20
PARTISAN REVIEW
away by Nietzsche later rejected
him
as insufferable (on the highest
level, the excellent Hofmiller for example). In both attitudes they
showed their lack of insight. Today Nietzsche has become a study
for mature men. The intellectual fireworks no longer have power to
seduce, for high-flown eloquence has since grown universal and lost
its charm. Today we see the incomparable seriousness of Nietzsche,
compared for example with his contemporary Dilthey, the harmless
"philosopher of life," who today holds interest only for his historical
studies, but in those days shared Nietzsche's influence as a herald of
"vital experience." But we see also the great difficulty in understand–
ing Nietzsche whose writings seem at first sight so interesting,
illuminating, or absurd.
The chief difficulty is that his philosophical work is a mass of
fragments. The many volumes are filled with innumerable aphorisms,
notes and letters along with the essays and poetry. In the prepara–
tion of the projected and much needed new edition (unfortunately
slowed down by waning interest in the later days of National Social–
ism and altogether suspended after the collapse), still more material
was brought to light. One reason for the fragmentary character of
his work is that from 1874 at the latest, to 1889 when he became
mad, Nietzsche was almost continuously sick. The quiet and persistent
continuity of effort needed for a well-formed work was no longer
possible. He was besieged by ideas and visions. The ideas behind his
notes remained
in statu nascendi.
His notes have the magic of spon–
taneity. But there is far more concealed in them, for anyone who
studies them closely will see that their disparity does not mean frag–
mentation and haphazardness in his thinking. There
is
a coherent pat–
tern which knits his ideas together and lends them a meaning which
they do not individually reveal. The student of Nietzsche must un–
cover this scheme and so make possible an understanding of utter–
ances which on the surface seem wholly heterogeneous.
But there is a second difficulty. Nietzsche's sickness (progressive
paralysis resulting from syphilis) was of the type that breaks down
restraint. In certain states, Nietzsche fell prey to all sorts of moods,
to fantastic speculations, wild exaggerations, blindnesses and illusions.
In our study of Nietzsche we must never forget what it was that
assailed him and drove him out of himself. We must defend Nietzsche
against the part of him that was not really Nietzsche.
