What is it about Nietzsche?
Often, I'm on the New York subway with a book in hand. No one ever so much as glanced at what I am carrying (at least none I noticed). I am the indiscreet idiot who steals repeated glances at the covers and spines of the books that people are holding. All that changed when I started the book, When Nietzsche Wept by Irvin Yalom. Combine the catchy title with the key word, "Nietzsche", and everyone was shamelessly staring at the cover. One evening, I handed out the book thrice saying, "here, take a look, it's a good book." And two of them, produced a pen and wrote down the title.
When Nietzsche Wept isn't a great book as literature goes. It's too linear, repetitive and has a warm fuzzy ending. But it's a fantastic introduction to Nietzsche, Breuer (the father of psychology and Freud's mentor) and Yalom (the author).
A friend of Nietzsche visits Dr. Breuer, the famous physician in Vienna. She tells him how her friend Nietzsche, who is destined to be a great philosopher, suffers from deadly migraines and suicidal depression. Nietzsche consults Breuer for his migraines but is too proud to admit his mental troubles, and he refuses to stay for treatment because he can't afford it. Not knowing how to make him stay, Breuer brings up his existential crisis. And the men come to an agreement – Breuer will work with Nietzsche's migraine, while Nietzsche helps Breuer overcome his crisis.
The two men play the therapist on one another. Only psychotherapy doesn't exist at that time. Dr. Breuer has worked with a couple of patients suffering from paranoia, that is it. Through their discussions and nightly thoughts, they struggle to counter each other's existential crisis. A young Freud, prudish but brilliant, appears at Breuer's dinner table – always full of ideas and optimism.
In real life, the two men never met. But they lived in the same time. The author, a psycho-therapist himself, has done extensive research into lives of Nietzsche and Breuer. What's in the book just might have happened if the two did meet. All the writings quoted in the book are verbatim, and the supporting characters, including Freud, are real and fairly accurate.
On a side note: You know how you go about repeating some phrase/sentence for years, and your tongue is so used to it that you assume the words are as old as the language itself. Then you learn who said it, and suddenly that phrasing has an origin, before which it never ever existed. Freaky. One such bizarre experience was when I learned, it was Nietzsche who said, "What doesn't kill me, makes me stronger."
Often, I'm on the New York subway with a book in hand. No one ever so much as glanced at what I am carrying (at least none I noticed). I am the indiscreet idiot who steals repeated glances at the covers and spines of the books that people are holding. All that changed when I started the book, When Nietzsche Wept by Irvin Yalom. Combine the catchy title with the key word, "Nietzsche", and everyone was shamelessly staring at the cover. One evening, I handed out the book thrice saying, "here, take a look, it's a good book." And two of them, produced a pen and wrote down the title.
When Nietzsche Wept isn't a great book as literature goes. It's too linear, repetitive and has a warm fuzzy ending. But it's a fantastic introduction to Nietzsche, Breuer (the father of psychology and Freud's mentor) and Yalom (the author).
A friend of Nietzsche visits Dr. Breuer, the famous physician in Vienna. She tells him how her friend Nietzsche, who is destined to be a great philosopher, suffers from deadly migraines and suicidal depression. Nietzsche consults Breuer for his migraines but is too proud to admit his mental troubles, and he refuses to stay for treatment because he can't afford it. Not knowing how to make him stay, Breuer brings up his existential crisis. And the men come to an agreement – Breuer will work with Nietzsche's migraine, while Nietzsche helps Breuer overcome his crisis.
The two men play the therapist on one another. Only psychotherapy doesn't exist at that time. Dr. Breuer has worked with a couple of patients suffering from paranoia, that is it. Through their discussions and nightly thoughts, they struggle to counter each other's existential crisis. A young Freud, prudish but brilliant, appears at Breuer's dinner table – always full of ideas and optimism.
In real life, the two men never met. But they lived in the same time. The author, a psycho-therapist himself, has done extensive research into lives of Nietzsche and Breuer. What's in the book just might have happened if the two did meet. All the writings quoted in the book are verbatim, and the supporting characters, including Freud, are real and fairly accurate.
On a side note: You know how you go about repeating some phrase/sentence for years, and your tongue is so used to it that you assume the words are as old as the language itself. Then you learn who said it, and suddenly that phrasing has an origin, before which it never ever existed. Freaky. One such bizarre experience was when I learned, it was Nietzsche who said, "What doesn't kill me, makes me stronger."
