American Nietzsche: A History of an Icon and His Ideas

by Jennifer Ratner-Rosenhagen

For the last half century, English-speaking readers of Nietzsche have been, first and foremost, readers of Kaufmann’s Nietzsche. However, it was also his Nietzsche that paved the way for the renewed interest in translations of the German philosopher’s works and provided readers with an interpretive context for them. In the words of one prominent Nietzsche scholar, Tracy Strong, the “power of Kaufmann’s [book on and translations of Nietzsche] effectively gave him … control over Nietzsche studies in America.… His was the only opinion that would always be sought.” At least up until his death in 1980,“Kaufmann’s Nietzsche was the Nietzsche for American and British studies.”