When Nietzsche Wept: A Novel of Obsession

by Irvin D. Yalom

Book Overview

In nineteenth-century Vienna, a drama of love, fate, and will is played out amid the intellectual ferment that defined the era. Josef Breuer, one of the founding fathers of psychoanalysis, is at the height of his career. Friedrich Nietzsche, Europe's greatest philosopher, is on the brink of suicidal despair, unable to find a cure for the headaches and other ailments that plague him. When he agrees to treat Nietzsche with his experimental "talking...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0060975504
• ISBN13: 9780060975500
• Release Date: August 1993
• Publisher: Harper Perennial
• Length: 320 Pages
• Weight: 0.57 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 5.3" x 8.2"

Customer Reviews

El dia que Nietzsche lloro

Esta novela de Irvin D.Yalom nos embarca en una lectura esquisita, como es una mezcla bien balanceada entre narracion novelistica, pensamientos psicologicos y filosoficos. Nos muestra una combinacion del pensamiento Nietzscheniano, su fortaleza asociado al inicio del entendimiento del subconciente de Freud de finales del siglo XIX y principios del siglo XX. Con la caracteristica fundamental de que los hechos ahi presentados son aplicables al hombre comun, que suceden todos los dias y en muchas diferentes circunstancias. Nos muestra de una forma estupenda muchos aspectos de la problematica existencial del hombre en su edad mediana de la vida y nos deja al final el sentimiento de tomar algunas conclusiones por nosotros mismos.

A Therapeutic Read

If you are, like me, a fan of Irving Yalom's non-fiction, you might wonder at what you will encounter in his fiction. Wonder no more. This book is fantastic! A highlight of his non-fictional accounts of psycho-therapeutic encounters with patients has always been the deep humanity of his characterization of people - even desperately unhappy people. He accomplishes the same in this book, while taking-on the daunting task of centering his fictionalized account around some of the most famous names in the history of philosophy and psychology.If you have not read Yalom, I would encourage you to buy this book - but do so along with a purchase of one of his non-fiction works: "Momma and the Meaning of Life : Tales of Psychotherapy" or "Love's Executioner : And Other Tales of Psychotherapy", and go ahead and read the latter first. You might well have little anticipation of enjoying accounts of psychotherapy, but I think you will discover that Yalom, at least, does a captivating job of describing the human condition through his eyes and those of his patients. Along the way you will slowly unravel the nature and power of Yalom's "existential" approach to therapy. Once you have encountered this approach to life and life-change through the mixture of the personal and the theoretic in Yalom's non-fiction, you will doubly enjoy the undercurrents of "When Nietzche Wept". Most novels seek to imbed one of more philosophies of life within their character's being or actions. But so many of these turn into such a hodge-podge of pop-culture and authorial idiosyncrasy that characters can lack the coherence that binds us to them as readers. Under the hands of an accomplished novelist this coherence is the challenge met - and the connection to the reader is the connection to the seeming hodge-podge of our own lives - but such success is sadly uncommon.Yalom takes a different tack and succeeds wonderfully, building his characters upon a deeply developed professional awareness of what drives and defines us. Having established over decades of thought and therapy and writing the central elements at the core of being - which he collectively captures as "existential" - he builds his characters on that base. It is an amazing thing to see how compellingly these characters present themselves and, in my opinion, further proof of the fundamental power and veracity of the existentialist perspective.Yalom is no dry Camus, though, worrying his suicide beads. He and his characters show a powerful connection to life which is manifest in their powerful connection to the world of ideas. As larger-than-life historic figures, his main characters, Nietzche and Josef Breuer (with Sigmund Freud as a minor character!) do not emerge with the gloss of historical polish. But neither do they emerge as simple folks. The mutual swell of their explorations of the nature of man meets with an explosive energy that Yalom expertly guides through a full and developed and engaging story.

