Editing Friedrich Nietzsche (section)

== Life ==

=== Youth (1844–1868) ===
{{anchor|youth}}
Born on 15 October 1844, Nietzsche<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Life Of Friedrich Nietzsche – YTread |url=https://youtuberead.com/the-life-of-friedrich-nietzsche |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230924033446/https://youtuberead.com/the-life-of-friedrich-nietzsche |archive-date=24 September 2023 |access-date=27 March 2023 |website=youtuberead.com |language=en}}</ref> grew up in the town of [[Röcken]] (now part of [[Lützen]]), near [[Leipzig]], in the Prussian [[Province of Saxony]]. He was named after King [[Frederick William IV of Prussia|Friedrich Wilhelm IV of Prussia]], who turned 49 on the day of Nietzsche's birth (Nietzsche later dropped his middle name, Wilhelm). Nietzsche's great-grandfather, {{ill|Gotthelf Engelbert Nietzsche|ja|ゴットヘルフ・エンゲルベルト・ニーチェ}} (1714–1804), was an inspector and a philosopher. Nietzsche's grandfather, {{ill|Friedrich August Ludwig Nietzsche|de}} (1756–1826), was a theologian.{{Sfn |Kaufmann |1974 |p=22}} Nietzsche's parents, [[Carl Ludwig Nietzsche]] (1813–1849), a [[Lutheranism|Lutheran]] pastor<ref name=EB1911/> and former teacher; and {{ill|Franziska Nietzsche|de}} (''née'' Oehler) (1826–1897), married in 1843, the year before their son's birth. They had two other children: a daughter, [[Elisabeth Förster-Nietzsche]], born in 1846; and a second son, Ludwig Joseph, born in 1848. Nietzsche's father died from a brain disease in 1849, after a year of excruciating agony, when the boy was only four years old; Ludwig Joseph died six months later at age two.<ref name="Wicks">{{Cite encyclopedia |year=2014 |title=Friedrich Nietzsche |encyclopedia=Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy Archive |url=http://plato.stanford.edu/archives/win2014/entries/nietzsche/ |last=Wicks |first=Robert |editor-last=Zalta |editor-first=Edward N. |edition=Winter 2014}}</ref> The family then moved to [[Naumburg]], where they lived with Nietzsche's maternal grandmother and his father's two unmarried sisters. After the death of Nietzsche's grandmother in 1856, the family moved into their own house, now [[Nietzsche-Haus, Naumburg|Nietzsche-Haus]], a museum, and Nietzsche study centre.
[[File:Nietzsche1861.jpg|thumb|upright|left|Young Nietzsche, 1861]]

Nietzsche attended a boys' school and then a private school, where he became friends with Gustav Krug and Wilhelm Pinder, both of whom came from highly respected families. Academic records from one of the schools attended by Nietzsche noted that he excelled in [[Christian theology]].<ref name="Human, All Too Human, BBC Documentary, 1999">{{Cite web |year=1999 |title=Friedrich Nietzsche |url=https://www.college.columbia.edu/core/content/human-all-too-human-bbc-documentary-1999 |access-date=16 October 2019 |website=Human, All Too Human |publisher=[[BBC]] Documentary |via=[[Columbia College (New York)|Columbia College]]}}</ref>

In 1854, he began to attend the Domgymnasium in Naumburg. Because his father had worked for the state (as a pastor), the now-fatherless Nietzsche was offered a scholarship to study at the internationally recognised [[Pforta|Schulpforta]]. The claim that Nietzsche was admitted on the strength of his academic competence has been debunked: his grades were not near the top of the class.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Brobjer |first=Thomas H. |date=2001 |title=Why Did Nietzsche Receive a Scholarship to Study at Schulpforta? |url=https://philpapers.org/rec/BROWDN |journal=[[Nietzsche Studien]] |volume=30 |issue=1 |pages=322–328 |doi=10.1515/9783110172409.322 |s2cid=151393894}}</ref> He studied there from 1858 to 1864, becoming friends with [[Paul Deussen]] and Carl von Gersdorff (1844–1904), who later became a jurist. He also found time to work on poems and musical compositions. Nietzsche led "Germania", a music and literature club, during his summers in Naumburg.<ref name="Wicks" /> At Schulpforta, Nietzsche received an important grounding in languages—[[Greek language|Greek]], [[Latin]], [[Hebrew language|Hebrew]], and French—to be able to read important [[primary source]]s;<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Krell |first1=David Farrell |title=The Good European: Nietzsche's work sites in word and image |last2=Bates |first2=Donald L. |date=1997 |publisher=[[University of Chicago Press]]}}</ref> he also experienced for the first time being away from his family life in a small-town conservative environment. His end-of-semester exams in March 1864 [[Academic grading in Germany|showed a 1]] in Religion and German; a 2a in Greek and Latin; a 2b in French, History, and Physics; and a "lackluster" 3{{nbsp}}in Hebrew and Mathematics.{{sfn|Cate|2005|p=37}}

Nietzsche was an amateur composer.<ref name="Grove">{{Cite encyclopedia |year=2001 |title=Nietzsche, Friedrich |encyclopedia=[[Grove Music Online]] |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |location=Oxford |url=https://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/grovemusic/view/10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.001.0001/omo-9781561592630-e-0000019943 |last=Hollingdale |first=R. J. |author-link=R. J. Hollingdale |doi=10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.article.19943 |isbn=978-1-56159-263-0 |url-access=subscription}} {{Grove Music subscription}}</ref> He composed several works for voice, piano, and violin beginning in 1858 at the Schulpforta in Naumburg when he started to work on musical compositions. [[Richard Wagner]] was dismissive of Nietzsche's music, allegedly mocking a birthday gift of a piano composition sent by Nietzsche in 1871 to Wagner's wife [[Cosima Wagner|Cosima]]. German conductor and pianist [[Hans von Bülow]] also described another of Nietzsche's pieces as "the most undelightful and the most anti-musical draft on musical paper that I have faced in a long time".<ref>{{Cite web |title=Who knew? Friedrich Nietzsche was also a pretty decent classical composer |url=https://www.classicfm.com/discover-music/friedrich-nietzsche-composer/ |website=[[WCNY-FM|Classic FM]]}}</ref>

While at Schulpforta, Nietzsche pursued subjects that were considered unbecoming. He became acquainted with the work of the then-almost-unknown poet [[Friedrich Hölderlin]], calling him "my favourite poet" and writing an essay in which he said that the poet raised consciousness to "the most sublime ideality".{{sfn|Hayman|1980|p=42}} The teacher who corrected the essay gave it a good mark but commented that Nietzsche should concern himself in the future with healthier, more lucid, and more "German" writers. Additionally, he became acquainted with [[Ernst Ortlepp]], an eccentric, [[blasphemous]], and often [[drunken]] poet who was found dead in a ditch weeks after meeting the young Nietzsche but who may have introduced Nietzsche to the music and writing of [[Richard Wagner]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kohler |first=Joachim |title=Nietzsche & Wagner: A Lesson in Subjugation |date=1998 |publisher=[[Yale University Press]] |page=17}}</ref> Perhaps under Ortlepp's influence, he and a student named Richter returned to school drunk and encountered a teacher, resulting in Nietzsche's demotion from first in his class and the end of his status as a [[School prefect|prefect]].{{sfn|Hollingdale|1999|p=21}}
[[File:Nietzsche-21.jpg|thumb|upright|Young Nietzsche|left]]

