Re: Joy of this, Joy of that

On Tue, 10 Dec 2024 10:20:41 +0100, D wrote:

Hmm, didn't they print some Nietzsche too and send out to the soldiers
in WW1? Hmm, maybe not.

Wikipedia claims about 150,000 copies of Zarathustra were given out.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friedrich_Nietzsche#cite_note-300

The Kaufmann citation is from 'Nietzsche Philosopher, Psychologist,
Antichrist' and says

"Feelings ran high both in Germany, where Zarathustra was pushed to a new
sales record as a "must" for the soldier's knapsack, and in England and
the United States, where Nietzsche began to be considered as the apostle
of German ruthlessness and barbarism."

In his notes on his translation of Zarathustra Kaufmann says there are a
few gems in the mire, a lot of very poor writing, and difficulties
translating the puns and so forth. He also trashes Thomas Common's 1909
translation, saying at one point he wasn't sure if Common spoke either
English or German very well.

I wouldn't call Kaufmann a hostile translator but he wasn't a real fan.
Being a Jew who fled Germany in 1939 he really hated Foerster-Nietzsche.
He became the Nietzsche expert for a generation but he needs to be taken
with a grain of salt.

How much of it is Nietzsche and how much did his sister change?

He had left a few notes for a future work but never followed through.
Foerster-Nietzsche used the rough outline sort the section headings and
collected notes and jottings that seemed to fit. She may have edited some
of those but the real argument is she promoted the collection as
Nietzsche's final magnum opus, rather than Ecce Homo. I have Common's
translation of Zarathustra which has a foreword by her. She throws in a
few snippets from 'Ecce Homo' but tried to downplay it since some of it
doesn't support her agenda.

fwiw, while Kaudmann might have been full of himself when criticizing
Common, Common's translation reads like the King James bible with all the
archaic thee's and thou's.