The best thing I've ever read...
September 5th 2010 14:15
The best thing I've ever read... on Nietzsche (yes, excuse the misleading title but hey, you gotta market, right?), is in the chapter 'Paris. Nietzsche the Great Martyr' from Nikos Kazantsakis's autobiographical book Report to Greco. What can I say, but, wow. This guy gets it. He doesn't waffle around on the superficial words and logic of Nietzsche as many academics and commentators do, but rather takes the philosophy as is and deals with its implications in the world, judging it accordingly (which, I might add, is what all philosophical process should entail). And the implications are damning, at least for Kazantzakis and his hero, Friedrich. Nietzsche stood toe to toe with the "abyss", resulting ultimately in his madness, and Kazantzakis prepares himself for the same fate, spending three years in one of the most beautiful and cultured cities in the world, Paris, but hardly leaving his room, choosing to explore the eternal questions of meaning rather than exploring the more transient, but far more candescent, streets of Paris.
I'm not going to go into the conclusions and deductions that Kazantzakis reaches, because I'm not sure that that is the point of the writing. And besides, reading the chapter is a process in itself, and for me to attempt a quick summary of it here would be to strip it of its flesh and leave only its bones.
I'm not going to go into the conclusions and deductions that Kazantzakis reaches, because I'm not sure that that is the point of the writing. And besides, reading the chapter is a process in itself, and for me to attempt a quick summary of it here would be to strip it of its flesh and leave only its bones.
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