After graduation in September 1864,<ref>His "valedictorian paper" ({{lang|de|Valediktionsarbeit}}, graduation thesis for Pforta students) was titled "On [[Theognis of Megara]]" ("''De Theognide Megarensi''"); see {{harvnb|Jensen|Heit|2014|p=4}}</ref> Nietzsche began studying theology and classical philology at the [[University of Bonn]] in the hope of becoming a [[Minister (Christianity)|minister]]. For a short time, he and Deussen became members of the [[Burschenschaft]] ''[[Franconia|Frankonia]]''. After one semester (and to the anger of his mother), he stopped his theological studies and lost his faith.<ref name="Schaberg">{{Cite book |last=Schaberg |first=William |title=The Nietzsche Canon |publisher=University of Chicago Press |year=1996 |page=32}}</ref> As early as his 1862 essay "Fate and History", Nietzsche argued that historical research had discredited the central teachings of Christianity,<ref>{{Cite book |last=Salaquarda |first=Jörg |title=The Cambridge Companion to Nietzsche |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] |year=1996 |page=99 |chapter=Nietzsche and the Judaeo-Christian tradition}}</ref> but [[David Strauss]]'s ''[[David Strauss#Das Leben Jesu|Life of Jesus]]'' also seems to have had a profound effect on the young man.<ref name="Schaberg" /> In addition, [[Ludwig Feuerbach]]'s ''[[The Essence of Christianity]]'' influenced young Nietzsche with its argument that people created God and not the other way around.{{sfn|Solomon|Higgins|2000|p=86}} In June 1865, at the age of 20, Nietzsche wrote to his sister Elisabeth, who was deeply religious, a letter regarding his loss of faith. This letter contains the following statement:
<blockquote>Hence the ways of men part: if you wish to strive for peace of soul and pleasure, then believe; if you wish to be a devotee of truth, then inquire....<ref>{{Cite book |url=http://babbledom.com/2011/02/17/intermission/ |title=Nietzsche, Letter to His Sister (1865) |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121124011911/http://babbledom.com/2011/02/17/intermission/ |archive-date=24 November 2012 |url-status=dead |df=dmy-all}}</ref></blockquote>
[[File:Arthur Schopenhauer by J Schäfer, 1859b.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Arthur Schopenhauer]] strongly influenced Nietzsche's philosophical thought.]]
Nietzsche subsequently concentrated on studying philology under Professor [[Friedrich Wilhelm Ritschl]], whom he followed to the [[University of Leipzig]] in 1865.{{sfn|Magnus|1999}} There, he became close friends with his fellow student [[Erwin Rohde]]. Nietzsche's first philological publications appeared soon after.

In 1865, Nietzsche thoroughly studied the works of [[Arthur Schopenhauer]]. He owed the awakening of his philosophical interest to reading Schopenhauer's ''[[The World as Will and Representation]],'' later admitting that Schopenhauer was one of the few thinkers whom he respected, dedicating the essay "[[s: Schopenhauer as Educator|Schopenhauer as Educator]]" in the ''[[Untimely Meditations]]'' to him.

In 1866, he read [[Friedrich Albert Lange]]'s ''[[History of Materialism and Critique of its Present Importance|History of Materialism]]''. Lange's descriptions of [[Kant]]'s anti-materialistic philosophy, the rise of European [[Materialism]], Europe's increased concern with science, [[Charles Darwin]]'s theory of [[evolution]], and the general rebellion against tradition and authority intrigued Nietzsche greatly. Nietzsche would ultimately argue the impossibility of an evolutionary explanation of the human aesthetic sense.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Pence |first=Charles H. |year=2011 |title=Nietzsche's aesthetic critique of Darwin |url=https://www.academia.edu/759427 |journal=[[History and Philosophy of the Life Sciences]] |volume=33 |issue=2 |pages=165–190 |pmid=22288334}}{{Dead link|date=June 2022 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes}}{{dead link|date=November 2022}}</ref>

In 1867, Nietzsche signed up for one year of [[Enlistment|voluntary service]] with the [[Prussian Army|Prussian artillery division]] in Naumburg. He was regarded as one of the finest [[Horses in warfare|riders]] among his fellow recruits, and his officers predicted that he would soon reach the rank of [[Captain (Army)|captain]]. However, in March 1868, while [[Equestrianism|jumping into the saddle]] of his horse, Nietzsche struck his chest against the [[Pommel (saddle)|pommel]] and [[Muscle tear|tore two muscles]] in his left side, leaving him exhausted and unable to walk for months.{{sfn|Hayman|1980|p=93}}<ref>Nietzsche, Friedrich. [June 1868] 1921. "[[s: Selected Letters of Friedrich Nietzsche#To Freiherr boy Karl Von Gersdorff – June, 1868|Letter to Karl Von Gersdorff]]." ''Selected Letters of Friedrich Nietzsche'', translated by [[Anthony Ludovici|A. M. Ludovici]].</ref> Consequently, he turned his attention to his studies again, completing them in 1868. Nietzsche also met [[Richard Wagner]] for the first time later that year.<ref>Nietzsche, Friedrich. [November 1868] 1921. "[http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Selected_Letters_of_Friedrich_Nietzsche#To_Rohde_-_October.2C_1868 Letter to Rohde]." ''Selected Letters of Friedrich Nietzsche'', translated by [[Anthony Ludovici|A. M. Ludovici]].</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last1=Nietzsche |first1=Friedrich |author-link=Friedrich Nietzsche |url=https://archive.org/details/nietzschewagnerc00nietiala/page/n7/mode/2up |title=The Nietzsche-Wagner Correspondence |last2=Wagner |first2=Richard |author-link2=Richard Wagner |publisher=[[Boni & Liveright]] |others=[[H.L. Mencken|Introduction by Mencken, H.L.]] |editor-last=Foerster-Nietzsche |editor-first=Elizabeth |editor-link=Elisabeth Förster-Nietzsche |publication-place=[[New York City|New York]] |publication-date=1921 |translator-last=Kerr |translator-first=Caroline V. |asin=B000HFOAGI |translator-link=Caroline V. Kerr}}</ref>

=== Professor at Basel (1869–1879) ===
{{anchor|Professor at Basel|Basel}}
[[File:Rohde Gersdorff Nietzsche.JPG|thumb|upright|Left to right: [[Erwin Rohde]], Karl von Gersdorff and Nietzsche, October 1871]]
In 1869, with Ritschl's support, Nietzsche received an offer to become a professor of [[classical philology]] at the [[University of Basel]] in Switzerland. He was only 24 years old and had neither completed his doctorate nor received a teaching certificate ("''[[habilitation]]''"). He was awarded an [[honorary doctorate]] by [[Leipzig University]] in March 1869, again with Ritschl's support.{{sfn|Jensen|Heit|2014|p=129}}

Despite his offer coming at a time when he was considering giving up philology for science, he accepted.{{Sfn |Kaufmann |1974 |p=25}} To this day, Nietzsche is still among the youngest of the tenured Classics professors on record.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Bishop |first=Paul |title=Nietzsche and Antiquity |publisher=Boydell & Brewer |year=2004 |isbn=978-1571136480 |page=117}}</ref>

Nietzsche's 1870 projected [[doctoral thesis]], "Contribution toward the Study and the Critique of the Sources of Diogenes Laertius" ("''Beiträge zur Quellenkunde und Kritik des Laertius Diogenes''"), examined the origins of the ideas of [[Diogenes Laërtius]].{{sfn|Jensen|Heit|2014|p=115}} Though never submitted, it was later published as a {{Langx|de|text=Gratulationsschrift|label=none}} ('congratulatory publication') in [[Basel]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=McCarthy |first=George E. |title=Dialectics and Decadence |url=http://personal.kenyon.edu/mccarthy/Book1.htm}}</ref>{{efn-lr|Between 1868 and 1870, he published two other studies on Diogenes Laertius: ''On the Sources of Diogenes Laertius'' (''De Fontibus Diogenis Laertii'') Part I (1868) & Part II (1869); and ''Analecta Laertiana'' (1870). See {{harvnb|Jensen|Heit|2014|p=115}}}}

Before moving to Basel, Nietzsche renounced his Prussian citizenship: for the rest of his life he remained officially [[Stateless person|stateless]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Hecker |first=Hellmuth |year=1987 |title=Nietzsches Staatsangehörigkeit als Rechtsfrage. |trans-title=Nietzsche's nationality as a legal question |journal=[[Neue Juristische Wochenschrift]] |language=de |volume=40 |pages=1388–1391 |number=23}}</ref><ref>His, Eduard. 1941. "Friedrich Nietzsches Heimatlosigkeit." ''Basler Zeitschrift für Geschichte und Altertumskunde'' 40:159–186.

