num_pages: 261
description: "The cult of genius, the idea of the great man born to create new forms in a passionate agony, dominated the imagination of 19th-century Europe. Among such towering intellectual personifications of this vision as Rousseau, Beethoven, and Goethe stands philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche, who declared the death of God. However, as Carl Pletsch's daring and innovative study shows, Nietzsche, contrary to the romantic paradigm, cultivated and nurtured the role of genius as a vehicle for his bid to become the prophet and founder of a radically new morality."In a fascinating biographical inquiry into the early life of this powerful and extravagant thinker, Pletsch demonstrates how Nietzsche set out self-consciously to become a genius by learning the role from others. After losing his father at five, the brilliant youth later sought dynamic mentors to teach him how to marshal his creative energies and prepare himself for his revolutionary 'mission.' From them he learned how to see the world anew, how to go beyond intelligence, ambition, and hard work to create, and to be a truly original philosopher, in fact, to be a genius."Pletsch argues that genius is a role that must be learned before it can be performed. Nietzsche's unusually long and difficult attachments to Schopenhauer and Wagner, and ultimate liberation from their influence, are a uniquely revealing illustration of this process. Neither born to be an iconoclast nor predestined to think the way he did, Nietzsche learned to be a genius and then became one."-- from the book's front flap
language: English
title: Young Nietzsche: Becoming a Genius
titlecomplete: Young Nietzsche: Becoming a Genius
genres: History, Biography, Philosophy, Nonfiction
ratings_count: 43
publisher: Free Pr