Sep 18, 2021
We seek relief from our "Nietzsche fever" with Nietzsche scholar Geoff Waite, professor of German Studies at Cornell University. How does one go about reading Nietzsche? How does one get out of Nietzsche's system, and not fall into its abyss? The influence of Nietzsche is arguably more profound than even Freud or Marx. Nietzsche/anism has "won" in the sense that a world of rank order and capitalist exploitation is all around us. In that sense, Nietzsche/anism is the air that we breathe.
It is necessary for the left to read Nietzsche because to do so is to understand the enemy, to understand the profoundly elusive and esoteric strategy he developed in his philosophy. In this conversation, we discuss the legacy of Nietzsche for today's left, how to read Nietzsche, the recent 1,000 page translation of Aristocratic Rebel by the Marxist historian and philosopher Domenico Losurdo, and Geoff's strategy for deciphering Nietzsche/anism.
Geoff Waite is the author of Nietzsche′s Corps/e Aesthetics, Politics, Prophecy, or, the Spectacular Technoculture of Everyday Life
Warning: this may be a conversation for everyone and no one
Music: "Your Red Dress" by Alaska in Winter and Mihâly Vig's music from Béla Tarr's film "A Torinoi Lo" (The Turin Horse)
Photo: The "Yung Nietzsche" (without beard, lol)