Note that some authors (incl. Deussen and [[Mazzino Montinari|Montinari]]) mistakenly claim that Nietzsche became a Swiss citizen to become a university professor.</ref>

Nevertheless, Nietzsche served in the Prussian forces during the [[Franco-Prussian War]] (1870–1871) as a medical [[orderly]]. In his short time in the military, he experienced much and witnessed the traumatic effects of battle. He also contracted [[diphtheria]] and [[dysentery]].<ref name=":2">{{Cite book |last=Deussen |first=Paul |author-link=Paul Deussen |title=Erinnerungen a Friedrich Nietzsche |date=1901 |publisher=[[F. A. Brockhaus AG|F.A. Brockhaus]] |location=Leipzig |language=de |trans-title=Memoirs of Friedrich Nietzsche}}</ref> [[Walter Kaufmann (philosopher)|Walter Kaufmann]] speculates that he also contracted [[syphilis]] at a brothel along with his other infections at this time.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Sax |first=Leonard |year=2003 |title=What was the cause of Nietzsche's dementia? |journal=[[Journal of Medical Biography]] |volume=11 |issue=1 |pages=47–54 |doi=10.1177/096777200301100113 |pmid=12522502 |s2cid=6929185}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Schain |first=Richard |title=The Legend of Nietzsche's Syphilis |publisher=Greenwood Press |year=2001 |location=Westwood}}{{full citation needed|date=November 2012}}</ref> On returning to Basel in 1870, Nietzsche observed the establishment of the [[German Empire]] and [[Otto von Bismarck]]'s subsequent policies as an outsider and with a degree of scepticism regarding their genuineness. His inaugural lecture at the university was "[[s: Homer and Classical Philology|Homer and Classical Philology]]". Nietzsche also met [[Franz Overbeck]], a professor of theology who remained his friend throughout his life. [[Afrikan Spir]], a little-known Russian philosopher responsible for the 1873 ''Thought and Reality'' and Nietzsche's colleague, the historian [[Jacob Burckhardt]], whose lectures Nietzsche frequently attended, began to exercise significant influence on him.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Green |first=M. S. |title=Nietzsche and the Transcendental Tradition |date=2002 |publisher=[[University of Illinois Press]]}}{{full citation needed|date=November 2012}}</ref>

Nietzsche had already met Richard Wagner in Leipzig in 1868 and later Wagner's wife, Cosima. Nietzsche admired both greatly and during his time at Basel frequently visited Wagner's house in [[Tribschen]] in [[Canton of Lucerne|Lucerne]]. The Wagners brought Nietzsche into their most intimate circle—which included [[Franz Liszt]], of whom Nietzsche colloquially described: "Liszt or the art of running after women!"<ref>[[Rupert Hughes|Hughes, Rupert]]. [1903] 2004. "[http://www.gutenberg.org/files/11419/11419-h/11419-h.htm#img2 Franz Liszt]." Ch. 1 in [http://www.gutenberg.org/files/11419/11419-h/11419-h.htm#img2 ''The Love Affairs of Great Musicians'' 2]. [[Project Gutenberg]]. Also available via [http://www.bookrags.com/ebooks/11419/1.html#gsc.tab=0 Book Rags].</ref> Nietzsche enjoyed the attention he gave to the beginning of the [[Bayreuth Festspielhaus|Bayreuth Festival]]. In 1870, he gave Cosima Wagner the manuscript of "The Genesis of the Tragic Idea" as a birthday gift. In 1872, Nietzsche published his first book, ''[[The Birth of Tragedy]]''. However, his colleagues within his field, including Ritschl, expressed little enthusiasm for the work in which Nietzsche eschewed the classical philologic method in favour of a more speculative approach. In his [[polemic]] ''Philology of the Future'', [[Ulrich von Wilamowitz-Moellendorff]] damped the book's reception and increased its notoriety. In response, Rohde (then a professor in [[Kiel]]) and Wagner came to Nietzsche's defence. Nietzsche remarked freely about the isolation he felt within the philological community and attempted unsuccessfully to transfer to a position in philosophy at Basel.
[[File:Friedrich Nietzsche-1872.jpg|thumb|upright|left|Nietzsche, c. 1872]]

In 1873, Nietzsche began to accumulate notes that would be posthumously published as ''[[Philosophy in the Tragic Age of the Greeks]]''. Between 1873 and 1876, he published four separate long essays: "[[David Strauss]]: the Confessor and the Writer", "[[On the Advantage and Disadvantage of History for Life|On the Use and Abuse of History for Life]]", "Schopenhauer as Educator", and "Richard Wagner in Bayreuth". These four later appeared in a collected edition under the title ''[[Untimely Meditations]]''. The essays shared the orientation of a cultural critique, challenging the developing German culture suggested by Schopenhauer and Wagner. During this time in the circle of the Wagners, he met [[Malwida von Meysenbug]] and [[Hans von Bülow]]. He also began a friendship with [[Paul Rée]] who, in 1876, influenced him into dismissing the [[Philosophical pessimism|pessimism]] in his early writings. However, he was deeply disappointed by the [[Bayreuth Festival]] of 1876, where the banality of the shows and baseness of the public repelled him. He was also alienated by Wagner's championing of "German culture", which Nietzsche felt a contradiction in terms, as well as by Wagner's celebration of his fame among the German public. All this contributed to his subsequent decision to distance himself from Wagner.

With the publication in 1878 of ''[[Human, All Too Human]]'' (a book of [[aphorism]]s ranging from metaphysics to morality to religion), a new style of Nietzsche's work became clear, highly influenced by [[Afrikan Spir]]'s ''Thought and Reality''<ref>{{Cite book |last=Safranski |first=Rüdiger |author-link=Rüdiger Safranski |title=[[Nietzsche: A Philosophical Biography]] |date=2003 |publisher=[[W. W. Norton & Company]] |page=161 |translator-last=Frisch |translator-first=Shelley |quote=This work had long been consigned to oblivion, but it had a lasting impact on Nietzsche. Section 18 of ''Human, All Too Human'' cited Spir, not by name, but by presenting a 'proposition by an outstanding logician' (2,38; HH I §&nbsp;18). |translator-link=Shelley Frisch}}</ref> and reacting against the pessimistic philosophy of Wagner and Schopenhauer. Nietzsche's friendship with Deussen and Rohde cooled as well. In 1879, after a significant decline in health, Nietzsche had to resign his position at Basel and was pensioned.<ref name=EB1911/> Since his childhood, various disruptive illnesses had plagued him, including moments of shortsightedness that left him nearly blind, [[migraine]] headaches, and violent indigestion. The 1868 riding accident and diseases in 1870 may have aggravated these persistent conditions, which continued to affect him through his years at Basel, forcing him to take longer and longer holidays until regular work became impractical.

=== Independent philosopher (1879–1888) ===
{{anchor|independent philosopher|philosopher}}
[[File:Nietzsche paul-ree lou-von-salome188.jpg|thumb|[[Lou Andreas-Salomé|Lou Salomé]], [[Paul Rée]] and Nietzsche posing for a studio photo during their trip through Italy in 1882, planning to establish an educational commune together, but the friendship disintegrated in late 1882 due to complications from Rée's and Nietzsche's mutual romantic interest in Salomé.]]

Living on his pension from Basel along with aid from friends, Nietzsche travelled frequently to find climates more conducive to his health. He lived until 1889 as an independent author in different cities. He spent many summers in [[Sils Maria]] near [[St. Moritz]] in Switzerland, and many of his winters in the Italian cities of [[Genoa]], [[Rapallo]], and [[Turin]], and the French city of [[Nice]]. In 1881, when [[French conquest of Tunisia|France occupied Tunisia]], he planned to travel to [[Tunis]] to view Europe from the outside but later abandoned that idea, probably for health reasons.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Güntzel |first=Stephan |date=2003 |title=Nietzsche's Geophilosophy |url=https://muse.jhu.edu/article/45353/pdf |format=PDF |journal=[[The Journal of Nietzsche Studies|Journal of Nietzsche Studies]] |volume=25 |pages=78–91 (85) |doi=10.1353/nie.2003.0010 |s2cid=201784626 |via=[[Project MUSE]]}}</ref> Nietzsche occasionally returned to Naumburg to visit his family, and, especially during this time, he and his sister, Elisabeth, had repeated periods of conflict and reconciliation.

While in [[Genoa]], Nietzsche's failing eyesight prompted him to explore the use of [[typewriter]]s as a means of continuing to write. He is known to have tried using the [[Hansen Writing Ball#Sale and popular use|Hansen Writing Ball]], a contemporary typewriter device. In the end, a past pupil of his, [[Heinrich Köselitz|Peter Gast]], became a private secretary to Nietzsche. In 1876, Gast transcribed the crabbed, nearly illegible handwriting of Nietzsche's first time with Richard Wagner in Bayreuth.{{Sfn |Cate |2005 |p=221}} He subsequently transcribed and proofread the galleys for almost all of Nietzsche's work. On at least one occasion, on 23 February 1880, the usually poor Gast received 200 marks from their mutual friend, Paul Rée.{{Sfn |Cate |2005 |p=297}} Gast was one of the very few friends Nietzsche allowed to criticise him. In responding most enthusiastically to ''[[Thus Spoke Zarathustra|Also Sprach Zarathustra]]'' ("Thus Spoke Zarathustra"), Gast did feel it necessary to point out that what were described as "superfluous" people were in fact quite necessary. He went on to list the number of people [[Epicurus]], for example, had to rely on to supply his simple diet of goat cheese.{{Sfn |Cate |2005 |p=415}}

To the end of his life, Gast and Overbeck remained consistently faithful friends. [[Malwida von Meysenbug]] remained like a motherly patron even outside the Wagner circle. Soon Nietzsche made contact with the music-critic Carl Fuchs. Nietzsche stood at the beginning of his most productive period. Beginning with ''[[Human, All Too Human]]'' in 1878, Nietzsche published one book or major section of a book each year until 1888, his last year of writing; that year, he completed five.

