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When Nietzsche Wept: A Novel Of Obsession (Perennial Classics) Paperback – 1 Jan. 2005
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Irvin D. Yalom
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Irvin D. Yalom
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Print length310 pages
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LanguageEnglish
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PublisherUs Imports
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Publication date1 Jan. 2005
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Dimensions13.34 x 1.91 x 20.32 cm
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ISBN-100060748125
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ISBN-13978-0060748128
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Product details
- Publisher : Us Imports; Reissue edition (1 Jan. 2005)
- Language : English
- Paperback : 310 pages
- ISBN-10 : 0060748125
- ISBN-13 : 978-0060748128
- Dimensions : 13.34 x 1.91 x 20.32 cm
-
Best Sellers Rank:
1,684,331 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- 121,758 in Literary Fiction (Books)
- 131,481 in Contemporary Fiction (Books)
- Customer reviews:
Product description
About the Author
Irvin D. Yalom is Professor Emeritus of Psychiatry at Stanford University.
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4.7 out of 5
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Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 18 December 2018
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I thought this was a fascinating story and I enjoyed the blend of fact and fiction. I love how Yalom explains ideas in such a digestible and intriguing way, and this book has opened my eyes to Nietzsche's contribution to the developing field of psychotherapy. As a trainee therapist, I have learnt so much from Yalom's books and encourage my non-therapist friends and family to read these too as they give such an insight into the human mind and key existential ideas. i came away from this book feeling I'd learnt more about myself, and also have new ideas for therapy with my own clients. Would highly recommend!
8 people found this helpful
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Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 27 February 2011
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When Nietzsche Wept by Irvin Yalom is not the kind of novel I normally read. It was selected for reading by a book reading group. It turned out to be a reading that I enjoyed but above all I was intrigued by the novel.
The novel belongs to that ever more emerging genre known as faction - defined by The Concise Oxford Dictionary as: "a book, film, etc. using real events as the basis for a fictional narrative or dramatization." Think of most of those awful bio-pictures that are churned out by Hollywood and you have got the picture. However, When Nietzsche Wept is certainly not awful. Instead, what the reader gets from Yalom is an intriguing psychological thriller, and a novel of ideas delineated through two real characters namely Josef Breuer and Friedrich Nietzsche.
The novel is set in late nineteenth century Vienna, specifically focusing on the year 1882. The action takes place against a backdrop of a fin de siecle that saw the likes of not just the two protagonists but also Sigmund Frued among others. It was a period that saw significant development in medicine, the emergence of psychoanalysis and a new moral philosophy that focused on the individual. In the novel, Yalom invest his two main characters with a common facet namely two middle aged men obsessed with a much younger woman. In Nietzsche's case it Lou Salome and for Breuer it is Bertha Pappenheim. I suppose inevitably this obsession leads both men to suffer angst. Lou Salome from a sense of guilt or fulfilling her own desire meets the physician Breuer and comes up with a scheme to refer Nietzsche to him for treatment. Breuer and Nietzsche eventually meet and through a long process of negotiation and connivance a tacit agreement is reached that Breuer will treat Nietzsche's ailments but the table is turned and Nietzsche finds himself counselling Breuer. This sets the scene for a very good psychological or preferably intellectual thriller.
Out of this conundrum, Yalom's novel presents a world of intrigue, fascinating characters and multi-layered themes. Just to mention some of the obvious themes to be found in the novel. It is about friendship, the methodological relationship between patient and doctor, the frailty and vulnerability of human beings, the development of medicine and psychoanalysis, and above all it delineates Nietzsche's individual moral philosophy.
Along with Nietzsche, Breuer and Freud, Yalom's novel is peopled with, or at least there is discussion of, geniuses such as Brahams, Bruckner, Wittgenstein, and Wagner. However, it must be said that female characters are not well presented in this novel they merely act as antagonist providing a means for the plot to progress. Yalom's characters function in a world of change and invention yet ironically in some ways they still remain in a world averse to change and bridled by old conventions. Lou Salome's adversity to marriage and her acknowledgement of what Viennese society would think of the menage a trios between her Paul Ree and Nietzsche is testimony to the tension between old and new society.
What makes When Nietzsche Wept outstanding is the relationship between Nietzsche and Breuer. This relationship provides a means for discussing some of Nietzsche's ideas. Here are two examples, Nietzsche's view of truth: "Truth is arrived at through disbelief and skepticism, not through a child like wishing something was so" and "Dying is hard. I've always felt the final reward of the dead is to die no more." I found discussion of such ideas stimulating and thought provoking.