Intellectually Challenging and Personally Meaningful

This is one of the most intellectually stimulating, personally relevant, important books I have ever read. What a rare treat Yalom has given the world. That being said, this book may not be for everyone (but what is?). In many ways, I feel as if this novel was written just for me, and I feel sure that many other readers likewise come away feeling the book was written especially for them. Do you have to know Nietzsche in order to enjoy this book? You do not, but it will certainly appeal to you more if you do. I approached this book purely as a Nietzsche admirer, and I worried that my favorite philosopher might be portrayed poorly or unacceptably in its pages. In fact, he was not. No one can say whether this fictional treatment of Nietzsche is a true depiction of this great man, but it really does not matter. The importance of this book comes not through the descriptions of its characters, but from the meaning you as an individual take from its themes. These themes are grand and universal, the themes that Nietzsche addressed in his factual life--the meaning of life, fear of aging and death, each person's place in society, and both aloneness and loneliness. Everyone knows these themes, the emotions they stir up, the doubts they employ as daily hurdles on the living of one's life, the truly cosmic loneliness that each individual knows and combats at some point or points in his/her life. Not everyone can face these challenges or even acknowledge them; those who cannot will do well to stay away from this book. What a joy it is to read a truly intellectually challenging work in these modern times. Don't read this book to be entertained. Read this book to seek understanding of life and your place in it. I cannot stress enough how personal the message of this book seems to be. In the final pages, Nietzsche revealed to Dr. Breuer his one great fear, and that fear was my own great fear, expressed in words that described it better than I ever could. I had to put the book down momentarily and just say "My God . . ." That gave this book incredible meaning for me. I should say that I did not come away overjoyed or overly burdened from the experience of finishing the book, but I certainly came away more in tune with my own thoughts and my own philosophy, challenged to remain steadfast in my own intellectual thoughts and pursuits, and buoyed (yet not elated) to know that at least one other person on earth has knowledge of the intellectual and emotional struggles that I sometimes resigned myself to believe were solely my own. Please, do not start reading this book unless and until you are ready to devote yourself to it and to yourself. The first few chapters are not gripping and do not really offer a visionary glimpse of the meaning and magic of the book. The early conversations, particularly between Nietzsche and Breuer, are sometimes rather stilted and "phony." Do not be discouraged in the early stages of the read because intellectual sti

Discusses this book in the context of a course on Nietzsche

This is an historical novel. All of the main characters are real historical figures, and Yalom has been reasonably faithful to both their lives and their characteristics. (See the Author's Note, pp. 303-6.) Josef Breuer was, indeed, a close associate of the young Sigmund Freud. Friedrich Nietzsche was, indeed, an intimate friend of the philosopher Paul Ree and had known the young Russian aristocrat, Lou Salome. The time and place of the novel are equally appropriate to these people. The period from late spring 1882 to the early winter of 1883 was a troubled period for Nietzsche, as his actual correspondence reflects, and his relationships with Lou, Paul, and his sister Elizabeth were major contributors to his depression and alienation. It was, however, a period of revolutionary re-direction in Nietzsche's thought, culminating in the completion of the first chapter of Thus Spoke Zarathustra in just one month's time. In order to bring Breuer and Nietzsche together, however, Yalom was forced to create a purely fictitious meeting of Lou Salome, and Breuer and to give Lou an uncharacteristic burden of care toward Nietzsche's health and feelings. While none of this ever happened, it is not forbidden by the facts; that is, Nietzsche undoubtedly did pass through Vienna, during this period, and we don't know when or for how long. Before leaving the subject of Lou Salome, we should observe that she was certainly the striking and charismatic figure that Yalom describes in this novel. Her brief relationship with Ree and Nietzsche was merely the beginning of a long series of relationships with intellectual giants of the period. A far more significant affair was with the great poet Rainer Maria Rilke. And furthermore, as an older woman, she became involved in Freud's school of psychoanalysis and knew Freud himself very well. Lou wrote several books, including her own Remembrances, which described Nietzsche and his philosophical thought. The novel offers its readers interesting insights into Nietzsche's personality, occupations, and health. Equally, it presents interesting views of Freud and the early development of psychoanalysis in Breuer's work. Freud and Breuer eventually collaborated on a book, Studies on Hysteria. But, by far the most interesting aspects of the novel, are the carefully worked relationships between early ideas in psychoanalysis and psychotherapy, on one hand, and Nietzsche's philosophical thinking, as it had developed through his works up to The Gay Science. The action takes place at an especially fortuitous time in the lives of all these characters. While psychoanalytic therapy was developing in relation to the condition called hysteria, the novel explores its relationship with another condition, the existential despair of Nineteenth Century Western Civilization. This condition of despair had already been identified and discussed in the writings of Kierkegaard and Dostoyevsky and in the poems o

Wonderful. It works on so many levels.

I had the good fortune to read this book the summer before my senior year of college. I knew little about Nietzsche, Freud, Breuer or Yalom. How lucky, then, to discover them all in one fell swoop! Their imagined interactions take place against the backdrop of 19th Century Vienna, which Yalom develops richly--from its splendor and highly intellectual culture to the basest, crudest manifestations of its growing anti-semitism. Yalom brings historical characters to life with wit, feeling and a stunning attention to detail. The character of Breuer is developed in such an intensely personal manner that one wonders how much Yalom drew from his own thoughts, fears and experiences. I have rarely seen so much of myself in a (semi-) fictional character. Nietzsche's defiance, brilliance and, ultimately, his frailty are portrayed thoroughly and believably. Read this book in a moment of transition. Or read it when your life seems to stretch before you in a path of endless predictability. Read it when you face great challenge and pain, or when you are comfortable and complacent. It will inspire you to examine yourself and the path you have chosen.