In 1882, Nietzsche published the first part of ''[[The Gay Science]]''. That year he also met [[Lou Andreas-Salomé]],<ref>{{Cite web |title=Lou von Salomé |url=http://www.f-nietzsche.de/lou_e.htm |website=f-nietzsche.de}}</ref> through Malwida von Meysenbug and [[Paul Rée]].

Salomé's mother took her to Rome when Salomé was 21. At a literary salon in the city, Salomé became acquainted with [[Paul Rée]]. Rée proposed marriage to her, but she, instead, proposed that they should live and study together as "brother and sister", along with another man for company, where they would establish an academic commune.{{sfn|Hollingdale|1999|p=149}} Rée accepted the idea and suggested that they be joined by his friend Nietzsche. The two met Nietzsche in Rome in April 1882, and Nietzsche is believed to have instantly fallen in love with Salomé, as Rée had done. Nietzsche asked Rée to propose marriage to Salomé, which she rejected. She had been interested in Nietzsche as a friend, but not as a husband.{{sfn|Hollingdale|1999|p=149}} Nietzsche nonetheless was content to join with Rée and Salomé touring through Switzerland and Italy together, planning their commune. The three travelled with Salomé's mother through Italy and considered where they would set up their "Winterplan" commune. They intended to set up their commune in an abandoned monastery, but no suitable location was found. On 13 May, in Lucerne, when Nietzsche was alone with Salomé, he earnestly proposed marriage to her again, which she rejected. He nonetheless was happy to continue with the plans for an academic commune.{{sfn|Hollingdale|1999|p=149}} After discovering the relationship, Nietzsche's sister Elisabeth became determined to get Nietzsche away from the "immoral woman".{{sfn|Hollingdale|1999|p=151}} Nietzsche and Salomé spent the summer together in [[Tautenburg]] in Thuringia, often with Nietzsche's sister Elisabeth as a chaperone. Salomé reports that he asked her to marry him on three separate occasions and that she refused, though the reliability of her reports of events is questionable.{{Sfn |Kaufmann |1974 |p=49}} Arriving in [[Leipzig]] (Germany) in October, Salomé and Rée separated from Nietzsche after a falling-out between Nietzsche and Salomé, in which Salomé believed that Nietzsche was desperately in love with her.

While the three spent a number of weeks together in Leipzig in October 1882, the following month Rée and Salomé left Nietzsche, leaving for Stibbe (modern-day [[Zdbowo]] in Poland)<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Killy |first1=Walther |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JkoK_108xJkC&q=Stibbe+Zdbowo+Nietzsche&pg=PT223 |title=Plett – Schmidseder |last2=Vierhaus |first2=Rudolf |publisher=[[Walter de Gruyter]] |year=2011 |isbn=978-3-11-096630-5 |language=en |via=[[Google Books]]}}</ref> without any plans to meet again. Nietzsche soon fell into a period of mental anguish, although he continued to write to Rée, stating "We shall see one another from time to time, won't we?"{{sfn|Hollingdale|1999|p=152}} In later recriminations, Nietzsche would blame on separate occasions the failure in his attempts to woo Salomé on Salomé, Rée, and on the intrigues of his sister (who had written letters to the families of Salomé and Rée to disrupt the plans for the commune). Nietzsche wrote of the affair in 1883, that he now felt "genuine hatred for my sister".{{sfn|Hollingdale|1999|p=152}}

Amidst renewed bouts of illness, living in near-isolation after a falling out with his mother and sister regarding Salomé, Nietzsche fled to Rapallo, where he wrote the first part of ''Also Sprach Zarathustra'' in only ten days.
[[File:Nietzsche1882.jpg|thumb|Photo of Nietzsche by [[Gustav-Adolf Schultze]], 1882]]

By 1882, Nietzsche was taking huge doses of [[opium]] and continued to have trouble sleeping.{{Sfn |Cate |2005 |p=389}} In 1883, while staying in Nice, he was writing out his own prescriptions for the sedative [[chloral hydrate]], signing them "Dr. Nietzsche".{{Sfn |Cate |2005 |p=453}}

He turned away from the influence of [[Arthur Schopenhauer]], and after he severed his social ties with Wagner, Nietzsche had few remaining friends. Now, with the new style of ''Zarathustra'', his work became even more alienating, and the market received it only to the degree required by politeness. Nietzsche recognised this and maintained his solitude, though he often complained. His books remained largely unsold. In 1885, he printed only 40 copies of the fourth part of ''Zarathustra'' and distributed a fraction of them among close friends, including [[Helene von Druskowitz]].

In 1883, he tried and failed to obtain a lecturing post at the [[University of Leipzig]]. According to a letter he wrote to Peter Gast, this was due to his "attitude towards Christianity and the concept of God".<ref>Nietzsche, Friedrich. [26 August 1883] 1921. "[[s: Selected Letters of Friedrich Nietzsche#Nietzsche To Peter Gast – August 1883 2|Letter to Peter Gast]]." ''Selected Letters of Friedrich Nietzsche'', translated by [[Anthony Ludovici|A. M. Ludovici]].</ref>

In 1886, Nietzsche broke with his publisher Ernst Schmeitzner, disgusted by his antisemitic opinions. Nietzsche saw his own writings as "completely buried and in this anti-Semitic dump" of Schmeitzner—associating the publisher with a movement that should be "utterly rejected with cold contempt by every sensible mind".<ref>{{Cite web |date=1 February 2000 |title=Ernst Schmeitzner (1851–1895). 115 letters 1874–1886 {{!}} Correspondences |url=http://www.thenietzschechannel.com/correspondence/corresp.htm#schmei |access-date=27 November 2013 |website=The Nietzsche Channel}}</ref> He then printed ''[[Beyond Good and Evil]]'' at his own expense. He also acquired the publication rights for his earlier works and over the next year issued second editions of ''The Birth of Tragedy'', ''[[Human, All Too Human]]'', ''[[The Dawn of Day|Daybreak]]'', and of ''[[The Gay Science]]'' with new prefaces placing the body of his work in a more coherent perspective. Thereafter, he saw his work as completed for a time and hoped that soon a readership would develop. In fact, interest in Nietzsche's thought did increase at this time, if rather slowly and imperceptibly to him. During these years Nietzsche met [[Meta von Salis]], [[Carl Spitteler]], and [[Gottfried Keller]].

In 1886, his sister, Elisabeth, married the antisemite [[Bernhard Förster]] and travelled to Paraguay to found [[Nueva Germania]], a "Germanic" colony.<ref>"[https://www.britannica.com/biography/Elisabeth-Forster-Nietzsche Elisabeth Förster-Nietzsche]." ''[[Britannica.com]]''. [1998] 2019. Retrieved 25 May 2020.</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=van Eerten |first=Jurriaan |date=27 February 2016 |title=The lost 'Aryan utopia' of Nueva Germania |url=https://ticotimes.net/2016/02/27/the-lost-aryan-utopia-of-nueva-germania |access-date=29 September 2019 |website=The Tico Times |location=Costa Rica}}</ref> Through correspondence, Nietzsche's relationship with Elisabeth continued through cycles of conflict and reconciliation, but they met again only after his collapse. He continued to have frequent and painful attacks of illness, which made prolonged work impossible.

In 1887, Nietzsche wrote the polemic ''[[On the Genealogy of Morality]]''. During the same year, he encountered the work of [[Fyodor Dostoyevsky]], to whom he felt an immediate kinship.<ref>Nietzsche, Friedrich. [March 1887] 1921. "[[s: Selected Letters of Friedrich Nietzsche#Nietzsche To Peter Gast – March, 1887|Letter to Peter Gast]]." ''Selected Letters of Friedrich Nietzsche'', translated by [[Anthony Ludovici|A. M. Ludovici]].</ref> He also exchanged letters with [[Hippolyte Taine]] and [[Georg Brandes]]. Brandes, who had started to teach the philosophy of [[Søren Kierkegaard]] in the 1870s, wrote to Nietzsche asking him to [[Søren Kierkegaard and Friedrich Nietzsche|read Kierkegaard]], to which Nietzsche replied that he would come to [[Copenhagen]] and read Kierkegaard with him. However, before fulfilling this promise, Nietzsche slipped too far into illness. At the beginning of 1888, Brandes delivered in Copenhagen one of the first lectures on Nietzsche's philosophy.

