Friedrich_Nietzsche - Untimely_Meditations_(Cambridge_Texts_in_the_History_of_Philosophy__1997)

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Note on the text'Meditations'. Other proposed English renderings include'Thoughts Out of Season' (A. M. Ludovoci and Adrian Collins),'Untimely Considerations' (Werner J. Dannhauer and CatherineZuckert), 'Unmodern Observations' (William Arrowsmith),'Unfashionable Observations' (Richard T. Gray) , 'UnconventionalObservations' (William H. Schaberg) and - last but not least -'''Inopportune Speculations", or more clearly "Essays in ShamSmashing'" (H. L. Mencken). Though there is something to besaid in favour of as well as against - each of these, none seemsclearly superior to Untimely Meditations, which is also the name bywhich these texts are most widely known among anglophonereaders.In order to understand what this title meant to Nietzsche himself,the best course is simply to take note of how he employed it.His first recorded use of the term unzeitgemiisse occurs in a letterto Rohde of 17 August, 1869, where he uses it to 'explain'Wagner's failure to achieve widespread public recognition. Incontrast to those artists who obtain immediate popularity with thepublic, Wagner is described by Nietzsche in this letter as 'standingfirmly rooted in his own power, with his gaze always fixed beyondall that is ephemeral - "untimely" in the best sense of the word' . Asecond clue is provided by the title of one of the books Nietzschechecked out of the University of Basel library in January 1872,that is, just a few months prior to beginning work on the firstUntimely Meditation, and then borrowed again in April, after hehad already started work on Strauss. The book, which he apparentlyconsulted in preparation for his lectures 'On the Futureof Our Educational Institution', was a work by August Bergerentitled Die Idee des Realgymnasium for Freunde und Befdrder h6hererund zeitgemiisser Jugendbildung dargestellt (1845), that is, 'The Ideaof a Practical/Technical High School [there is no real Englishequivalent for the German term Realgymnasium] , Expounded forFriends and Supporters of Higher and Up-To-Date [zeitgemiisser]Secondary Education'. It seems quite likely that Nietzsche's use ofUnzeitgemiisse in his series was intended at least in part ironically, asa parody of the quite common use of the term zeitgemiiss that hehad most recently encountered in Berger's title. Here, Nietzsche'stitle announces, one will encounter an author with the courage tothumb his nose at what is 'in fashion' among 'up-to-date' people.Any doubt about how Nietzsche understood the term 'untimely'is removed by a careful reading of Strauss, which is very largely anxlv
Note on the textattack upon the sovereignty of 'public opinion' as an arbiter oftaste, values and truth itself. (Ours, he reminds us in section 2 ofSchopenhauer as Educator, is 'the age of public opinion'.) Whereasthe slave of public opinion strives always to be 'timely', a declaredcritic of the same will instead flaunt his deliberate 'untimeliness'.As Nietzsche explains in section 8 of Strauss, public opinionprides itself on speaking with a single voice, thereby forcing anyonewho disagrees to adopt a posture of conscious opposition. IfStrauss's The Old and the New Faith can be described (as it isdescribed by Nietzsche) as 'timely', then Nietzsche's attack uponit has to be described as 'untimely'.There are also two other senses, both expounded upon byNietzsche in the foreword to the second Meditation, in whichthese texts might be considered 'untimely', and both are relatedto the perspective from which their author claims to conduct hiscritique of 'timely' ideas and institutions. In the first instance,Nietzsche writes as an 'untimely' author in the sense that hewrites as one who is well-acquainted and'1mbued with the spirit ofGreek antiquity. He even maintains that it is one of the chiefvirtues of his own discipline of classical philology that it can - orat least should - provide one with a much needed, 'classical' perspectiveon the present day. Observations made possible by sucha perspective are perforce 'untimely', because, as Nietzscheremarks in section 2 of Schopenhauer as Educator, modern menmust always appear wretched in comparison with the ancients.Second, his perspective on the present is 'untimely' preciselybecause of his urgent concern with the fu ture. Anyone as preoccupiedas Nietzsche with the possibility of a new cultural rebirth hasno choice but to be a 'fighter' not only against the past, but alsoagainst the present. (A similar point is made in the fourthMeditation in praise of Wagner's 'art of the future'.) Nietzsche'sown Meditations are therefore 'untimely' because in them he presumesto evaluate the present from the standpoints of both thepast and the future. But there is also, as already noted, a constantnote of transparent irony in this use of the term 'untimely', sincethe author believes that nothing is more needed by our own age -and thus nothing is more 'timely' than precisely the kind of'untimeliness' represented by these very texts, a point that isaffirmed in the concluding paragraph of Strauss.Finally, Nietzsche thought of himself as 'untimely' in another,more personal sense, the same sense in which every originalxlvi
Page 5 and 6: CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESSCambridge
Page 10: IIntroductionin particular had a sp
Page 18 and 19: IntroductionHuman, that by the time
Page 20: Introductionanything disingenuous a
Page 23 and 24: IntroductionUntimely Meditations, i
Page 25 and 26: IntroductionIn 1886, after he had a
Page 27 and 28: Introductionhence to significant pa
Page 29 and 30: IntroductionPeter Gast at the very
Page 31 and 32: IntroductionBasel and the academy f
Page 34: Introduction25 Letter to Malwinda v
Page 37 and 38: Chronology18 January 1871Mid:June 1
Page 39 and 40: Chronology18 December 1879LateJuly
Page 41 and 42: Further readingThe standard German