Having said that, on a downside, at times in the novel, reading about such intellectual ideas became sluggish. In other words, the narrative felt stuck as in places Yalom seems to have had difficulties in progressing the discussion of ideas between Breuer and Nietzsche.
Yalom's novel is not a highly imaginative piece of fiction after all it is faction. Nonetheless it is a well conceived novel with a well delivered story. For a novel that I would not normally read it nonetheless turned out to be a good and worthwhile read.
The novel belongs to that ever more emerging genre known as faction - defined by The Concise Oxford Dictionary as: "a book, film, etc. using real events as the basis for a fictional narrative or dramatization." Think of most of those awful bio-pictures that are churned out by Hollywood and you have got the picture. However, When Nietzsche Wept is certainly not awful. Instead, what the reader gets from Yalom is an intriguing psychological thriller, and a novel of ideas delineated through two real characters namely Josef Breuer and Friedrich Nietzsche.
The novel is set in late nineteenth century Vienna, specifically focusing on the year 1882. The action takes place against a backdrop of a fin de siecle that saw the likes of not just the two protagonists but also Sigmund Frued among others. It was a period that saw significant development in medicine, the emergence of psychoanalysis and a new moral philosophy that focused on the individual. In the novel, Yalom invest his two main characters with a common facet namely two middle aged men obsessed with a much younger woman. In Nietzsche's case it Lou Salome and for Breuer it is Bertha Pappenheim. I suppose inevitably this obsession leads both men to suffer angst. Lou Salome from a sense of guilt or fulfilling her own desire meets the physician Breuer and comes up with a scheme to refer Nietzsche to him for treatment. Breuer and Nietzsche eventually meet and through a long process of negotiation and connivance a tacit agreement is reached that Breuer will treat Nietzsche's ailments but the table is turned and Nietzsche finds himself counselling Breuer. This sets the scene for a very good psychological or preferably intellectual thriller.
Out of this conundrum, Yalom's novel presents a world of intrigue, fascinating characters and multi-layered themes. Just to mention some of the obvious themes to be found in the novel. It is about friendship, the methodological relationship between patient and doctor, the frailty and vulnerability of human beings, the development of medicine and psychoanalysis, and above all it delineates Nietzsche's individual moral philosophy.
Along with Nietzsche, Breuer and Freud, Yalom's novel is peopled with, or at least there is discussion of, geniuses such as Brahams, Bruckner, Wittgenstein, and Wagner. However, it must be said that female characters are not well presented in this novel they merely act as antagonist providing a means for the plot to progress. Yalom's characters function in a world of change and invention yet ironically in some ways they still remain in a world averse to change and bridled by old conventions. Lou Salome's adversity to marriage and her acknowledgement of what Viennese society would think of the menage a trios between her Paul Ree and Nietzsche is testimony to the tension between old and new society.
What makes When Nietzsche Wept outstanding is the relationship between Nietzsche and Breuer. This relationship provides a means for discussing some of Nietzsche's ideas. Here are two examples, Nietzsche's view of truth: "Truth is arrived at through disbelief and skepticism, not through a child like wishing something was so" and "Dying is hard. I've always felt the final reward of the dead is to die no more." I found discussion of such ideas stimulating and thought provoking.
Having said that, on a downside, at times in the novel, reading about such intellectual ideas became sluggish. In other words, the narrative felt stuck as in places Yalom seems to have had difficulties in progressing the discussion of ideas between Breuer and Nietzsche.
Yalom's novel is not a highly imaginative piece of fiction after all it is faction. Nonetheless it is a well conceived novel with a well delivered story. For a novel that I would not normally read it nonetheless turned out to be a good and worthwhile read.
12 people found this helpful
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Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 15 March 2020
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Neitzsche wept after reading about the extensive child abuses carried out, assisted, and covered up by Cheshire police.
One person found this helpful
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Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 29 October 2020
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Loved this book so interesting
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 22 September 2019
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So good. So wise.
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 22 March 2019
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The best
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 30 December 2018
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Arrived as I’d hoped
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 22 May 2017
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I haven't finished reading this yet, but hitherto have found this novel insightful, eloquent and thought-provoking. Yalom gives us a very imaginative take on the inception of talk therapy. I may well increase my star rating to 5 in due course.