Although Nietzsche had previously announced at the end of ''[[On the Genealogy of Morality]]'' a new work with the title ''[[The Will to Power (manuscript)|The Will to Power]]: Attempt at a [[transvaluation of values|Revaluation of All Values]]'', he seems to have abandoned this idea and, instead, used some of the draft passages to compose ''[[Twilight of the Idols]]'' and ''[[The Antichrist (book)|The Antichrist]]'' in 1888.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Montinari |first=Mazzino |title=Friedrich Nietzsche. Eine Einführung |publisher=[[Walter de Gruyter|De Gruyter]] |year=1974 |language=de}} translated as {{cite book |title=Friedrich Nietzsche |language=fr |year=1991 |location=Paris |publisher=[[Presses Universitaires de France|PUF]]}}</ref>

His health improved and he spent the summer in high spirits. In the autumn of 1888, his writings and letters began to reveal a higher estimation of his own status and "fate". He overestimated the increasing response to his writings, however, especially to the recent polemic, ''[[The Case of Wagner]]''. On his 44th birthday, after completing ''Twilight of the Idols'' and ''The Antichrist'', he decided to write the autobiography ''[[Ecce Homo (book)|Ecce Homo]]''. In its preface—which suggests Nietzsche was well aware of the interpretive difficulties his work would generate—he declares, "Hear me! For I am such and such a person. Above all, do not mistake me for someone else."{{Sfn |Nietzsche |1888d |loc=Preface, section 1}} In December, Nietzsche began a correspondence with [[August Strindberg]] and thought that, short of an international breakthrough, he would attempt to buy back his older writings from the publisher and have them translated into other European languages. Moreover, he planned the publication of the compilation ''[[Nietzsche contra Wagner]]'' and of the poems that made up his collection ''[[Dionysian-Dithyrambs]]''.

=== Mental illness and death (1889–1900) ===
{{anchor|mental breakdown and death|breakdown|death}}[[File:Friedrich Nietzsche drawn by Hans Olde.jpg|thumb|Drawing by [[Hans Olde]] from the photographic series ''The Ill Nietzsche'', late 1899|251x251px]]On 3 January 1889, Nietzsche suffered a [[mental breakdown]].<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Xeb80itrlRIC |title=The Cambridge Companion to Nietzsche |date=1996 |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] |isbn=978-0-521-36767-7 |editor-last=Magnus |editor-first=Bernd |pages=79–81 |language=en |editor-last2=Higgins |editor-first2=Kathleen Marie}}</ref> Two policemen approached him after he caused a public disturbance in the streets of [[Turin]]. What happened remains unknown, but an often-repeated tale from shortly after his death states that Nietzsche witnessed the flogging of a horse at the other end of the Piazza Carlo Alberto, ran to the horse, threw his arms around its neck to protect it, then collapsed to the ground.{{Sfn |Kaufmann |1974 |p=67}}<ref>{{Cite book |last=Verrecchia |first=Anacleto |title=Nietzsche in Italy |date=1988 |publisher=ANMA Libri, [[Stanford University]] |editor-last=Harrison |editor-first=T. |location=Stanford |pages=105–112 |chapter=Nietzsche's Breakdown in Turin}}</ref> In the following few days, Nietzsche sent short writings—known as the ''Wahnzettel'' or ''Wahnbriefe'' (literally "Delusion notes" or "letters")—to a number of friends including [[Cosima Wagner]] and [[Jacob Burckhardt]]. Most of them were signed "[[Dionysus]]", though some were also signed "der Gekreuzigte" meaning "the crucified one". To his former colleague Burckhardt, Nietzsche wrote:<ref>{{Cite web |last=Simon |first=Gerald |date=January 1889 |title=Nietzsches Briefe. Ausgewählte Korrespondenz. Wahnbriefe. |trans-title=Nietzsche's letters. Selected Correspondence. delusional letters. |url=http://www.thenietzschechannel.com/correspondence/ger/nilettersg.htm |access-date=24 August 2013 |publisher=The Nietzsche Channel |language=de |quote=Ich habe Kaiphas in Ketten legen lassen; auch bin ich voriges Jahr von den deutschen Ärzten auf eine sehr langwierige Weise gekreuzigt worden. Wilhelm, Bismarck und alle Antisemiten abgeschafft. |trans-quote=I put Caiaphas in chains; I was also crucified last year by the German doctors in a very lengthy manner. Wilhelm, Bismarck and all anti-Semites abolished.}}</ref><blockquote>I have had [[Caiaphas]] put in [[fetters]]. Also, last year I was crucified by the German doctors in a very drawn-out manner. [[Wilhelm II, German Emperor|Wilhelm]], [[Otto von Bismarck|Bismarck]], and all anti-Semites abolished.</blockquote>Additionally, he commanded the German emperor to go to Rome to be shot and summoned the European powers to take military action against Germany,<ref>{{Cite book |last=Zweig |first=Stefan |author-link=Stefan Zweig |title=The Struggle with the Daimon: Hölderlin, Kleist and Nietzsche |date=1939 |publisher=[[Viking Press]] |series=Master Builders of the Spirit |volume=2 |page=524}}</ref> writing also that the pope should be put in jail and that he, Nietzsche, created the world and was in the process of having all antisemites shot dead.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Nietzsches Briefe, Ausgewählte Korrespondenz, Wahnzettel 1889 |trans-title=Nietzsche's Letters, Selected Correspondence, Wahnzettel 1889 |url=http://www.thenietzschechannel.com/correspondence/ger/nlett1889g.htm |website=The Nietzsche Channel |language=de}}</ref>

[[File:Nietzsche Olde 05.JPG|left|thumb|Nietzsche in the care of his sister, 1899]]
On 6 January 1889, Burckhardt showed the letter he had received from Nietzsche to Overbeck. The following day, Overbeck received a similar letter and decided that Nietzsche's friends had to bring him back to Basel. Overbeck travelled to Turin and brought Nietzsche to a psychiatric clinic in Basel. By that time Nietzsche appeared fully in the grip of a serious mental illness,<ref name=":1">{{Cite web |last=Brown |first=Malcolm |year=2011 |title=1889 |url=https://www.dartmouth.edu/~fnchron/1889.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120208181453/http://www.dartmouth.edu/~fnchron/1889.html |archive-date=8 February 2012 |access-date=28 September 2019 |website=Nietzsche Chronicle |publisher=[[Dartmouth College]]}}</ref> and his mother Franziska decided to transfer him to a clinic in [[Jena]] under the direction of [[Otto Binswanger]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Safranski |first=Rüdiger |url=https://archive.org/details/nietzschephiloso00safr_0/page/371 |title=Nietzsche: A Philosophical Biography |publisher=[[W. W. Norton & Company]] |year=2003 |isbn=0-393-05008-4 |location=New York |page=[https://archive.org/details/nietzschephiloso00safr_0/page/371 371]}}</ref> In January 1889, they proceeded with the planned release of ''[[Twilight of the Idols]]'', by that time already printed and bound. From November 1889 to February 1890, the art historian [[Julius Langbehn]] attempted to cure Nietzsche, claiming that the methods of the medical doctors were ineffective in treating Nietzsche's condition.<ref>{{Cite web |editor-last=Sorensen |editor-first=Lee |title=Langbehn, Julius |url=http://arthistorians.info/langbehnj |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190608170651/http://arthistorians.info/langbehnj |archive-date=8 June 2019 |access-date=29 September 2019 |website=Dictionary of Art Historians}}</ref> Langbehn assumed progressively greater control of Nietzsche until his secretiveness discredited him. In March 1890, Franziska removed Nietzsche from the clinic and, in May 1890, brought him to her home in Naumburg.<ref name=":1" /> During this process Overbeck and Gast contemplated what to do with Nietzsche's unpublished works. In February, they ordered a fifty-copy private edition of ''[[Nietzsche contra Wagner]]'', but the publisher C. G. Naumann secretly printed one hundred. Overbeck and Gast decided to withhold publishing ''[[The Antichrist (book)|The Antichrist]]'' and ''[[Ecce Homo (book)|Ecce Homo]]'' because of their more radical content.<ref name=":1" /> Nietzsche's reception and recognition enjoyed their first surge.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Safranski |first=Rüdiger |url=https://archive.org/details/nietzschephiloso00safr_0/page/317 |title=Nietzsche: A Philosophical Biography |publisher=[[W. W. Norton & Company]] |year=2003 |isbn=0-393-05008-4 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/nietzschephiloso00safr_0/page/317 317–350]}}</ref>

