Twilight of the Idols

Nietzsche had a brilliant mind, though his views were often controversial and, I believe, frequently misunderstood or misrepresented. His philosophy can be quite challenging, even for more advanced readers. Twilight of the Idols is a good starting point for understanding Nietzsche's broader body of work, as well as his perspective on the world.

It seems misguided to label Nietzsche as a fascist (a movement that didn't arise until 30 years after his death), anti-Semitic (unlike his sister, who edited his texts to align with her own beliefs), or even misogynistic (he had a close friendship with the writer Lou Andreas-Salomé). Nietzsche was indeed many things, but none of these. Yet, it is precisely on these issues that Nietzsche remains vilified and misunderstood by many to this day.

I mentioned earlier that Nietzsche possessed a brilliant mind—this also includes his use of irony and sarcasm, which isn't always immediately apparent in his writings. Once a reader becomes more familiar with Nietzsche, they may come to see him as quite the joker.

I intend to write an essay about three of the books written in 1888 by Nietzsche: the most explosive, the “crazy” ones. What I have found out, re-reading them, is that Nietzsche wasn't crazy at all when he conceived “The Twilight of Idols” for instance (as some psychiatrists claim). His truths are more powerful, deeper and more energetic. There is an incredible tension but also a massive - almost unbelieveable - intuition. In his hidden, occult way (pre-psychanalytic), Nietzsche is almost always right. His truth may be “perverse” but it is nevertheless a strong truth. I'd rather be insane with Nietzsche than “normal” with Kant. However, because Nietzsche has written this books weeks before his mental breakdown, they are somehow mythologically charged. Before experiencing his abyss, the German writer had perhaps the most formidable intelectual adventure of all times: if Zarathustra is Everest, Genealogy of the Morals and the writtings from the fateful 1888 are a trip to Moon and Mars. The aforementioned virtual essay of mine will probably emulate Papini's tone from the “Twilight of Philosophers”.