Ryan Hazen answers “I am wondering if Nietzsche read this book...”

Zeb asked this question about Crime and Punishment:

I am wondering if Nietzsche read this book before he come up with his idea of the Uebermensch, the other class of "better people" that are somehow exempt from the ordinary run of the mill ... because the musings of the main character Raskolnikov certainly sound very similar to that idea of Nietzsche ... or was that an idea floating around at that time picked up by several writers?

Ryan Hazen Nietzsche has mentioned Dostoevsky as being a major influence to him. The concept of the Übermensch first appeared in Nietzsche's Thus Spoke Zarathust…moreNietzsche has mentioned Dostoevsky as being a major influence to him. The concept of the Übermensch first appeared in Nietzsche's Thus Spoke Zarathustra in 1883 while Crime and Punishment was published in 1866, so there is a good chance that Raskolnikov's philosophy influenced the concept of an Übermensch.

During the mid to late 1800's the idea of equality of citizens in regards to society and to the law was a hot issue. Serfs were still in existence up until the Emancipation reform of 1861, so five years before Crime and Punishment, Russia itself believed in the idea that some citizens are rightfully better than others. (less)

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Crime and Punishment

by Fyodor Dostoevsky

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