In 1893, Nietzsche's sister, Elisabeth, returned from [[Nueva Germania]] in Paraguay following the suicide of her husband. She studied Nietzsche's works and, piece by piece, took control of their publication. Overbeck was dismissed and Gast finally co-operated. After the death of Franziska in 1897, Nietzsche lived in [[Weimar]], where Elisabeth cared for him and allowed visitors, including [[Rudolf Steiner]] (who in 1895 had written ''Friedrich Nietzsche: A Fighter Against His Time'', one of the first books praising Nietzsche),<ref>{{Cite book |last=Steiner |first=Rudolf |title=Friedrich Nietzsche, in Kämpfer seine Zeit |year=1895 |location=Weimar |language=de |trans-title=Friedrich Nietzsche, in Fighters of His Time}}</ref> to meet her uncommunicative brother. Elisabeth employed Steiner as a tutor to help her to understand her brother's philosophy. Steiner abandoned the attempt after only a few months, declaring that it was impossible to teach her anything about philosophy.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Bailey |first=Andrew |title=First Philosophy: Fundamental Problems and Readings in Philosophy |publisher=[[Broadview Press]] |year=2002 |page=704}}</ref>
[[File:Eh-dm-27.JPG|thumb|upright|After the breakdown, [[Heinrich Köselitz|Peter Gast]] "corrected" Nietzsche's writings without his approval.|alt=|left|350x350px]]

Nietzsche's insanity was originally diagnosed as [[tertiary syphilis]], in accordance with a prevailing medical paradigm of the time. Although most commentators{{who|date=May 2021}} regard his breakdown as unrelated to his philosophy, [[Georges Bataille]] wrote poetically of his condition ("'Man incarnate' must also go mad")<ref name="Bataille">{{Cite journal |last1=Bataille |first1=Georges |last2=Michelson |first2=Annette |date=Spring 1986 |title=Nietzsche's Madness |journal=[[October (journal)|October]] |volume=36 |pages=42–45 |doi=10.2307/778548 |jstor=778548}}</ref> and [[René Girard]]'s postmortem psychoanalysis posits a worshipful rivalry with [[Richard Wagner]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Girard |first=René |author-link=René Girard |year=1976 |title=Superman in the Underground: Strategies of Madness – Nietzsche, Wagner, and Dostoevsky. |journal=[[Modern Language Notes]] |volume=91 |pages=1161–1185 |doi=10.2307/2907130 |jstor=2907130 |s2cid=163754306 |number=6}}</ref> Girard suggests that Nietzsche signed his final letters as both Dionysus and the Crucified One because he was demonstrating that by being a god (Dionysus), one is also a victim (Crucified One) since a god still suffers by overcoming the law. Nietzsche had previously written, "All superior men who were irresistibly drawn to throw off the yoke of any kind of morality and to frame new laws had, if they were not actually mad, no alternative but to make themselves or pretend to be mad."  (Daybreak, 14) The diagnosis of syphilis has since been challenged and a diagnosis of "[[bipolar disorder|manic-depressive illness]] with periodic [[psychosis]] followed by [[vascular dementia]]" was put forward by Cybulska prior to Schain's study.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Cybulska |first=E. M. |year=2000 |title=The madness of Nietzsche: a misdiagnosis of the millennium? |journal=Hospital Medicine |volume=61 |issue=8 |pages=571–575 |doi=10.12968/hosp.2000.61.8.1403 |pmid=11045229}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Schain |first=Richard |title=The Legend of Nietzsche's Syphilis |publisher=[[Greenwood Press]] |year=2001 |isbn=978-0-313-31940-2 |location=Westport}}{{Page needed|date=September 2010}}</ref> [[Leonard Sax]] suggested the slow growth of a right-sided retro-orbital [[meningioma]] as an explanation of Nietzsche's dementia;<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Sax |first=Leonard |year=2003 |title=What was the cause of Nietzsche's dementia? |journal=Journal of Medical Biography |volume=11 |issue=1 |pages=47–54 |doi=10.1177/096777200301100113 |pmid=12522502 |s2cid=6929185}}</ref> Orth and Trimble postulated [[frontotemporal dementia]]<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Orth |first1=M. |last2=Trimble |first2=M. R. |year=2006 |title=Friedrich Nietzsche's mental illness – general paralysis of the insane vs. frontotemporal dementia |journal=Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica |volume=114 |issue=6 |pages=439–444; discussion 445 |doi=10.1111/j.1600-0447.2006.00827.x |pmid=17087793 |s2cid=25453044}}</ref> while other researchers have proposed a hereditary stroke disorder called [[CADASIL]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Hemelsoet |first1=D. |last2=Hemelsoet |first2=K. |last3=Devreese |first3=D. |date=March 2008 |title=The neurological illness of Friedrich Nietzsche |journal=Acta Neurologica Belgica |volume=108 |issue=1 |pages=9–16 |pmid=18575181}}</ref> Poisoning by [[mercury (element)|mercury]], a treatment for syphilis at the time of Nietzsche's death,<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Dayan |first1=L. |last2=Ooi |first2=C. |date=October 2005 |title=Syphilis treatment: old and new |journal=Expert Opinion on Pharmacotherapy |volume=6 |issue=13 |pages=2271–2280 |doi=10.1517/14656566.6.13.2271 |pmid=16218887 |s2cid=6868863}}</ref> has also been suggested.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Hammond |first=David |title=Mercury Poisoning: The Undiagnosed Epidemic |date=2013 |page=11}}</ref>

In 1898 and 1899, Nietzsche suffered at least two strokes. They partially paralysed him, leaving him unable to speak or walk. He likely suffered from clinical [[hemiparesis]]/hemiplegia on the left side of his body by 1899. After contracting [[pneumonia]] in mid-August 1900, he suffered another stroke during the night of 24–25 August and died at about noon on 25 August.<ref>Concurring reports in Elisabeth Förster-Nietzsche's biography (1904) and a letter by Mathilde Schenk-Nietzsche to [[Meta von Salis]], 30 August 1900, quoted in Janz (1981) p. 221. Cf. Volz (1990), p. 251.</ref> Elisabeth had him buried beside his father at the church in [[Röcken]] near [[Lützen]]. His friend and secretary Gast gave his funeral oration, proclaiming: "Holy be your name to all future generations!"<ref>{{Cite web |last=Schain |first=Richard |title=Nietzsche's Visionary Values – Genius or Dementia? |url=http://www.philosophos.com/philosophy_article_31.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060513011228/http://www.philosophos.com/philosophy_article_31.html |archive-date=13 May 2006 |publisher=Philosophos}}</ref>

[[File:Röcken (Lützen), the grave of Friedrich Nietzsche.jpg|thumb|Nietzsche's grave at [[Röcken]] in Germany.]]
[[Elisabeth Förster-Nietzsche]] compiled ''[[The Will to Power (manuscript)|The Will to Power]]'' from Nietzsche's unpublished notebooks and published it posthumously in 1901. Because his sister arranged the book based on her own conflation of several of Nietzsche's early outlines and took liberties with the material, the scholarly consensus has been that it does not reflect Nietzsche's intent. (For example, Elisabeth removed aphorism 35 of ''The Antichrist'', where Nietzsche rewrote a passage of the Bible.) Indeed, [[Mazzino Montinari]], the editor of Nietzsche's ''[[Nachlass]]'', called it a forgery.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Montinari |first=Mazzino |author-link=Mazzino Montinari |title=The 'Will to Power' Does Not Exist}}</ref>{{Incomplete short citation|date=September 2024}} Yet, the endeavour to rescue Nietzsche's reputation by discrediting ''The Will to Power'' often leads to scepticism about the value of his late notes, even of his whole ''Nachlass''. However, his ''Nachlass'' and ''The Will to Power'' are distinct.<ref name=":3" />

