99. Friedrich Nietzsche and the “Berliner Tageblatt”

Friedrich Nietzsche is currently staying in Weimar. No wonder that in this "educated" city a brave citizen feels the need to immerse himself in the philosopher's teachings. He wants to know in which order he should read his writings. What does he do? He turns to the " Berliner Tageblatt". The paper gave him the following information in its January 28, 1900 issue: "You ask in which order you should read the philosophical writings of Friedrich Nietzsche in order to gain a deeper understanding of this not exactly easy-to-understand leading mind. We advise you to start with the biography of Nietzsche by Mrs. Elisabeth Förster-Nietzsche, as his tragic life is the best key to his world of thought. Then read some of the "Unzeitgemäßen Betrachtungen" (on Schopenhauer, on the benefits and disadvantages of history, on the origin of tragedy, on Richard Wagner); and then the two complementary major studies: Genealogy of Morals and Beyond Good and Evil. After these systematic works by the healthy Friedrich Nietzsche, you may turn to the volumes of aphorisms by the ailing and sick philosopher, roughly in the following order: Dawn, The Human-All Too Human, Joyful Science, Antichrist and last but not least his greatest creation, Thus Spoke Zarathustra, the understanding of which presupposes an exact familiarity with the intellectual structure of the man. Once you have traveled this arduous but certainly rewarding path, let all the impressions you have received come to an end by reading his "Collected Poems."

These lines are symptomatic of the bottomless illiteracy and ignorance with which the makers of our newspapers are endowed, and at the same time of the boundless carelessness with which they view their profession. For anyone with their eyes open, this is of course a fact as well known as the fact that the sun rises every morning. It seems, however, that there are still many naive people who think it possible to appeal to the superficiality of newspapermen on such an important question as the above. The gentleman who wrote the above note talks like someone who knows something about Nietzsche. He does not know the slightest thing about him. For he does not even know in what order Nietzsche wrote his books. The person in Weimar in need of knowledge should first read: some untimely reflections and then the great studies: Genealogy of Morals and Beyond Good and Evil, because in these systematic writings the healthy Nietzsche still speaks; then the volumes of aphorisms of the sick Nietzsche should follow: Dawn, Human-All Too Human, etc. Now "Menschliches-Allzumenschliches" was published in 1878, "Morgenröte" in 1881, "Genealogie der Moral" in 1887 and "Jenseits von Gut und Böse" in 1888. The scholar of the " Berliner Tageblatt" considers the works published in the last year before his illness to be the earlier ones; he considers the collection of aphorisms "Menschliches-Allzumenschliches", published in 1878, i.e. 6 years after the beginning of Nietzsche's writing career, to be a work by Nietzsche who was already ill. Poor questioner in Weimar! In the end, you are naïve enough to stick with your newspaper editor. Why don't you ask him how you should study mathematics? He will answer: First you have to learn integral calculus, then differential calculus, then trigonometry, then you will be sufficiently prepared to learn the multiplication tables. That's what it looks like in the minds of newspaper publishers!!!