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The Close Relationship between
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T. H. Brobjer
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The Close
Relationship between
Nietzsche’s Two Most
Important Books
T.H. Brobjer
The Close Relationship between Nietzsche’s Two
Most Important Books
T. H. Brobjer
The Close
Relationship
between Nietzsche’s
Two Most Important
Books
T. H. Brobjer
Department of the History of Ideas
Uppsala University
Uppsala, Sweden
ISBN 978-3-031-18730-8 ISBN 978-3-031-18731-5 (eBook)

https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-18731-5
© The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2023

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To Mattias
Contents
1 Introduction:
The Close Relation between Thus Spoke
Zarathustra and the Revaluation of All Values 1
2 The
Common Origin of Thus Spoke Zarathustra and the
Revaluation of All Values 33
3 The
Role and Nature of Thus Spoke Zarathustra (I–III)
in Nietzsche’s Corpus 49
4 Values
and Revaluation of Values in Thus Spoke
Zarathustra 87
5 Nietzsche’s
Philosophical Plans and Work after Having
Finished Zarathustra (I–III)103
6 The
Relation of the Fourth Part of Thus Spoke
Zarathustra to the Rest of That Work and to the
Revaluation of All Values135
7 The
Idea of Eternal Recurrence in Zarathustra and
in the Revaluation of All Values147
vii
viii Contents
8 The Relation between Thus Spoke Zarathustra and The

Antichrist177
9 The Relation between Zarathustra and the Planned The

Free Spirit ( Book 2 of the Revaluation)199
10 The Relation between Zarathustra and The Immoralist

(Book 3 of the Revaluation)251
11 Th
e Relation between Zarathustra and Dionysos
philosophos (Book 4 of the Revaluation of all Values)283
Epilogue321
Bibliography of Nietzsche-Literature325
Selected Bibliography of Nietzsche’s Works in English327
General Bibliography331
Index335
List of Figures
Fig. 7.1 The role of the idea of eternal recurrence as a test of values 172
Fig. 7.2 The consequences of Nietzsche’s idea of eternal recurrence
and revaluation of values 174
Fig. 11.1 Schematic Outline of How Nietzsche Regarded the
Contemporary Value-Crisis and His Solution by Means of
Revaluation of Values and Eternal Recurrence Leading to
Higher Humans with Life-Affirming Values, and with No
Need of Christianity, Morality and Metaphysics 305
ix
List of Tables
Table 1.1 The Evolution of the Planned Title of Nietzsche’s magnum

