Nietzsche-Zeitgenossenlexikon: Verwandte und Vorfahren, Freunde und Feinde, Verehrer und Kritiker von Friedrich Nietzsche (review)

There have been many books on individuals or groups associated with Nietzsche. While these help the reader interested in the philosopher’s personal and intellectual biography, they are rarely of immediate assistance in reading his books because, when writing, he often cited figures far removed from his immediate circle of acquaintance. For such readers Hauke Reich has produced Nietzsche-Zeitgenossenlexikon, a biographical dictionary that presents in alphabetical order 945 figures in Nietzsche’s life.¹

The book’s usefulness will be evident even to those who limit their reading to the Nietzsche canon. One need only consider the contemporary figures cited in EH “Why I Write Such Good Books.” While virtually all serious readers are familiar with the Wagners, Taine, and Treitschke (and possibly even Spitteler and Hillebrand), few will claim such immediate acquaintance with J. V. Widmann, Richard Pohl, and Franz Hoffmann that they would not reach for Reich’s almanac.

The book will be particularly helpful to those who read Nietzsche’s letters and Nachlass. Whether it assists in keeping track of Franziska Nietzsche’s ten brothers and sisters (whose fate provides so much fodder in the later correspondence) or in resolving such trivial but perplexing puzzles as the identity of “Madame Laubscher,” who is mentioned repeatedly (and without explanation) in Nietzsche’s schoolboy letters, the book provides a set of extended footnotes, supplementing Nietzsche’s texts.

Critics might object that much of this work has already been done in the biographical section of KGB I.4, further supplemented by material in the later Nachberichten. Reich, whose only previous publication was apparently as contributor to the massive Friedrich Nietzsche: Chronik in Bildern und Texten, cannot compete with the resources and expertise available to Norbert Miller and Jörg Salaquarda, editors of KGB I.4.² Nonetheless, his book enjoys an obvious advantage in that it consists of a single volume that can be purchased and consulted independently from collected Nietzsche texts. Few readers are so wealthy that they purchase an entire edition of the KGB, and although they may have the KSB on their personal shelves, the latter lacks the critical apparatus so valuable in the more comprehensive edition. Reich’s Nietzsche-Zeitgenossenlexikon is the more valuable, since many listings include supplemental resources for further research. Most sections on professional figures, for example, carry a “Zur Person” subhead, which offers a bibliography on the person under review. Entries on authors usually have a “Schriften” section appended, and many biographies include the subhead “Porträt,” which indicates where photographs and other visual depictions can be located.

The comparison toKGB I.4, however, remains apt because it alerts us to a major defect of Nietzsche-Zeitgenossenlexikon, namely, that it shows little sense of systematicity or consistency of purpose. One finds it difficult, for example, to pin down Reich’s principles of selection. In the introduction he declares that he will include those relatives, acquaintances, and friends with whom Nietzsche had a personal relationship, as well as people to whom Nietzsche wrote or received letters from or who are even mentioned in letters. Somewhat different selection criteria are mentioned in the book’s subtitle (Verwandte und Vorfahren, Freunde und Feinde, Verehrer und Kritiker), but in either case the range is too wide for a book of this size to encompass. Reich acknowledges this but does not explain why he then extends his book to persons whom Nietzsche could not have heard of, much less mentioned, simply because they came to prominence after his collapse (workers in the Nietzsche Archive, for instance). There is no reason to complain of this, since many readers will be grateful for the information, but one must note a lack of fit between the actual entries and the supposed principles of selection.

Reich’s entries vary widely in length: some running for several pages and others consisting of no more than a name, dates, and a...