The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1908-05-03

A scandal OF formidable magnitude,
one not unlike the Carlyle roude affair,
Is stirring literary Germany in an I'M
usual degree. Earlier in the year a book
WGs published at Jena entitled Franz
Overlook and Friedrich Nietzsche, by
CARL ALBRIGHT B%ERNoUILLI, In ii at
great length and with clearness was
described the friendship Of OvERBEoK-a
we'll known church historian and culture
novelist, born at ST. Petersburg Of Ger
man and English parents-and NIETzsCHR
during their Basel period. Interesting
for the student is the story Of his rela-
lions with RICHARD WAGNER and that
mighty scholar JACOB BURCKHARDT, the
historian Of the Renaissance. As a mere
youth NIETZsCHE had won the praises Of
both RIETsCHL and B%UBCKHARDT for his
essay on THEodNs. This was before
1869, in which year at the age Of 20 he took
his doctors degree and accepted the
chair Of classical philology at Basel, His
friend 0vBRBECK noted his dangerously
rapid intellectual development and does
not fail TO record, what has never been
acknowledged by the dyed In the wool
N~ietzschlGns, that the Master" had
read and inwardly digested MAX STIR
NER's anGrchistc work THE Ego and
His Own Not only is this long denied
fact set forth, but Overlook in a careful
analysis reaches the positive conclusion
that Notwithstanding his profound erudi-
ton, his richly endowed nature, FRIED
RICH NIETzscHR Is not one Of the worlds
great men; that in his mad endeavor to
carve himself into the semblance Of his
own superman he wrecked brain and
body.
The Sad irony Of this book lies in tho
fact that the sister Of NIETZscHE, Frau
FORESTER NIETzscHE, who nursed the
poet-philosopher from the time Of his
breakdown in 1888 till his death in 1900;
who for twenty years has by pen and
personally made such a successful prop
uganda for his ideas, is in at least three
letters-for the first time published by
BERNoUILLI-insulted grievously by her
brother. This posthumous hatred as ex-
pressed in the acrid prose Of NIETZscHE
is terribly Disseminating. He calls her a
meddlesome woman without a particle Of
understanding Of his ideals. He declares
that she has martyred him, has made him
ridiculous, and in the last letter he wrote
her, dated December, 1885, he wonders
at the enigma that has made two persons
Of such widely different temperaments
blood relatives. BERNoUILLT, the editor
Of these Overlook letters, adds insult
TO injury by calling the unselfsh, noble
minded sister and biographer Of her
brother a tyrannical and not very intel
lectual person, who often wounded her
brother with her advice and criticism.
At this the storm broke. Nine.
FORESTER NIETzscHB lives at upper
Weimar, where IL erected the Nietzsche
arohive, from which yearly an ever ris-
ing food Of documents is poured forth.
Through her literary lieutenant, PETER
GAsr-whose real name is HEINRICH
K6sEILTz-she went 10 law TO enjoin the
publisher, Eu0EN DTEDERIoHs Of Jena,
from printing the second volume Of
the Overlook work. PETER CAST doubts
the authenticity Of these letters, for rs
he truthfully points out, the love Of
NIHrzsCHE for his sister, as evidenced
by an ample correspondence was great.
We recall the touching exclamation Of
the sick philosopher when onOe at his sis
ter's house in Weimar he saw her weeping:
Don't CRY, little sister, we are all 80
happy now That now had a sinister
significance, for the brilliant thinker was
quite helpless and incapable Of reading
through the page Of a book, though he
was never the lunatio pictured by some
Of his opponents. A deep melancholy
had settled upon his soul and he died
without the light Of a returned reason.
II has not occurred to German critics
that these letters even II genuine are
the product Of q diseased imagination
NIETzscHB was q very suspicious mar
after his break with WAGNER. He Suf-