Nietzsche as Reader
Nietzsche is one of the most read and written about philosophers of all time. Most philosophers and historians have treated Nietzsche as an isolated profound thinker. However, what is not well known is that he was an active and voracious reader, with wide interests and reading in many different fields. The adult Nietzsche mostly lived an isolated life, where reading became the most important intellectual stimulus for him. Reading books was an essential part of Nietzsche's manner of working.
My previous work, and that of others in this field, almost exclusively concentrates on Nietzsche’s philosophical reading and contexts. However, Nietzsche’s interests were much broader than what is conventionally regarded as philosophy, and his influence has been enormous also in other fields, such as music, art, classics and ancient history, literature, religion, psychology and many others.
Perhaps surprisingly, but as I have shown in my earlier research, it is possible to bring forth new relevant information about Nietzsche, one of the most studied of thinkers. By identifying and discussing his reading one is able to understand and place Nietzsche in a new and wider context – discussing new influences on and better understanding the questions and contexts to which much of his thought and philosophy attempted to respond and give answers.
I already have much of the information about his reading that I need, but need to complement it, and write together the analysis.
My previous work, and that of others in this field, almost exclusively concentrates on Nietzsche’s philosophical reading and contexts. However, Nietzsche’s interests were much broader than what is conventionally regarded as philosophy, and his influence has been enormous also in other fields, such as music, art, classics and ancient history, literature, religion, psychology and many others.
Perhaps surprisingly, but as I have shown in my earlier research, it is possible to bring forth new relevant information about Nietzsche, one of the most studied of thinkers. By identifying and discussing his reading one is able to understand and place Nietzsche in a new and wider context – discussing new influences on and better understanding the questions and contexts to which much of his thought and philosophy attempted to respond and give answers.
I already have much of the information about his reading that I need, but need to complement it, and write together the analysis.
Final report
Thomas.Brobjer@idehist.uu.se
RJ23FNReaderSabb SAB23-0015
Uppsala, 27 feb. 2025
Final report: RJ Sabbatical SAB23-0015
The project "Nietzsche as Reader" in 2024 has been successful. The research has gone well, and I have (will have) achieved at least what I wrote in my application that I would do – two massive and content-rich monographs published open access, OA, with the most suitable international publisher.
The German publisher Walter de Gruyter holds the rights to Nietzsche's books and Nachlass, publishes Nietzsche-Studien and is the publisher that mainly publishes standard works on Nietzsche, both in German and in English. This is undoubtedly the most suitable publisher for my project – it will ensure that these monographs will be highly visible and accessible for a very long time.
I have a contract for the first volume, The Young Nietzsche: An Intellectual Biography and Examination of His Life and Reading, 1844-69, open access, and that volume is in production. The content has been assessed for the publisher by five prominent Nietzsche scholars, who jointly concluded: "This work on the young Nietzsche, with an examination of his reading, gives the research a whole new backbone, beyond all cheap psychologization. It seems to us that research has really been waiting for this work, and needs it! […] We strongly recommend the publisher to publish it".
I also have a contract for the second volume, The Early Nietzsche as Reader and Thinker, 1869-79, OA. Deadline for delivery of the final book manuscript, including extensive lists about Nietzsche's reading, in the first half of 2025. I will deliver it.
These are two massive works, together containing almost two thousand book titles (but several recur several times) that Nietzsche read, as well as information about when he read them – which will be able to form the basis for the work of many other researchers as well. In addition, I discuss the role many of these works had in Nietzsche's development and thinking. In both of these volumes, I present a lot of information (and new information), also summarized in long lists, of Nietzsche's reading, as well as a lot of biographical information linked to his reading.
In addition, in different chapters, I deal with and discuss his reading and intellectual development in various areas, philosophy, ethics, cultural history, literary history and literary criticism, his reading of fiction, ancient history and classical philology, modern history, natural sciences and music.
In the first appendix to the first volume, on the reading and life of the young Nietzsche, there is a list of about 1,100 titles (but several of them appear more than once) that Nietzsche read, in chronological order (and alphabetical order). This makes it possible for the first time to place Nietzsche in his concrete intellectual milieu and allows us to understand his thinking in its own context. This biography further discusses, but sometimes only names, a fairly large number of new texts and books that it has not been known that Nietzsche read until now.
The main new perspective, and backbone, of this project has therefore been to present and discuss new information about Nietzsche's reading and how this has influenced or influenced his thinking. But it is just as much a source book for his reading. It is my belief and hope that this will be useful information both for better understanding Nietzsche and for future studies of his life, reading, and thinking.
The relation between reading and thinking is a central one for the humanities. My study lifts this to a completely new level. Not only am I able to work with a much greater number of books, and thus proportion of the thinker’s (Nietzsche’s) reading, I am also giving information about when he read (often including annotated, excerpted or commented upon) most of these books. This gives this study, I believe for the first time for any intellectual, the possibility of using “semi-big data” (not just one or a few books, but about 50 titles for every year, thus about a thousand titles altogether) for a much better analysis of the relation between thinking and reading, including how reading both reflecs and influences changes in thought.
Completing volume 1 (about 500 information-dense pages) and getting as far as possible with volume 2, has taken all the time with intensive work (ten months of support from RJ).
New research questions: Working on this project has raised a lot of "small" research questions for me – and will hopefully do so for many others, including future researchers and doctoral students. These two volumes will hopefully become future standard works on Nietzsche's reading. For me personally, however, questions have mainly been raised about Nietzsche's reading also in the last ten years of his active life (a third and final stand-alone volume in the series) – something that I want and hope to work with in the future.
