I AM DYNAMITE – A LIFE OF FREDERICH NIETZSCHE by Sue Prideaux (Faber & Faber, 2018)
“I am not a man. I am dynamite” – ‘Ecco Homo, Why I Am Destiny’
Italian politician, journalist and all round trouble maker Giuseppe Mazzini once told Friedrich Nietzsche to “ban compromise”. This is the kind of reckless advice any libertarian, free-thinker is likely to lap up and act upon but it didn’t do Nietzche much good.
The German philosopher who died in 1900 aged 56 was certified insane for the last 11 years of his life and lived in a constant state of anxiety and sexual frustration before that.
Sue Prideaux’s racy and highly readable biography skillfully seperates the man from the myth. The philosopher’s well known affirmation that God is dead and his drive towards a will to power influenced Hitler but, unlike Wagner, he was no Nazi-apologist. Furthermore, the accusation that he committed incest with his sister is also given short shrift; the malicious rumour having been spread by a renowned fantasist.
Prideaux reveals that Nietzche was no superman but a troubled and sickly soul who was riddled with self doubt and poor health. Nevertheless, in his books of aphorisms, most of which were universality ignored during his lifetime, he comes over as a visionary with a firm belief in his own powers. His refusal to mould or adapt his primal creative instincts to appeal to the masses left him isolated.
In the unfortunately named ‘The Gay Science’ he wrote that “Morality is herd instinct in the individual” and anybody with such beliefs is never going to be overly inclined to suffer fools gladly. On top of this, his inability to find true love or companionship led to bitter misogyny.
If you can overlook this aspect of his character, you will find that his explosive ideas are still relevant to our increasingly secular world. Prideaux does a good job of showing his strengths even though his all too human failings made him a walking time bomb. She also reveals that his legacy has been permanently distorted by his mercenary and manipulative sister Elizabeth.
All in all she sets the record straight while proving that if you want to be immortal it doesn’t hurt to get a little crazy!