=== Citizenship, nationality, and ethnicity ===
General commentators and Nietzsche scholars, whether emphasising his cultural background or his language, overwhelmingly label Nietzsche as a "German philosopher."<ref name="SEP">{{Cite web |last=Anderson |first=R. Lanier |date=17 March 2017 |title=Friedrich Nietzsche |url=https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/nietzsche/ |website=[[Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy]] |publisher=Metaphysics Research Lab, [[Stanford University]]}}</ref>{{sfn|Tanner|2000}}{{sfn|Magnus|1999}}<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Magnus |first1=Bernd |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Xeb80itrlRIC&q=%22German+philosopher%22+Nietzsche&pg=PA1 |title=The Cambridge Companion to Nietzsche |last2=Higgins |first2=Kathleen Marie |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] |year=1996 |isbn=978-0-521-36767-7 |page=1 |via=[[Google Books]]}}</ref> Others do not assign him a national category.<ref>{{Cite book |title=[[Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy|The Shorter Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy]] |date=2005 |publisher=[[Routledge]] |editor-last=Craid |editor-first=Edward |location=Abingdon |pages=726–741}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Blackburn |first=Simon |title=The Oxford Dictionary of Philosophy |date=2005 |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |location=Oxford |pages=252–253}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/conciseencyclope00rejo_674 |title=The Concise encyclopedia of western philosophy |publisher=[[Routledge]] |year=2005 |isbn=978-0-415-32924-8 |editor-last=Rée |editor-first=Jonathan |edition=3rd |location=London |pages=[https://archive.org/details/conciseencyclope00rejo_674/page/n275 267]–270 |orig-date=1960 |editor-last2=Urmson |editor-first2=J.O. |url-access=limited}}</ref> While Germany had not yet been unified into a single sovereign state, Nietzsche was born a citizen of [[Prussia]], which was mostly part of the [[German Confederation]].<ref name="Mencken2008">{{Cite book |last=Mencken |first=Henry Louis |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dyOwIOqoopkC&pg=PA11 |title=The Philosophy of Friedrich Nietzsche |publisher=Wilder Publications |year=2008 |isbn=978-1-60459-331-0 |pages=11– |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121112014543/http://books.google.com/books?id=dyOwIOqoopkC&pg=PA11 |archive-date=12 November 2012 |url-status=dead |via=[[Google Books]]}}</ref> His birthplace, [[Röcken]], is in the modern German state of [[Saxony-Anhalt]]. When he accepted his post at Basel, Nietzsche applied for annulment of his Prussian citizenship.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Janz |first=Curt Paul |title=Friedrich Nietzsche: Biographie |date=1978 |publisher=[[Carl Hanser Verlag]] |volume=1 |location=Munich |page=263 |language=de |trans-title=Friedrich Nietzsche: Biography |quote=Er beantragte also bei der preussischen Behörde seine Expatriierung. |trans-quote=He accordingly applied to the Prussian authorities for expatrification.}}</ref> The official revocation of his citizenship came in a document dated 17 April 1869,<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Colli |first1=Giorgio |author-link=Giorgio Colli |title=Nietzsche Briefwechsel |last2=Montinari |first2=Mazzino |author-link2=Mazzino Montinari |date=1993 |publisher=[[Walter de Gruyter]] |isbn=978-3-11-012277-0 |series=Kritische Gesamtausgabe |volume=4 |location=Berlin |page=566 |language=de |trans-title=Nietzsche Correspondence |chapter=Entlassungsurkunde für den Professor Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche aus Naumburg |trans-chapter=Dismissal certificate for Professor Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche from Naumburg}}</ref> and for the rest of his life he remained officially [[Statelessness|stateless]].

[[File:Portrait Bust of Friedrich Nietzsche (SM sgp1).png|thumb|upright|Bust of Nietzsche, by [[Max Klinger]], 1903–1904, at the [[Städel]], Frankfurt]]
At least towards the end of his life, Nietzsche believed his ancestors were [[Polish people|Polish]].<ref name="Mencken1913">{{Cite book |last=Mencken |first=Henry Louis |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_r71AzHvf64C&q=poland+polish&pg=PA6 |title=Friedrich Nietzsche |publisher=Transaction Publishers |year=1913 |isbn=978-1-56000-649-7 |page=6 |via=[[Google Books]]}}</ref> He wore a [[signet ring]] bearing the [[Radwan coat of arms]], traceable back to [[Szlachta|Polish nobility]] of medieval times<ref name="nietzsche-radwan-ring">{{Cite web |last=Warberg |first=Ulla-Karin |title=Nietzsche's ring |url=http://auktionsverket.com/news/nietzsches-ring/ |archive-url=https://archive.today/20170624204834/http://auktionsverket.com/news/nietzsches-ring/ |archive-date=24 June 2017 |access-date=16 August 2018 |website=auktionsverket.com |publisher=[[Stockholms Auktionsverk]] |quote=''Nietzsche's ring{{nbsp}}... it was worn by Friedrich Nietzsche and it represents the ancient Radwan coat of arms, which can be traced back to the Polish nobility of medieval times.'' |location=Östermalm, Stockholm}}</ref> and the surname "Nicki" of the Polish noble ([[szlachta]]) family bearing that coat of arms.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Niesiecki |first1=Kasper |author-link=Kasper Niesiecki |title=Herbarz Polski Kaspra Niesieckiego S.J., powiększony dodatkami z poźniejszych autorów, rękopismów, dowodów urzędowych i wydany przez Jana Nep. Bobrowicza. |last2=Bobrowicz |first2=Jan Nepomucen |author-link2=Jan Nepomucen Bobrowicz |publisher=[[Breitkopf & Härtel]] |year=1841 |volume=VIII |location=Leipzig, Germany |page=28 |language=pl |trans-title=Polish armorial of Kasper Niesiecki S.J., enlarged by additions from other authors, manuscripts, official proofs and published by Jan Nep. Bobrowicz. |chapter=Radwan Herb |trans-chapter=Radwan Coat of Arms |type=[[Szlachta|Noble/szlachta]] genealogical and heraldic reference |quote=Herbowni ... Nicki, ... (Heraldic Family ... Nicki, ...) |orig-date=1728 |chapter-url=http://ebuw.uw.edu.pl/dlibra/docmetadata?id=165 |chapter-format=Online book}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last1=Niesiecki |first1=Kasper |author-link=Kasper Niesiecki |last2=Bobrowicz |first2=Jan Nepomucen |author-link2=Jan Nepomucen Bobrowicz |year=1845 |orig-date=1728 |title=Kasper Niesiecki, Herbarz Polski, wyd. J.N. Bobrowicz, Lipsk 1839–1845: herb Radwan (t. 8 s. 27–29) |url=http://wielcy.pl/niesiecki/herb/radwan/5066.php |url-status=live |archive-url=https://archive.today/20180817062826/http://wielcy.pl/niesiecki/herb/radwan/5066.php |archive-date=17 August 2018 |access-date=17 August 2018 |website=wielcy.pl |publisher=Dr Minakowski Publikacje Elektroniczne |language=pl |type=[[Szlachta|Noble/szlachta]] genealogical and heraldic reference |format=website |quote=Herbowni ... Nicki, ... (Heraldic Family ... Nicki, ...) |location=Kraków, Poland}}</ref> Gotard Nietzsche, a member of the Nicki family, left Poland for [[Prussia]]. His descendants later settled in the [[Electorate of Saxony]] circa the year 1700.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Warberg |first=Ulla-Karin |title=Nietzsche's ring |url=http://auktionsverket.com/news/nietzsches-ring/ |archive-url=https://archive.today/20170624204834/http://auktionsverket.com/news/nietzsches-ring/ |archive-date=24 June 2017 |access-date=16 August 2018 |website=auktionsverket.com |publisher=[[Stockholms Auktionsverk]] |quote=''In 1905, the Polish writer Bernhard Scharlitt in the spirit of Polish patriotism wrote an article about the Nietzsche family. In Herbarz Polski, a genealogy of Polish nobility, he had come across a note about a family named 'Nicki,' who could be traced back to Radwan. A member of this family named Gotard Nietzsche had left Poland for Prussia, and his descendants had eventually settled in Saxony around the year 1700.'' |location=Östermalm, Stockholm}}</ref> Nietzsche wrote in 1888, "My ancestors were Polish noblemen (Nietzky); the type seems to have been well preserved despite three generations of German mothers."{{sfn|Hollingdale|1999|p=6}} At one point, Nietzsche became even more adamant about his Polish identity. "I am a pure-blooded Polish nobleman, without a single drop of bad blood, certainly not German blood."<ref>{{Cite book |last=Appel |first=Fredrick |title=Nietzsche Contra Democracy |date=1998 |publisher=[[Cornell University Press]] |page=114}}</ref> On yet another occasion, Nietzsche stated, "Germany is a great nation only because its people have so much Polish blood in their veins.... I am proud of my Polish descent."<ref>{{Cite book |last=Mencken |first=Henry Louis |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nnEOAAAAIAAJ&q=Nietzsche+Polish&pg=PA6 |title=The Philosophy of Friedrich Nietzsche |publisher=[[University of Michigan]] |year=2006 |isbn=978-0722220511 |page=6 |orig-date=1908 |via=[[Google Books]]}} [https://archive.org/details/philosophyoffrie00menc/page/6/mode/2up Alt URL]</ref> Nietzsche believed his name might have been [[Germanisation|Germanised]], in one letter claiming, "I was taught to ascribe the origin of my blood and name to Polish noblemen who were called Niëtzky and left their home and nobleness about a hundred years ago, finally yielding to unbearable suppression: they were [[Protestantism|Protestants]]."<ref>"Letter to Heinrich von Stein, December 1882." ''KGB'' III 1, Nr. 342, p. 287; ''KGW'' V 2, p. 579; ''KSA'' 9 p. 681</ref>

