Are there any well-read Nietzsche posters out there?

[Praxis101]

I've just recently started reading Nietzche (I bought The Will to Power and Beyond Good and Evil), and have thusfar found that everything makes very good sense to me.

I haven't read much though, and I'm guessing there's a bunch of you who are familiar with his work who might be willing to explain some questions I may come across.

I used the search function but couldn't find any relevant threads really, please link if I'm missing something. /images/graemlins/grin.gif Any good articles or other weblinks are welcome too.

So yeah I've started The Will to Power and have actually been pretty excited, as I seem to be on the same page as Nietzsche on all his ideas (so far). Taking me a long time to read as I constantly have to pause to think, but the actual reading isn't too difficult.

[CommanderCorm]

Don´t forget "Will to Power" isn´t really a volume by Nietzsche, but a collection of his random notes he left after being hospitalized arranged by his sister.

I´m sure I could be helpful with some of your questions, since I´ve been reading alot of Nietzsche back in the days, but unfortunately I have to log off in a minute. I´ll have a look at this thread tomorrow, though.

[PLOlover]

Just get the walter kaufmann translations and read some of his essays. I would N's works in order to see how his thoughts evolve. And as the other post said, Will to Power isn't really his work.

If you wanted to just read one book to I would read kaufmann's translation of froehliche wissenshaft which in english is the gay science. (irreverently happy approach to knowledge)

[madnak]

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If you wanted to just read one book to I would read kaufmann's translation of froehliche wissenshaft which in english is the gay science. (irreverently happy approach to knowledge)

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[NobodysFreak]

I'd start with The Gay Science. It'll give you a good grounding in Nietzsche.

[Jordan Olsommer]

[ QUOTE ]
I've just recently started reading Nietzche (I bought The Will to Power and Beyond Good and Evil), and have thusfar found that everything makes very good sense to me.

I haven't read much though, and I'm guessing there's a bunch of you who are familiar with his work who might be willing to explain some questions I may come across.

I used the search function but couldn't find any relevant threads really, please link if I'm missing something. /images/graemlins/grin.gif Any good articles or other weblinks are welcome too.

So yeah I've started The Will to Power and have actually been pretty excited, as I seem to be on the same page as Nietzsche on all his ideas (so far). Taking me a long time to read as I constantly have to pause to think, but the actual reading isn't too difficult.

[/ QUOTE ]

A professor by the name of Robert C. Solomon also has some excellent stuff on Nietzsche - my favorite is his course which can be found at the Teaching Company (http://www.teach12.com/ttc/assets/coursedescriptions/415.asp?id=415&d=Will+to+Power%3A+The+Philosophy+o f+Friedrich+Nietzsche&pc=Philosophy%20and%20Intell ectual%20History) (don't be put off by the price - every course TTC puts out goes on sale at least once during the year, and in this case when it does it would be available for $70 instead of $250 for the DVD, so just wait until then), and a book called "What Nietzsche Really Said"

Of course, you don't have to (and shouldn't) take a philosopher's opinions all-or-none. There's stuff of Nietzsche's I find to be amazingly life-vivifying, and there's other stuff I could do without or think is sheer nonsense. Just take the parts that speak to you and incorporate them into your life and personal philosophy, and throw the unnecessary bits away.

[Scotch78]

As already stated, get some Kaufmann translations. The only other suggestion I have is to keep Nietzsche's rhetorical strategies at the front of your mind. There is a reason why he's one of the most misquoted writers in Western civilization.

Scott

[Praxis101]

Thankyou for the input all.

I took the advice, put down A Will to Power, went out and bought the WK translation of The Gay Science. This book is much more personal and I feel as though Nietzsche speaks to and relates to the reader extremely well.

I find his relationship to the reader to be fascinating. N preaches to readers that he does not care whether or not one agrees with him: he more importantly wants readers to think and establish beliefs for themselves, so long as one is able to challenge their own beliefs when the time comes. This stance really empowers the reader to make use of his ideas. I'm very glad that I started with this book, it is much more personal than the other excerpts that I've read; and - as mentioned - it allows a bit more insight into Nietzsche himself.

I'm midway through book 4 of The Gay Science. I'm going to have some questions handy once I finish to help clear up any misconceptions I have. I plan to reread most of the book to absorb as much as I can before moving on to another.

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Of course, you don't have to (and shouldn't) take a philosopher's opinions all-or-none. There's stuff of Nietzsche's I find to be amazingly life-vivifying, and there's other stuff I could do without or think is sheer nonsense. Just take the parts that speak to you and incorporate them into your life and personal philosophy, and throw the unnecessary bits away.

[/ QUOTE ]

I agree, this is what I've been trying to do. There just happen to be very few points thusfar that I do not agree with (everything seems to speak to me.)

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The only other suggestion I have is to keep Nietzsche's rhetorical strategies at the front of your mind. There is a reason why he's one of the most misquoted writers in Western civilization.

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I can easily picture N's ideas being taken out of context and warped into something they weren't meant to be. Fortunately, I like to think that I've been keen to most of the devices N uses - I try to pause and see a different perspective if something doesn't fit just right.

I realize I haven't posed any concrete questions here, but they will be coming shortly - I'm almost done! /images/graemlins/grin.gif

[StupidAcesSigh]

Nietzsche is dead.
-God

[madnak]

Talk about missing the point.

[Matt Jenko]

Thus Spake Zarathustra is still one of my favourite books. A fiction, but it frames most of his ideas of his superman. There are some absolutely glorious Nietzsche rants in it, and no-one rants quite like him...

[evolvedForm]

I always laugh at people who think that is funny or creative.

[Mickey Brausch]

[ QUOTE ]
I'm guessing there's a bunch of you who ... might be willing to explain some questions I may come across

[/ QUOTE ] FN was the first philosopher who not just declared Man's actual situation in the cosmos but also (unlike predecessors such as Kant) dismissed the safety net of religious ideology. He breaks with the Judaeo-Christian ethic in the most emphatic terms, and returns to the Greeks, for the notion of tragedy and Dionysus.

FN reserved his most acidic remarks for Christian religion. FN's prose seems to come from the fascination and the horror of a child who realizes he has always been an adopted orphan and who subsequently strives to remain sane. What FN submitted as Man's only possible, honest conduct in life (ie heroic acceptance and defiance) has not changed nor refuted, since his time. Only clarified and elaborated on.

Mickey Bunch