Author: Jacob Golomb File Type: pdf Nietzsche, the Godfather of Fascism? What can Nietzsche have in common with this murderous ideology? Frequently described as the radical aristocrat of the spirit, Nietzsche abhorred mass culture and strove to cultivate an Ubermensch endowed with exceptional mental qualities. What can such a thinker have in common with the fascistic manipulation of the masses for chauvinistic goals that crushed the autonomy of the individual?The question that lies at the heart of this collection is how Nietzsche came to acquire the deadly honor of being considered the philosopher of the Third Reich and whether such claims had any justification. Does it make any sense to hold him in some way responsible for the horrors of Auschwitz?The editors present a range of views that attempt to do justice to the ambiguity and richness of Nietzsches thought. First-rate contributions by a variety of distinguished philosophers and historians explore in depth Nietzsches attitudes toward Jews, Judaism, Christianity, anti-Semitism, and National Socialism. They interrogate Nietzsches writings for fascist and anti-Semitic proclivities and consider how they were read by fascists who claimed Nietzsche as their intellectual godfather.There is much that is disturbingly antiegalitarian and antidemocratic in Nietzsche, and his writings on Jews are open to differing interpretations. Yet his emphasis on individualism and contempt for German nationalism and anti-Semitism put him at stark odds with Nazi ideology.The Nietzsche that emerges here is a tragic prophet of the spiritual vacuum that produced the twentieth centurys totalitarian movements, the thinker who best diagnosed the pathologies of fin-de-siecle European culture. Nietzsche dared to look into the abyss of modern nihilism. This book tells us what he found.The contributors are Menahem Brinker, Daniel W. Conway, Stanley Corngold, Kurt Rudolf Fischer, Jacob Golomb, Robert C. Holub, Berel Lang, Wolfgang Muller-Lauter, Alexander Nehamas, David Ohana, Roderick Stackelberg, Mario Sznajder, Geoffrey Waite, Robert S. Wistrich, and Yirmiyahu Yovel.** Nietzsche, the Godfather of Fascism? What can Nietzsche have in common with this murderous ideology? Frequently described as the radical aristocrat of the spirit, Nietzsche abhorred mass culture and strove to cultivate an Ubermensch endowed with exceptional mental qualities. What can such a thinker have in common with the fascistic manipulation of the masses for chauvinistic goals that crushed the autonomy of the individual? The question that lies at the heart of this collection is how Nietzsche came to acquire the deadly honor of being considered the philosopher of the Third Reich and whether such claims had any justification. Does it make any sense to hold him in some way responsible for the horrors of Auschwitz? The editors present a range of views that attempt to do justice to the ambiguity and richness of Nietzsches thought. First-rate contributions by a variety of distinguished philosophers and historians explore in depth Nietzsches attitudes toward Jews, Judaism, Christianity, anti-Semitism, and National Socialism. They interrogate Nietzsches writings for fascist and anti-Semitic proclivities and consider how they were read by fascists who claimed Nietzsche as their intellectual godfather. There is much that is disturbingly antiegalitarian and antidemocratic in Nietzsche, and his writings on Jews are open to differing interpretations. Yet his emphasis on individualism and contempt for German nationalism and anti-Semitism put him at stark odds with Nazi ideology. The Nietzsche that emerges here is a tragic prophet of the spiritual vacuum that produced the twentieth centurys totalitarian movements, the thinker who best diagnosed the pathologies of fin-de-siecle European culture. Nietzsche dared to look into the abyss of modern nihilism. This book tells us what he found. The contributors are Menahem Brinker, Daniel W. Conway, Stanley Corngold, Kurt Rudolf Fischer, Jacob Golomb, Robert C. Holub, Berel Lang, Wolfgang Muller-Lauter, Alexander Nehamas, David Ohana, Roderick Stackelberg, Mario Sznajder, Geoffrey Waite, Robert S. Wistrich, and Yirmiyahu Yovel. **Review A serious and rewarding look at Nietzsche the thinker. From the Inside Flap Addressing the question of Nietzsches relationship to fascism in complex ways, this is an impressive, important, and varied volume. It presents a series of morsels for the reader and is a solid addition to both the literature on Nietzsche and that on fascism.--Sander L. Gilman, University of Illinois, Chicago The cumulative effect of these essays contributes to the discussion of the relationship between Nietzsche and fascism and between Nietzsche and anti-Semitism. This book looks at both how to read the nasty parts of Nietzsche and how to read what various people who used or read Nietzsche in a potentially nasty way made of him.--Tracy B. Strong, University of California, San Diego

Author: Sean Keilen File Type: pdf In this wide-ranging and ambitiously conceived Research Companion, contributors explore Shakespeares relationship to the classic in two broad senses. The essays analyze Shakespeares specific debts to classical works and weigh his classicisms likeness and unlikeness to that of others in his time they also evaluate the effects of that classical influence to assess the extent to which it is connected with whatever qualities still make Shakespeare, himself, a classic (arguably the classic) of modern world literature and drama. The first sense of the classic which the volume addresses is the classical culture of Latin and Greek reading, translation, and imitation. Education in the canon of pagan classics bound Shakespeare together with other writers in what was the dominant tradition of English and European poetry and drama, up through the nineteenth and even well into the twentieth century. Secondand no less centralis the idea of classics as such, that of books whose perceived value, exceeding that of most in their era, justifies their protection against historical and cultural change. The volumes organizing insight is that as Shakespeare was made a classic in this second, antiquarian sense, his works reception has more and more come to resemble that of classics in the first senseof ancient texts subject to labored critical study by masses of professional interpreters who are needed to mediate their meaning, simply because of the texts growing remoteness from ordinary life, language, and consciousness. The volume presents overviews and argumentative essays about the presence of Latin and Greek literature in Shakespeares writing. They coexist in the volume with thought pieces on the uses of the classical as a historical and pedagogical category, and with practical essays on the place of ancient classics in todays Shakespearean classrooms. **