American Nietzsche: A History of an Icon and His Ideas

by Jennifer Ratner-Rosenhagen

Because he came as a nineteen-year old student while the intellectuals typically considered part of this transfer were adults and in many cases had well-established careers, it is easy to see why his story does not fold easily into collective biographies of German intellectual exiles in the United States. But like the others, Kaufmann was an intellectual exile who, as an aspiring rabbi, had no choice but to flee. In addition, like many of the other émigrés, he eventually established himself as a prominent scholar and a major force in American intellectual life. Also like the others, Nietzsche was a central figure in his intellectual coming of age and in the ongoing development of his thought. He shared their interest in Nietzsche’s effort to unmoor moral foundations, their firsthand experience of the Nazism that worshipped Nietzsche, and their broad agreement that Nietzsche was no proto-Nazi.