[NobodysFreak]

I just recently graduated from college and I took a second major in Philosophy. My thesis was on Nietzsche's failed and consequential relationship with Lou Salome. I've attached the abstract to this post. If anyone's interested in reading it, PM me and I'll send it to you. Its about 45 pages in length so I refrained from posting it outright.

I'd like to hear what you guys think.

Thanks,
Freak


During the year 1882, Friedrich Nietzsche became acquainted with Lou Andreas Salomé through their mutual friend Paul Rée. Nietzsche soon fell in love with her despite his denials to friends. His feelings were unrequited. Out of his failure to win the heart of Salomé, Nietzsche was able to produce Thus Spoke Zarathustra. To demonstrate this conclusion, this paper looks critically at Nietzsche’s thoughts on suffering, pain, friendship, love, Christianity, and conventional morality as espoused in The Gay Science, written prior to his relationship with Salomé. When these attitudes are compared with the sentiments expressed in the letters he wrote to Salomé, Rée, and other friends, we see that despite his defiance of conventional morality, Nietzsche was involved whole-heartedly in a conventional infatuation. The collapse of his relationship with Salomé was devastating and consequential because it forced him to re-evaluate himself, his goals, and his philosophy. This introspection invigorated him and strengthened his ideas as well as kept the integrity of his previous works in tact. The result was the birth of Zarathustra, the main character and mouth-piece of his now further refined philosophy. Included within Thus Spoke Zarathustra are direct references to his relationship with Salomé. By understanding his relationship with Salomé and its consequences, a more complete understanding of his philosophy emerges.