New-York tribune., 1911-02-25

vi.
SsS. The Macmillan Company
There is already in existence I'm Eng
Nsh a fairly comprehensive Nietzsche
literature. it's crown being the complete
translation Of his works from various
able hands. issued by the publishers oil
the biography here under review NJ
ualevy's book is worthy OF an Enghsh
dress. and most likely will tempt also
some German translator, if. indeed Ii mas
not already done so. The French author
is friendly to his subject but guided no
doubt by the adjustment Of opinions OF
twenty years as we'll as by the keen logic
of his race. he makes for the philosopher
none of the eXtravagart claims that
greeted his first appearance In Ihe Worlu
Of modern thought. In fact, ii is win
Nietzsche's life that he deals first OF ALL
and with the genesis of his books the
circumstances Of their conception, writ
ing, and inauspicious publication. rather
than with the value of their content. lie
makes informing, suggestive use or the
voluninous notes made by the phlloso-
nher as his thoughts were born, took
shane. and clamOred for utterance. once
given 70 the world in print they pass
beyond the scope Of mis- task.
II is this attitude. consistently main
tained. that has made possible the pub
lcation. with this life. Of Mr.. Kettles
eminontly sane Introductory study OF the
Nietzschean philosophy. which. sener-
auv speaking. has borne literary ana
dramatic rather than philosophic. fruit
IS in Alphonse Daudet's Strugtor-Wc"
and his successor, the GrririStc, IN the
works Of II. G. Wells-including the
higher morality If Ann Veronica ana
in the brilliant topsy-turvydom of MT
George Bernard Shaw. Samuel Butler
was a contemporary. rather than ioi-
lover. If Nietzsche. but there is TINS III
common between them. that they Doth
were in love with paradox. the Enslish-
nan with much conscious humor' the
German with the intense and uncon-
sctous seriousness Of the Teutonlc
nhilosophjc spirit. The "Will to Power,
"S,iperman." the Morality Of the Mas
ter" these he fine words TO play Wl'h'
,srecially for youth in the arrogant sell
confidence Of IT'S immaturity. and plaFeu
with them il has and still does pay
generally to the irritation Of its elders
and often 20 its own undoing. NlelZ-
sche's evolutionary speculauonS' IKE
those of others. have reached the mass
of us at second hand, by hearsay from
advanced literary entertainers. and gen.
erauc in amazingly perverted form Inc
6ctional supermen and super"oIheh
l,ui1t on the Nietzsche recipe have al
rosdv becoms a literary convention.
They viii pass, as have the insipld nero
ines If revolutionary romance before
them. 10 make place for others. or the
Nietzschean superman proper, Mr.. he'-
lie says:
The evangel Of Zarathustra dissolves mo
,oere sound and fury for lack OF what Lme
Court of Faulty calls reasOhaoie PaI %
,sritv. Most notable is this IN resarut, ~ ~
+wo laws Am ! q Superinah-oI ldSitri l
/. 49, ,o,nn.iaI ancestor of the Supermah,
for IN this case hereditary prlNllege Iuito I!to
y baokward-with the right TO touhd NY ~ n,e
on pride, pleasure ana the iOEf ot Gent 10
nv am / a slave with no riGht eACsPt ~
,an,ain a slave? The test is astIdl' am ane
even nepulous. If you can compei oi'g s,1, voij
"a circle about you as tntu CeIiCn, 20 'be-
bave a chaos in you ana are dOou' he
, +, dancing star, then you are VI VI. W
seed Of the Superman. Cnnapp!ilI,, ~ e,,rL
people who could seriously en.e' nv ,I1l tbn yerv
-, rs,iuate Of themselves are NlG 80
,.aoitbv and the very mad. ZaraluuSt,t ., @
derides the mob in order 10 ~ Mdt'I,s 80 ~
snob: he is mG!Cre IN the castlS, astn,ra tional
idle rich the courier ol
finance.
Tho life Of Friedrich Nietzsche is over
,,bo,n,inglv record Of intellec'uaI d0'
.,,.;,, It's outer happenings are but le"'
ond unrelieved in their monotony oi po.
ertv and physical suffering enuihs !"
enc tragedy Of a gentle madness lie
,.as = nractical optimist in the conduct
Of his life: no invalid has the rish' -
ne pessimist." he wrote; 'thc years
,n which my vitality sank to us mi'll-
,,,,,,,, ,,.oro those i'm which ceased 70 DE
q possiynist." He was born on Oc'opei
I, 1874 AZ Roecken. Prussia, the son
- prrssian Lutheran clergyman VINO
6,od insane after a fall when the ooy
yss four years old Heredity may pe
traced IN the fathers fate. as u may "e
s.on in the sens possession OF his taiehI
yor music IN 1870 the widow whose
maiden name NJ. Halevy omits to give
,,,orad with her brood of three-tWo boys
and elrl-to Naumburg-zur-SaaP
vhe-e the future philosopher. then IN
his seventh year, became known Tor his
rreternatural seriousness ana ms pre-
coc;ty. He composed melodies, fantasies
,,,azurl,as. wrote verses and set them TO
,,ueic drew up didactic treatises and
formed an amateur theatrical company
In 1858 his mother on the advice OF MS
teachers. sent him 10 the college at
~-ounoburc. whence. al the end Of the
same year. he went 10 the famous sch'o'
OF pforta on a scholarship he had won
At seventeen NietZsche entered IN his
diary a confession of his loss of faith'
.ccomuanving il by a statement Of the
yerv questions to whose solution he was
in later years 70 devote all his intel
icctual energies.
In October 1862, ne entered the Uni
versity OF Bonn. whence he went to
1,cipsic 10 finish his course. His specu-
)ations upon tho questions that inter-
estod him most deeply were carried on
side by side with the prescribed studies.
and entered in the diaries from which
his biogra phcr quotes 50 freely. His So
cial ife during this period was narrow.
lis friends and pleasures few II was nj
this time that he discovered SchCpen-
hauer. whose World as VIII and Idea
fired him 10 exaltation. His pathological