I Am Dynamite!: A Life of Nietzsche

NEW YORK TIMES Editors' Choice - THE TIMES BIOGRAPHY OF THE YEAR - WINNER OF THE HAWTHORNDEN PRIZE

A groundbreaking new biography of philosophy's greatest iconoclast

Friedrich Nietzsche is one of the most enigmatic figures in philosophy, and his concepts--the bermensch, the will to power, slave morality--have fundamentally reshaped our understanding of the human condition. But what do most people really know of Nietzsche--beyond the mustache, the scowl, and the lingering association with nihilism and fascism? Where do we place a thinker who was equally beloved by Albert Camus, Ayn Rand, Martin Buber, and Adolf Hitler?

Nietzsche wrote that all philosophy is autobiographical, and in this vividly compelling, myth-shattering biography, Sue Prideaux brings readers into the world of this brilliant, eccentric, and deeply troubled man, illuminating the events and people that shaped his life and work. From his placid, devoutly Christian upbringing--overshadowed by the mysterious death of his father--through his teaching career, lonely philosophizing on high mountains, and heart-breaking descent into madness, Prideaux documents Nietzsche's intellectual and emotional life with a novelist's insight and sensitivity.

She also produces unforgettable portraits of the people who were most important to him, including Richard and Cosima Wagner, Lou Salom , the femme fatale who broke his heart; and his sister Elizabeth, a rabid German nationalist and anti-Semite who manipulated his texts and turned the Nietzsche archive into a destination for Nazi ideologues.

I Am Dynamite is the essential biography for anyone seeking to understand history's most misunderstood philosopher.

Author: Sue Prideaux
Publisher: Tim Duggan Books
Published: 10/29/2019
Pages: 464
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 0.80lbs
Size: 7.90h x 5.10w x 1.20d
ISBN13: 9781524760830
ISBN10: 1524760838
BISAC Categories:
- Biography & Autobiography | Philosophers
- Philosophy | Individual Philosophers
- History | Europe | Germany

About the Author
Sue Prideaux is a novelist and biographer. Her books include Edvard Munch: Behind the Scream, which was awarded the James Tait Black Memorial Prize, and Strindberg: A Life, which received the Duff Cooper Prize and was shortlisted for the Samuel Johnson Prize.