Nietzsche: Attempt at a Mythology

425 Pages·2009·1.72 MB·English

by  Ernst Bertram, Robert E. Norton

I N T E R -
N A T I O N A L
N I E T Z S C H E
S T U D I E S
Nietzsche
Attempt at a
Mythology
Ernst Bertram
Translated and with an
Introduction by Robert E. Norton
International Nietzsche Studies
Richard Schacht, series editor
Editorial Board
Rüdiger Bittner (Bielefeld)
Eric Blondel (Paris-Sorbonne)
Maudemarie Clark (Colgate)
David Cooper (Durham)
Arthur Danto (Columbia)
Kathleen Higgins (Texas-Austin)
Bernd Magnus (California-Riverside)
Alexander Nehamas (Princeton)
Martha Nussbaum (Chicago)
Gary Shapiro (Richmond)
Robert Solomon (Texas-Austin)
Tracy Strong (California–San Diego)
Yirmiyahu Yovel (Jerusalem)
A list of books in the series appears at the back of this book.
International Nietzsche Studies
Nietzsche has emerged as a thinker of extraordinary importance, not only in the
history of philosophy but in many fields of contemporary inquiry. Nietzsche
studies are maturing and flourishing in many parts of the world. This interna-
tionalization of inquiry with respect to Nietzsche’s thought and significance may
be expected to continue.
International Nietzsche Studies is conceived as a series of monographs and
essay collections that will reflect and contribute to these developments. The series
will present studies in which responsible scholarship is joined to the analysis,
interpretation, and assessment of the many aspects of Nietzsche’s thought that
bear significantly upon matters of moment today. In many respects Nietzsche is
our contemporary, with whom we do well to reckon, even when we find ourselves
at odds with him. The series is intended to promote this reckoning, embracing
diverse interpretive perspectives, philosophical orientations, and critical assess-
ments.
The series is also intended to contribute to the ongoing reconsideration of
the character, agenda, and prospects of philosophy itself. Nietzsche was much
concerned with philosophy’s past, present, and future. He sought to affect not
only its understanding but also its practice. The future of philosophy is an open
question today, thanks at least in part to Nietzsche’s challenge to the philosophical
traditions of which he was so critical. It remains to be seen—and determined—
whether philosophy’s future will turn out to resemble the “philosophy of the
future” to which he proffered a prelude and of which he provided a preview, by
both precept and practice. But this is a possibility we do well to take seriously.
International Nietzsche Studies will attempt to do so, while contributing to
the understanding of Nietzsche’s philosophical thinking and its bearing upon
contemporary inquiry.
—Richard Schacht
Nietzsche

NIETzSCHE
Attempt at a Mythology
Ernst Bertram
Translated and with an Introduction
by Robert E. Norton
University of Illinois Press
Urbana and Chicago
© 2009 by the Board of Trustees
of the University of Illinois
All rights reserved
Manufactured in the United States of America
1 2 3 4 5 c p 5 4 3 2 1
∞ This book is printed on acid-free paper.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Bertram, Ernst, 1884–1957.
[Nietzsche. English]
Nietzsche : attempt at a mythology / Ernst Bertram ;
translated and with an introduction by Robert E. Norton.
p. cm. — (International Nietzsche studies)
Includes bibliographical references (p. ) and index.
isbn 978-0-252-03295-0 (cloth : alk. paper)
isbn 978-0-252-07601-5 (pbk. : alk. paper)
1. Nietzsche, Friedrich Wilhelm, 1844–1900.
I. Norton, Robert Edward, 1960– II. Title.
b3317.b4513 2009
193—dc22 2008035915
Everything that happens is symbol and, by perfectly representing itself,
points toward the rest.
Everything is equal, everything is unequal, everything is useful and harm-
ful, eloquent and mute, rational and irrational. And what one says about
individual things is frequently contradictory.
—Goethe
Everything that is perfect does not express itself alone, it expresses an entire
related world.
—Novalis

Contents
Translator’s Introduction:
Attempt at a Demythologization xi
A Comment on the Notes xxxvii
Acknowledgments xxxix
Introduction: Legend 1
1. Ancestry 11
2. Knight, Death, and Devil 37
3. The German Becoming 56
4. Justice 79
5. Arion 88
6. Illness 107
7. Judas 121
8. Mask 134
9. Weimar 154
10. Napoleon 171
11. Jest, Cunning, and Vengeance 183
12. Anecdote 194
13. Indian Summer 203
14. Claude Lorrain 213
15. Venice 223
16. Portofino 231
17. Prophecy 239
18. Socrates 262
19. Eleusis 289
Notes 309
Chronology 365
Index 369