American Nietzsche: A History of an Icon and His Ideas

by Jennifer Ratner-Rosenhagen

Interest in his works spread so rapidly that by the early 1890s, observers could refer meaningfully to Nietzsche “cults” and the widespread “Nietzsche vogue.” The most prominent readers fascinated with Nietzsche’s work came from left-leaning liberationist, progressive circles, including anarchists, socialists, feminists—both hard-boiled Marxist materialists and more aesthetically inclined romantic radicals. However, the early fascination with Nietzsche cut across the political spectrum, as right-leaning cultural conservatives were also drawn to his writings.18 Yet the one divide that the Nietzsche enthusiasm did not traverse in any meaningful way in the initial years of its European vogue was the gulf between the worlds of radical cultural politics and the German academy.