Page 43 and 44: Further readingPeter Berkowitz, Nie
Page 45: Note on the textR. J. Hollingdale's
Page 50: Untimely Meditations
Page 54 and 55: 1Public opinion in Germany seems al
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Foreword'In any case, I hate everyt
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Untimely Meditationsbe without this
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Untimely MeditationsAnd that is the
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Untimely MeditationsIithat they are
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Untimely Meditationscovered any par
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Untimely Meditationsthe semi-thinke
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Untimely Meditationsperish and at b
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Untimely Meditationsand their perpe
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Untimely Meditationsthe hieroglyphi
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Untimely Meditationsthat he does no
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Untimely Meditationsible, against t
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Untimely Meditationsevent is a joke
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Untimely Meditationshas to be caugh
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Untimely Meditationsanything of tha
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Untimely Meditationsof all and in t
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Untimely Meditations5But I have und
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Untimely Meditationswhat we all do
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1'[...Untimely Meditationsrigid but
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Schopenhauer as educatorception and
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Schopenhauer as educatorthe more of
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Schopenhauer as educatorthose named
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Untimely Meditationsunfruitful - a
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Untimely Meditationssimilar wandere
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Untimely Meditationsso as to sweep
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Untimely Meditationslook. Conversel
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Untimely Meditationsmanner of moder
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Untimely MeditationsExperience unfo
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IIUntimely Meditationsregard to how
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Untimely Meditationsappearance is s
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Untimely Meditationswanted to say:
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Untimely MeditationsI. !that it is
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Untimely Meditationsany tree ever b
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AVNER OIL EXPLORATION (LIMITED PART
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Untimely Meditations2It would be st
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Untimely Meditationsin the unaltera
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Untimely Meditationspower, fame, pl
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Untimely Meditationshow uncommon su
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Untimely Meditationsmost vital of q
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Untimely MeditationsWagnerian refor
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Untimely Meditationsmore evil and r
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Untimely Meditationsremote regions:
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Untimely Meditationssort; and he th
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Untimely Meditationsomnipresence of
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-."Untimely Meditationsreturns home
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Untimely Meditationsmanifestation.
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Untimely Meditationslonging to desc
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i\! -, I, I,I!-lnUntimely Meditatio
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iIIUntimely Meditationscreativity;
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IUntimely MeditationsIIperformance
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Untimely MeditationsOne hardly need
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Untimely Meditationsfor generations
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Untimely MeditationsIf we venture t
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Untimely MeditationsWotan by refere
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Glossary of namesGOTISCHED, Johann
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Glossary of namesany other art. A w
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Notesp. 44, 1. 12 Voltaire (p. 219)
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Notesof The Ring of the Niebelungen
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Indexabstraction, and fe eling 81-2
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Indexegoismand history 71, 75indivi
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Indexindependence (cont.)and Wagner
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IndexOn the uses and disadvantages
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IndexScience (cont.)and greed 169hi
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Indexwill (cont.)to live 1 10, 145t
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Friedrich_Nietzsche - Untimely_Meditations_(Cambridge_Texts_in_the_History_of_Philosophy__1997)

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