opus, from the Autumn 1881 to December 1888 7
Table 1.2 Views of Nietzsche’s Late Books 11
Table 1.3 A comparison of the last draft for the Hauptwerk under the
title Der Wille zur Macht, 26 August 1888, with one of the
several almost identical notes for the Hauptwerk under the
title Umwerthung aller Werthe, written in September and
October, but which does not contain any chapter titles 22
Table 1.4 A Constructed Average of Many Late Notes for the
Chapters and Contents of the Three Last Volumes of the
Umwerthung aller Werthe from the period 1886 to 1888 24
Table 1.5 Chapter titles for Umwerthung aller Werthe from earlier in
1888, here classified according to the book divisions from
Sept.–Nov. 1888 25
Table 2.1 The development of both Also sprach Zarathustra and the
Hauptwerk from plans for a work entitled Mittag und
Ewigkeit, which itself was a development from his discovery
of the idea of eternal recurrence. Usually only the first use
of other titles than “Midday and Eternity” is recorded here 37
Table 5.1 The possible sorts of book(s) signified by Nietzsche’s
references to a work entitled “Eternal Recurrence” (as title
or subtitle), from (1881) 1884 to late 1888 125
Table 7.1 The idea of eternal recurrence according to Nietzsche 150
xi
xii List of Tables
Table 9.1 The relation between the main themes of Also sprach
Zarathustra and the main themes of the unfinished
Umwerthung aller Werthe202
Table 9.2 The relation between the last planned chapters of the
unfinished Umwerthung aller Werthe (Volumes 2–4) and
Also sprach Zarathustra204
Table 9.3 Nietzsche’s drafts of tables of contents from Late 1887 and
1888 for volume 3 of the unfinished Umwerthung aller
Werthe, usually with the title The Free Spirit: Critique of
Philosophy as a Nihilistic Movement208
Table 9.4 The planned chapter titles of The Free Spirit in 1887/88
divided into three themes (the chronologically later titles
are at the top and the earlier ones at the bottom of the table) 220
Table 9.5 Table of the development of notes, themes and chapter-
titles for The Free spirit in 1887/88 221
Table 9.6 Continuities and new developments concerning Truth,
Nihilism, etc between Also sprach Zarathustra and the
planned The Free Spirit (Umwerthung aller Werthe: 2) 246
Table 10.1 Nietzsche’s drafts of tables of contents from late 1887 and
1888 for volume 3 of the unfinished Umwerthung aller
Werthe, usually entitled The Immoralist252
Table 10.2 The twelve chapter titles on morality (from four draft table
of contents), divided into three themes, for The Immoralist
in 1887/88 264
Table 10.3 Table of the development of notes, themes and chapter-
titles for The Immoralist in 1887/88 268
Table 10.4 Continuities and new developments concerning morality
and virtue etc between Also sprach Zarathustra and the
planned The Immoralist (Umwerthung aller Werthe: 3) 274
Table 11.1 Nietzsche’s Drafts of Tables of Contents from Late 1887
and 1888 for Volume 4 of the Unfinished Umwerthung
aller Werthe, Dionysos philosophos, with the Tables of
Contents in Reverse Chronological Order, and Organized
According to the Last One 289
Table 11.2 Continuities and New Developments Concerning Eternal
Recurrence, Higher Humans, etc. between Also sprach
Zarathustra and the Planned Dionysos philosophos
(Umwerthung aller Werthe: 4) 309
1
Introduction: The Close Relation
between Thus Spoke Zarathustra
and the Revaluation of All Values
1.1 Introduction
Strangely enough, the two works by Nietzsche which he regarded as by
far his two most important ones, and which he repeatedly emphasized as
such, have received little attention in modern academic scholarship.
Furthermore, the relation between these two works has received almost
none at all although that relation is close and fundamental. The reason
for the limited attention is in part due to that the one work, Also sprach
