Friedrich Nietzsche

At their first meeting in Rome in 1882, Friedrich Nietzsche greeted the twenty-one-year-old Loandrea-Salomé (1861–1937) with these foreboding words, laden with expectation: "From what two stars have we fallen to meet here?" Indeed, there is no doubt that the stunningly beautiful young woman made a powerful impression on the then thirty-seven-year-old "philosopher of solitude." An impression that prompted him to propose to her immediately after their meeting, before leaving Rome, but the young woman decided to postpone her response. On their second meeting, Nietzsche and the young woman climbed Rome‘s Sacro Monte together, and on their way down, the philosopher experienced a profound euphoria and later thanked his companion for "the most enchanting and captivating dream of my life." "Our conversations and conversations lead us involuntarily into the abyss," Lou once said to Nietzsche. "You get the impression that you are climbing in isolation to a vantage point from which you can look down into the depths." From this profound and precise understanding of the extended psychological landscape of Nietzsche‘s inner life, Lou set out to write this book, in which she offers a psychological portrait that is as critical as it is sympathetic, of the philosopher whose frankness she shared like no one else.