The main dissemination of my research related to this project will be through open access publishing with Walter de Gruyter, who publishes Nietzsche's works and standard works around his writings. (I have previously written several specific articles on various aspects of Nietzsche's reading, much of which I have also been able to incorporate into these two volumes.)
Results from the work have already been disseminated through contact with and support for other researchers who ask about various aspects of Nietzsche's reading, as well as invitations to write articles for various journals and/or books about Nietzsche – the latter relevant for the future. However, the lion's share of the dissemination lies in the future, through open-access publication of two monographs.
Thank you
Thomas H. Brobjer, Uppsala 27/2-25
List of Publikations
Books:
1. The Young Nietzsche: An Intellectual Biography and Examination of His Life and Reading, 1844-69, open access, Walter de Gruyter. Will be published during 2025.
2. The Early Nietzsche as Reader and Thinker, 1869-79, open access, Walter de Gruyter. Will be published during 2026.
RJ23FNReaderSabb SAB23-0015
Uppsala, 27 feb. 2025
Final report: RJ Sabbatical SAB23-0015
The project "Nietzsche as Reader" in 2024 has been successful. The research has gone well, and I have (will have) achieved at least what I wrote in my application that I would do – two massive and content-rich monographs published open access, OA, with the most suitable international publisher.
The German publisher Walter de Gruyter holds the rights to Nietzsche's books and Nachlass, publishes Nietzsche-Studien and is the publisher that mainly publishes standard works on Nietzsche, both in German and in English. This is undoubtedly the most suitable publisher for my project – it will ensure that these monographs will be highly visible and accessible for a very long time.
I have a contract for the first volume, The Young Nietzsche: An Intellectual Biography and Examination of His Life and Reading, 1844-69, open access, and that volume is in production. The content has been assessed for the publisher by five prominent Nietzsche scholars, who jointly concluded: "This work on the young Nietzsche, with an examination of his reading, gives the research a whole new backbone, beyond all cheap psychologization. It seems to us that research has really been waiting for this work, and needs it! […] We strongly recommend the publisher to publish it".
I also have a contract for the second volume, The Early Nietzsche as Reader and Thinker, 1869-79, OA. Deadline for delivery of the final book manuscript, including extensive lists about Nietzsche's reading, in the first half of 2025. I will deliver it.
These are two massive works, together containing almost two thousand book titles (but several recur several times) that Nietzsche read, as well as information about when he read them – which will be able to form the basis for the work of many other researchers as well. In addition, I discuss the role many of these works had in Nietzsche's development and thinking. In both of these volumes, I present a lot of information (and new information), also summarized in long lists, of Nietzsche's reading, as well as a lot of biographical information linked to his reading.
In addition, in different chapters, I deal with and discuss his reading and intellectual development in various areas, philosophy, ethics, cultural history, literary history and literary criticism, his reading of fiction, ancient history and classical philology, modern history, natural sciences and music.
In the first appendix to the first volume, on the reading and life of the young Nietzsche, there is a list of about 1,100 titles (but several of them appear more than once) that Nietzsche read, in chronological order (and alphabetical order). This makes it possible for the first time to place Nietzsche in his concrete intellectual milieu and allows us to understand his thinking in its own context. This biography further discusses, but sometimes only names, a fairly large number of new texts and books that it has not been known that Nietzsche read until now.
The main new perspective, and backbone, of this project has therefore been to present and discuss new information about Nietzsche's reading and how this has influenced or influenced his thinking. But it is just as much a source book for his reading. It is my belief and hope that this will be useful information both for better understanding Nietzsche and for future studies of his life, reading, and thinking.
The relation between reading and thinking is a central one for the humanities. My study lifts this to a completely new level. Not only am I able to work with a much greater number of books, and thus proportion of the thinker’s (Nietzsche’s) reading, I am also giving information about when he read (often including annotated, excerpted or commented upon) most of these books. This gives this study, I believe for the first time for any intellectual, the possibility of using “semi-big data” (not just one or a few books, but about 50 titles for every year, thus about a thousand titles altogether) for a much better analysis of the relation between thinking and reading, including how reading both reflecs and influences changes in thought.
Completing volume 1 (about 500 information-dense pages) and getting as far as possible with volume 2, has taken all the time with intensive work (ten months of support from RJ).
New research questions: Working on this project has raised a lot of "small" research questions for me – and will hopefully do so for many others, including future researchers and doctoral students. These two volumes will hopefully become future standard works on Nietzsche's reading. For me personally, however, questions have mainly been raised about Nietzsche's reading also in the last ten years of his active life (a third and final stand-alone volume in the series) – something that I want and hope to work with in the future.
The main dissemination of my research related to this project will be through open access publishing with Walter de Gruyter, who publishes Nietzsche's works and standard works around his writings. (I have previously written several specific articles on various aspects of Nietzsche's reading, much of which I have also been able to incorporate into these two volumes.)
Results from the work have already been disseminated through contact with and support for other researchers who ask about various aspects of Nietzsche's reading, as well as invitations to write articles for various journals and/or books about Nietzsche – the latter relevant for the future. However, the lion's share of the dissemination lies in the future, through open-access publication of two monographs.
Thank you
Thomas H. Brobjer, Uppsala 27/2-25
List of Publikations
Books:
1. The Young Nietzsche: An Intellectual Biography and Examination of His Life and Reading, 1844-69, open access, Walter de Gruyter. Will be published during 2025.
2. The Early Nietzsche as Reader and Thinker, 1869-79, open access, Walter de Gruyter. Will be published during 2026.