Zarathustra (1883–84), is poetical and metaphorical, and is difficult to
use academically, the other work, the planned Revaluation of All Values
(Umwerthung aller Werthe), was left unfinished when he collapsed 3
January 1889, having only finished one of its planned four volumes. In
addition, they seem to be separated by almost five years and by Nietzsche
writing four other books.
Nevertheless, much can be gained by studying them and the relation-
ship between them. As I will show in this study, we can know more about
the Revaluation of All Values than is usually believed, and there is a very
close relation between the two works, which distinguish them from his
other books. Treating them together leads to synergetic effects, and in the
© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2023 1

T. H. Brobjer, The Close Relationship between Nietzsche’s Two Most Important Books,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-18731-5_1
2 T. H. Brobjer
end we can say more about each of these works individually than before,
and much about their unexamined relation, as well as about the mature
Nietzsche’s philosophy generally.
It may seem odd to compare the poetical Also sprach Zarathustra (the
first three books, written in 1883 and early 1884) with the incomplete
project of the Umwerthung aller Werthe, the first volume, Der Antichrist,
written five years later in September 1888 (the three further planned vol-
umes were never written due to Nietzsche’s mental collapse).1 However,
perhaps surprisingly, they have much in common and contain many simi-
larities and kinships. This has not been well recognized. Most importantly,
these two works were, according to Nietzsche, his most important, funda-
mental and future-directed works. Compared to them, his other books
were of little importance, mere preparations for these two works, clarifica-
tion of them and/or resting-places from conceiving and writing them.
This makes the study of Also sprach Zarathustra and the Revaluation of All
Values, and, as I will argue here, of the connectedness and relation between
them, all the more important. I will show that they have the same origin,
they are both centered around the idea of eternal recurrence and the reval-
uation of all values, and that they have many, if not most other main
themes in common, in one of them Nietzsche uses Zarathustra as his
spokesman, in the other Dionysos as his ‘teacher’. The two works were not
separated by five years. They almost certainly had a common origin (as we
will examine in Chap. 2), and at least from 1884 onwards Nietzsche
explicitly closely connects them, and regards Also sprach Zarathustra as the
“entrance hall” and the Revaluation of All Values, which he calls his mag-
num opus (Hauptwerk), as “the main building” (as we will see when we
examine Nietzsche’s letters in Chap. 5). The fact that Nietzsche praises
Also sprach Zarathustra so exorbitantly in Ecce homo, as well as quoting
long passages from it, has been understood by almost all commentators as
Nietzsche’s exaggerated view of Also sprach Zarathustra—this may still be
1
Many scholars assume, following Mazzini Montinari, that the three further books of the
Hauptwerk were not written because Nietzsche changed his mind at the end of October 1888 or
later, and decided not to write them. I will show below that this is not correct. Furthermore, even
if it was correct, it does not change the fact that Nietzsche planned and worked hard on a magnum
opus (Hauptwerk) already from 1881, and with more intensity from early 1884 until at least late in
1888. All this time he aimed and worked hard at producing a four volume magnum opus.
1 Introduction: The Close Relation between Thus Spoke… 3
true—but one needs also to realize that Nietzsche does it because he

