tentativa de vivenciar a sua obra, mesmo que ele tenha dito algo em sentido contrário.
O trecho abaixo parece-me ser uma boa síntese do livro:
“A minha opinião é a de que a experiência de ser um sem-Deus, sem-emprego, sem-esposa e sem-lar deu a Nietzsche o conhecimento direto, imediato, da patologia dos outsiders de todas as épocas; e que os escritores tendem a ser outsiders qualquer que seja a ordem econômica, mas que Nietzsche experimentou a condição de outsider com uma intensidade quase premeditada”.
Vale a pena, mas não como livro a ser lido isoladamente.

[Brent · Rating 2 out of 5]

The Pros:
Chamberlain does a good job at being fair to Nietzsche in his historical context; this includes, but is not exclusive to, Nietzsche's views towards woman, imperialism, fascism, etc. Anything, quite frankly, on Nietzsche is going to peak my interest.

The Cons:
Chamberlain is a little disingenuous to call this a biography, in especially an "intimate biography" when, in fact, we learned more about Chamberlain herself than we did about Nietzsche. To be sure, no excitingly new insights or substances was given, but instead merely Chamberlain's exegesis of Nietzsche's philosophy and her own philosophical views as well. Furthermore, the work on the whole lacks direction, and coherence, and instead rumps around listlessly as Chamberlain struggles to ground her thesis accurately, and definitely fails to do so objectively. In fact, the book fails also to explain situations, peoples, and places so terribly, that anyone picking this book up with only minimal knowledge of Fritz would have absolutely in no wise been able to follow Chamberlain's train of thought. She presupposes the reader knows intimately who people such as Reé, Deuson, Overbeck and Gast are. Moreover, she discusses off the cusp so flippantly people such as Freud, Kierkegaard, Dostoyevsky, Kafka, Wittgenstein, Spinoza, and many more, that anyone who was not very well versed in philosophy would be wholly unable to follow her comparisons and analysis vis-á-vis Nietzsche. True to point, the book should have been retitled "a psycho-philosophical analysis," and definitely not a biography. In fact, the only real biographical material of which Chamberlain intended to write about, namely Nietzsche's last two years in Turin before his collapse, come at the very end of the book, only in the last two chapters or so. In sum, I can't recommend this book, but would rather direct the reader's attention to Hayman's biography simply entitled "Nietzsche" which is one of the best comprehensive Nietzsche biographies ever penned in English. I did enjoy reading this work simply because it was about Nietzsche, but Chamberlain's "Nietzsche in Turin" lacked the biographical coherence and objective cogency to have procured anything lasting or substantive in Nietzsche scholarship.

[Jeff · Rating 3 out of 5]

The American reader is struck by two things: the journalist Chamberlain's belle lettrist style that locates a cultural position not much evident in American publishing; and the historicization that is the style's warrant, where Nietzsche's life and work will all get read back through the months in Turin before his mother moved him to an asylum. The style reminds one of the LRB house reviewers, persistently synthetic, from the outside; a troping, allusive style. It wore me out fast. It's like there's no there there. Of course, if you've read Nietzsche, this just feels a little 5pm. But when sympathy is called for, in the final days, I baled.

[Vendedor de rápida · Rating 3 out of 5]

No es tanto una biografía de los últimos meses de lucidez, nunca mejor dicho, del filósofo, sino un análisis de su obra a la luz de su personalidad. Muy interesante.

[Frankie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read a new edition of this book for review, and I enjoyed the read. It was detailed and intimate as the title says and I learnt a lot about Nietzsche as a person. This is all the more remarkable given that it only covers the last few years of his life while he was living in Turin. It covers his relationship with the city, his habits and his relationships with people. It does so in a compassionate way - what the author frames as 'befriending', which I really enjoyed. They are obviously very knowledgeable, and I'm not sure what some of the other reviews here on Goodreads are talking about when they say it's under-researched - the detail is granular!

This Turin time stands out in Nietzsche's biography because of the story of the Turin Horse (which inspired a movie that's a bit of a household name - in our house anyway) and is constantly brought up in service of all kinds of points in literature - a kind of parable. I wondered if this is why this is being republished now. This is critiqued in this book (is it all it's cracked up to be?) and that's interesting for scholarship but also, that final chapter is brief, and I wish there'd been some more payoff, a conclusion or something to say something meaningful about what it all adds up to.

[Nathan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I purchased this book prior to a trip to Italy. I had read a lot of Nietzsche's writings in college, but hadn't read that much about the man himself. I found the book to be very enlightening and can now place the philosophy of this famous existentialist into better context.