Most scholars dispute Nietzsche's account of his family's origins. Hans von Müller debunked the genealogy put forward by Nietzsche's sister in favour of Polish noble heritage.<ref>von Müller, Hans. 2002. "Nietzsche's Vorfahren" (reprint). ''Nietzsche-Studien'' 31:253–275. {{doi|10.1515/9783110170740.253}}</ref> [[Max Oehler]], Nietzsche's cousin and curator of the [[Nietzsche Archive]] at [[Weimar]], argued that all of Nietzsche's ancestors bore German names, including the wives' families.{{sfn|Hollingdale|1999|p=6}} Oehler claims that Nietzsche came from a long line of German [[Lutheranism|Lutheran]] clergymen on both sides of his family, and modern scholars regard the claim of Nietzsche's Polish ancestry as "pure invention."<ref name="mencken">{{Cite book |last=Mencken |first=Henry Louis |title=The Philosophy of Friedrich Nietzsche |publisher=See Sharp Press |others=introd. & comm. Charles Q. Bufe |year=2003 |page=2}}</ref> Colli and Montinari, the editors of Nietzsche's assembled letters, gloss Nietzsche's claims as a "mistaken belief" and "without foundation."<ref>"Letter to Heinrich von Stein, December 1882," ''KGB'' III 7.1, p. 313.</ref><ref>"Letter to Georg Brandes, 10 April 1888," ''KGB'' III 7.3/1, p. 293.</ref> The name ''Nietzsche'' itself is not a Polish name, but an exceptionally common one throughout central Germany, in this and cognate forms (such as ''Nitsche'' and ''Nitzke''). The name derives from the forename ''Nikolaus,'' abbreviated to ''Nick''; assimilated with the Slavic ''Nitz''; it first became ''Nitsche'' and then ''Nietzsche''.{{sfn|Hollingdale|1999|p=6}}

It is not known why Nietzsche wanted to be thought of as Polish nobility. According to the biographer [[R. J. Hollingdale]], Nietzsche's propagation of the Polish ancestry myth may have been part of his "campaign against Germany."{{sfn|Hollingdale|1999|p=6}} Nicholas D. More states that Nietzsche's claims of having an illustrious lineage were a parody on autobiographical conventions, and suspects ''Ecce Homo'', with its self-laudatory titles, such as "''Why I Am So Wise''", as being a work of satire.<ref name=":4">{{Cite book |last=More |first=Nicholas D. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JVAHAwAAQBAJ&q=nietzsche+polish+aristocracy+satire&pg=PA69 |title=Nietzsche's Last Laugh: Ecce Homo as Satire |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] |year=2014 |isbn=978-1107050815 |page=69 |language=en |access-date=31 August 2021 |via=[[Google Books]]}}</ref> He concludes that Nietzsche's supposed Polish genealogy was a joke—not a delusion.<ref name=":4" />

=== Relationships and sexuality ===
Nietzsche was never married. He proposed to [[Lou Andreas-Salomé|Lou Salomé]] three times and each time was rejected.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Leventhal |first=Robert S. |year=2001 |title=Nietzsche and Lou Andreas-Salomé: Chronicle of a Relationship 1882 |url=https://rsleve.people.wm.edu/FNLAS_1882.html |website=rsleve.people.wm.edu}}</ref> One theory blames Salomé's view on sexuality as one of the reasons for her alienation from Nietzsche. As articulated in her 1898 novella ''Fenitschka'', Salomé viewed the idea of sexual intercourse as prohibitive and marriage as a violation, with some suggesting that they indicated [[sexual repression]] and [[neurosis]]<!-- "while others suggesting her homosexuality" – page number required -->.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Diethe |first=Carol |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2RAhAAAAQBAJ |title=Nietzsche's Women: Beyond the Whip |publisher=[[Walter de Gruyter]] |year=1996 |isbn=978-3-11-014819-0 |location=Berlin |page=56 |via=[[Google Books]]}}</ref>

Deussen cited the episode of [[Cologne]]'s brothel in February 1865 as instrumental to understanding the philosopher's way of thinking, mostly about women. Nietzsche was surreptitiously accompanied to a "call house" from which he clumsily escaped upon seeing "a half dozen apparitions dressed in sequins and veils." According to Deussen, Nietzsche "never decided to remain unmarried all his life. For him, women had to sacrifice themselves to the care and benefit of men."<ref name=":2" /> Nietzsche scholar {{interlanguage link|Joachim Köhler|de|Joachim Köhler (Philosoph)}} has attempted to explain Nietzsche's life history and philosophy by claiming that he was homosexual. Köhler argues that Nietzsche's supposed syphilis, which is "...{{nbsp}}usually considered to be the product of his encounter with a prostitute in a brothel in [[Cologne]] or [[Leipzig]], is equally likely. Some maintain that Nietzsche contracted it in a male brothel in [[Genoa]]."<ref>{{Cite book |last=Köhler |first=Joachim |title=Zarathustra's secret: the interior life of Friedrich Nietzsche |publisher=[[Yale University Press]] |year=2002 |isbn=978-0-300-09278-3 |location=New Haven, Conn. |page=xv}}</ref> The acquisition of the infection from a homosexual brothel was the theory believed by [[Sigmund Freud]], who cited [[Otto Binswanger]] as his source.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last=Golomb |first=Jacob |url=https://archive.org/details/nietzschejewishc00golo_034 |title=Nietzsche and Jewish Culture |publisher=[[Routledge]] |year=2001 |isbn=978-0-415-09512-9 |location=London |page=[https://archive.org/details/nietzschejewishc00golo_034/page/n214 202] |url-access=limited}}</ref> Köhler also suggests that Nietzsche had a romantic relationship, as well as a friendship, with [[Paul Rée]].<ref name="Megill" /> There is the claim that Nietzsche's homosexuality was widely known in the [[Vienna Psychoanalytic Society]], with Nietzsche's friend [[Paul Deussen]] claiming that "he was a man who had never touched a woman."<ref>{{Cite book |last=Pletsch |first=Carl |url=https://archive.org/details/youngnietzschebe00plet |title=Young Nietzsche: Becoming a Genius |publisher=The Free Press |year=1992 |isbn=978-0-02-925042-6 |location=New York |page=[https://archive.org/details/youngnietzschebe00plet/page/n74 67] |url-access=limited}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Small |first=Robin |title=Nietzsche and Rée: A Star Friendship |publisher=[[Clarendon Press]] |year=2007 |isbn=978-0-19-927807-7 |location=Oxford |page=207}}</ref>

Köhler's views have not found wide acceptance among Nietzsche scholars and commentators. Allan Megill argues that, while Köhler's claim that Nietzsche was conflicted about his homosexual desire cannot simply be dismissed, "the evidence is very weak," and Köhler may be projecting twentieth-century understandings of sexuality on nineteenth-century notions of friendship.<ref name="Megill">{{Cite journal |last=Megill |first=Allan |date=1 March 1996 |title=Historicizing Nietzsche? Paradoxes and Lessons of a Hard Case |url=https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/245288 |journal=The Journal of Modern History |volume=68 |issue=1 |pages=114–152 |doi=10.1086/245288 |issn=0022-2801 |s2cid=147507428}}</ref> It is also rumoured that Nietzsche frequented [[Heterosexuality|heterosexual]] brothels.<ref name=":0" /> [[Nigel Rodgers]] and [[Mel Thompson (writer)|Mel Thompson]] have argued that continuous sickness and headaches hindered Nietzsche from engaging much with women. Yet they offer other examples in which Nietzsche expressed his affections to women, including Wagner's wife [[Cosima Wagner]].<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Rogers |first1=N. |title=[[Philosophers Behaving Badly]] |last2=Thompson |first2=M. |date=2004 |publisher=[[Peter Owen (publisher)|Peter Owen]] |location=London}}</ref>

Other scholars have argued that Köhler's sexuality-based interpretation is not helpful in understanding Nietzsche's philosophy.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Grenke |first=Michael W. |year=2003 |title=How Boring... |journal=The Review of Politics |volume=65 |issue=1 |pages=152–154 |doi=10.1017/s0034670500036640 |jstor=1408799 |s2cid=145631903}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Risse |first=Mathias |date=13 January 2003 |title=Zarathustra's Secret. The Interior Life of Friedrich Nietzsche |url=http://ndpr.nd.edu/news/23249-zarathustra-s-secret-the-interior-life-of-friedrich-nietzsche/ |journal=Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews}}</ref> However, there are also those who stress that, if Nietzsche preferred men—with this preference constituting his [[Psychosexual development|psycho-sexual]] make-up—but could not admit his desires to himself, it meant he acted in conflict with his philosophy.{{sfn|Clark|2015|p=154}}