regards it and the work for which Ecce homo is preparatory, the Revaluation
of All Values, as closely related, with Also sprach Zarathustra as an almost
necessary entrance hall for the comprehension of the meaning and impor-
tance of the Revaluation of All Values. He therefore wants to tempt or
‘force’ readers of Ecce homo to read Zarathustra. In this study, we will use
Also sprach Zarathustra, in line with Nietzsche’s intentions, to better
understand the written and planned contents of Umwerthung aller Werthe,
and the Umwerthung aller Werthe to better understand and bring fourth
the philosophical contents of Also sprach Zarathustra.
Surprisingly, considering that Nietzsche is so explicit about it, an
awareness of the importance and relatedness of these two works has not
been the general view during the past half-century. Since the 1970s,
Nietzsche’s plans for a Hauptwerk have been ignored and denied, and Also
sprach Zarathustra, as a poetical and metaphorical work, has often been
ignored or treated dismissively as highly overwrought and pathetic by
philosophers and in academic research. Others read it, in spite of
Nietzsche’s strong objection, as mere literature and fail to take into
account its philosophical contents. Der Antichrist, his penultimate book,
but meant to be published after the last written one, Ecce homo, is not one
of his most appreciated books, and is frequently regarded as too polemi-
cal and as too narrow in scope, containing essentially merely critique of
Christianity, much of which he already had stated in earlier books.
Nietzsche had far-developed plans to write three further volumes of the
Umwerthung aller Werthe, but due to his mental collapse, they were never
written, and the fairly detailed plans for them have unfortunately largely
been ignored in recent scholarship and research.
Using Also sprach Zarathustra and Nietzsche’s late drafts for the
Umwerthung aller Werthe we are able to get a good picture of where
Nietzsche’s late philosophy was heading. Furthermore, both works, Also
sprach Zarathustra and the Umwerthung aller Werthe were conceived of at
the same general time. It seems that they both began as one project, and
the title of that project seems to have been Midday and Eternity,2 a title
2
KSA 9, 11[195]. This note from August 1881 contains the first reference to Zarathustra, and was
written just weeks after Nietzsche had discovered the idea of eternal recurrence.
4 T. H. Brobjer
and theme that continued to echo in both these book-projects. The great
similarity and kinship of the two works is reflected in that they (or the
original single project) began as an attempt to present the new idea of
eternal recurrence and the consequences of this hypothesis. Eternal recur-
rence—the existential question of how one would respond to the idea
that one would have to re-live one’s life again and again in exactly the
same way (as a test of values, as discussed in Chap. 7 below)—always
remained the principle idea of Also sprach Zarathustra (in Ecce homo,
Nietzsche writes: “The basic conception of the work [Zarathustra]—the
thought of eternal recurrence”), and this idea was all along planned to be
the center-piece of either the whole or the fourth volume of the Hauptwerk
(for a while it had eternal recurrence as a subtitle and later it was used as
the subtitle to the fourth volume). Equally important for both works is
the attempt at revaluating values. A further principle idea of Also sprach
Zarathustra is the concept of the Übermensch. Nietzsche rarely uses this
term after the Zarathustra period, but the role of the closely related
“higher humans”, “exceptions”, “those that have turned out well”, “law-
givers”, etc., was planned to be prominent in volume 4 of the Umwerthung
aller Werthe. Both works also begin with the death of God and its conse-
quences as both a crisis of value (nihilism), but also as opening up the
possibility that humankind, through self-determination, could therefore
enter a new higher phase of human history. Other major common themes
are critique of morality (immoralism), that that which one thinks and
does should come from oneself (existentialism), the importance of striv-
ing, and striving beyond oneself, the importance of being creative, and in
being future-oriented. They also share a large number of other
minor themes.
These two works are also similar in that in both of them, there exist a
spokesman other than Nietzsche himself, Zarathustra and Dionysos
respectively, and that is the case in no other book by Nietzsche. It is true
that in the former work Zarathustra is the supreme and only spokesman
(Nietzsche elsewhere makes very clear that Zarathustra is just another
name for his own),3 while in the latter work Nietzsche mainly planned to
3
Nietzsche frequently refers to Zarathustra as his son, etc., and in Ecce homo he even explicitly says
that the name of Zarathustra can be exchanged for his own.
speak in his own voice, but emphasizing that Dionysos (as sort of Über-
Zarathustra) has been his teacher, and he planned to entitle the last vol-
ume Dionysos or Dionysos philosophos.
The most fundamental difference between these two works is foremost
one of style, the poetical and metaphorical in Also sprach Zarathustra as
opposed to the more focused, philosophical and treatise-like in Der
Antichrist and the rest of the planned Umwerthung aller Werthe. Another
possible fundamental difference is one of scope. Also sprach Zarathustra
has an enormously broad scope (and is often difficult to interpret) and
can be regarded as life-philosophy while Der Antichrist is mostly limited
to a fairly narrow and focused scope of criticizing Christianity.4 The
planned second book, mostly entitled The Free Spirit, was meant to criti-
cize theoretical philosophy, i.e. epistemology and metaphysics, as well as
treat nihilism in general. The third book, called The Immoralist, was
meant to criticize morality and human ideals (the essence of so-called
practical philosophy). The fourth book, Dionysos or Dionysos philosophos
was meant to be more affirmative, presenting new alternative values to
those he had criticized, and centered on the idea of eternal recurrence.
See Tables 1.3–1.5.
In the later chapters of this study, we will examine some of the conse-
quences of realizing the close link between these two works. Some of the
questions we will answer in this study are:
What is the place of Also sprach Zarathustra among Nietzsche’s corpus?