Chamberlain is an engaging writer and is dealing with a complex subject. Nietzsche was clearly a genius, but ended up a madman and at times it can be difficult to separate the two. It was in Turin that he enjoyed the last of his sanity and wrote some of his most important works. They come to life along with their author in this "intimate biography."

[Dirk Dierickx · Rating 1 out of 5]

Kan dit boek echt niet aanraden, het heeft mij weinig meer inzicht gegeven in het laatste levensjaar van Nietzsche. Verduidelijking in zijn werken heb ik ook niet gekregen, daar ik Nietzsche wel ken, maar de auteur gaat echter uit van een diepere kennis dan de gemiddelde man heeft over de persoon en zijn werk. Tenslotte zou je denken dat boeken zoals deze hier meer inzicht zouden in verschaffen. Meermalen had ik meer de indruk een eindwerk student filosofie te lezen dan een biografisch boek.
Heb ik dan niets bijgeleerd, natuurlijk wel. Echter maar bitter weinig voor het aantal pagina's waar ik me heb moeten doorheen worstelen.

[Luke Nichol · Rating 5 out of 5]

A moving biography of Nietzsche's discovery and time in Turin before his mental collapse. His daily routines and final thoughts shed light on what he intended to be his 'revaluation of all values'. Nietzsche's increasing loneliness, anxiety, insomnia and nausea are a saddening portrait of a great mind whom was taken away far too soon.

[William West]

Well written, enjoyable account of Nietzsche's last days. Paints a very endearing portrait of its subject.

[Leanne · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of the best biographies of Nietzsche I have ever read!

[Darshan Kalathil · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’m looking forward to reading Nietzsche now. I’d judged him too harshly because of his edgy teenager fan base. I was wrong about him.
This was a life changing book.

[Trinity · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very sympathetic reading of Nietzsche, clearly demonstrating how the various dimensions of his life from his Christian upbringing to his illness influenced and informed his philosophy. A good book for getting the 'feel' of Nietzsche-the-man.

[Mauberley]

As well as an intimate AUTObiography. Moody, thoughtful, vivid. Well done, Lesley Chamberlain.

[Nathaniel Glazer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really good book, Nietzsche had a sad and difficult life.

[Mandy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Part biography, part critical analysis and commentary on the work and part an attempt to humanise Nietzsche, this well-written and well-researched book explores in particular the last productive year of Nietzsche’s life, which he spent in Turin. During that year he wrote some of his most important works; The Twilight of the Idols, The Antichrist and Ecce Homo. Tragically he suffered a complete nervous breakdown the following year and stopped being able to write. I’m not best qualified to talk about Nietzsche's thinking but I found that the book brought Nietzsche the man to life, and made him a sympathetic character to whom I could relate. Not an easy read when considering Nietzsche’s philosophy but accessible and readable when talking about his daily activities, his friendships, his anxieties and his conflicts.

[Benjamin Haag · Rating 4 out of 5]

When I was a collegiate English major, I discovered Nietzsche. He seemed to be the drug of choice among the "cool" people I encountered, who impressed me with their cynicism, and so I signed up for a course featuring Fritz and his prose stylings.

The book, itself, I enjoyed; it was written in a way that was cogent and somehow familiar, as if the author were writing about someone she knew, cared about, and perhaps somewhat pitied, or with whom she empathized.

[Kenzie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think I was expecting this book to only cover what the last two chapters covered. That would have been a short book, so I'm glad there was more to it, but I often found myself wanting to skip to the end of the book.
I really appreciated Chamberlain's tone--her willingness to treat Nietzsche as a friend allowed the man to shine in all his genius and tragedy. I feel that I've come away with a nuanced understanding of what kind of person Nietzsche was.

[Tomi Kaukinen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautifully and at at times very profoundly written. Sentenced are poetic and thoughtful. Sue Prideaux book on Nietzsche is an easier read but perhaps better for the modern reader (also 5 stars). But this is a masterpiece as well.

You get to delve deep into the philosophies of the troubled Nietzsche.

[Eepman · Rating 2 out of 5]

I gave this book at least 100 pages. I thought it was going to be about Nietzsche's time in Turin but the author went on a much too long tangent about Nietzsche and Wagner's relationship. I wound up not finishing this book either.

[G0thamite · Rating 2 out of 5]

Some interesting tidbits of Nietzsche's life in the first chapter or two. After that, it all turns to psychoanalyzing his music, sexuality, art and philosophy based on (IMHO) on very thin historical ice.

[Karen Renee Collins · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm not really sure about this book yet... I read it for the 0.5 hour before bellydance every week. Stay tuned.

[Elena · Rating 3 out of 5]

meh