Why did Nietzsche regard Also sprach Zarathustra as so profound and
important (in contrast to the view of most commentators today)?
What is the role and place of the fourth book of Also sprach Zarathustra?
What was the origin of Also sprach Zarathustra and of the Hauptwerk?
Can they have a common origin?
What was Nietzsche’s view of the relationship between these book-
projects, Also sprach Zarathustra and the Umwerthung aller Werthe?
Why did he closely connect them?
4
However, considering the enormous influence of Christianity on European history, culture and
values, and Nietzsche sees this better than most, this is actually far from a limited and narrow theme.
6 T. H. Brobjer
Why was eternal recurrence so important for Nietzsche—and what is its

role in these works?
Why was a revaluation of all values so important for Nietzsche—and
what is its role in these works?
Can we learn from Also sprach Zarathustra and late notes something about
the planned contents of the unwritten volumes of the Umwerthung
aller Werthe?
1.2 Nietzsche’s Plans for a Hauptwerk

Nietzsche had for a long time, close to five years, at least between the
spring of 1884 until late in 1888, planned and worked hard on writing
notes for a Hauptwerk, a magnum opus, in which he was going to present
his philosophy in a more structured way than he had so far done. In fact,
as we will examine in the next chapter, Nietzsche seems already from
immediately after his discovery of the idea of eternal recurrence in August
1881 to have considered writing a main theoretical magnum opus cen-
tered on this idea. Already from the start, the idea of eternal recurrence
constituted its most important theme, supplemented by Nietzsche’s con-
viction that we need to revalue all values. There are a very large number
of drafts of titles for this project in Nietzsche’s notebooks, far more than
for any other projected or realized book. Already this fact alone illustrates
the extent to which Nietzsche for many years planned and worked on this
Hauptwerk. Nietzsche used the German word Hauptwerk (magnum opus
or main work) about half a dozen times when referring to this project,
but most frequently he referred to it by means of the different planned
titles and other more indirect means, including as his “major task” and
the “purpose” of his life. On the whole, there is significant consistency
between the different drafts, and on several instances it is a previous sub-
title that has become the new main title. There are good reasons to regard
these different titles, listed in Table 1.1, as referring to essentially the
same planned Hauptwerk.
This project of writing a magnum opus, and its relevance for Nietzsche’s
thought and for our interpretations of his work and individual books, has
received far too little attention since the 1970s. It is surprising that this
Table 1.1 The Evolution of the Planned Title of Nietzsche’s magnum opus, from
the Autumn 1881 to December 1888
Autumn 1881-Summer 1885 → Aug. 1885-Aug. 1888 → Sept. -Dec. 1888
3-5 books (but mostly 4) Consisting of 4 books Consisting of 4 books
Many different titles Consistent title Consistent title (earlier subtitle)
Not called Hauptwerk, but Called Hauptwerk Called Hauptwerk
e.g. ’Haupt-Bau’ (from 1884)
Die Wiederkunft des Gleichen

Die ewige Wiederkunft
Mittag und Ewigkeit
Die neue Rangordnung → Der Wille zur Macht → Umwerthung aller Werthe
Philosophie der Zukunft
Die Unschuld des Werdens
Dionysos
The Recurrence of the Same

The Eternal Recurrence
Midday and Eternity
The New Order of Rank → The Will to Power → Revaluation of All Values
Philosophy of the Future
The Innocence of Becoming
Dionysus
project and its consequences has received such little attention in the
scholarly literature, and still more surprising, considering that it coloured
and partly determined much of Nietzsche’s life and work during the last
five years of his active life, that it has received almost no in-depth discus-
sion in the many biographies, including also the recent biographies of
Nietzsche. Nietzsche spent much more time and effort on this project
than on any of his published books after Also sprach Zarathustra as I have
shown and argued in my Nietzsche’s ‘Ecce Homo’ and the Revaluation of All
Values (Bloomsbury, 2021).
However we regard it and its outcome, this project greatly affected
Nietzsche’s writing also of the books that were not part of it, such as
Beyond Good and Evil (Jenseits von Gut und Böse), On the Genealogy of
Morals (Zur Genealogie der Moral), The Case of Wagner (Der Fall Wagner)
and Twilight of the Idols (Götzen-Dämmerung), and we need to take this
plan and this prospective work into account when we read and ana-
lyze them.
8 T. H. Brobjer
Not only did Also sprach Zarathustra and the Hauptwerk arise out of
the same thoughts, notes and drafts of books—and for both of them the
kernel is the idea of eternal recurrence and the consequence of the death
of God (that is, nihilism, and the overcoming of it, or, expressed differ-
ently, that a new foundation of values was needed), including a new con-
ception of man, as well as the revaluation of values. This close kinship of
the two works remains an important fact also in the later 1880s and
explains why he mentions both Also sprach Zarathustra and the
Umwerthung aller Werthe at the end of Götzen-Dämmerung: “I have given
mankind the most profound book it possesses, my Zarathustra: I shall
shortly give it the most independent”, the latter which refers to the
Hauptwerk. It also explains why Also sprach Zarathustra is so prominent
in Ecce homo, written as a preface to the Umwerthung aller Werthe, why he
can write in that work, Ecce homo, that he has said nothing now which
could not have been said by Zarathustra (he regarded both of them, Also
sprach Zarathustra and Ecce homo, as entrance halls of or prefaces to the
Hauptwerk), as well as why he can claim that perhaps the only readers
who can understand the first volume of the Umwerthung aller Werthe, i.e.
Der Antichrist, are “the readers who understand my Zarathustra”.5 I will
argue for an at least in part new interpretation of the meaning of the idea
of eternal recurrence and why it was so important to Nietzsche, by relat-
ing it explicitly to the revaluation of all values, which not only was the
planned title of the Hauptwerk, and earlier its subtitle, and constituted
the essence of the late Nietzsche’s philosophy.
Furthermore, in 1887 and 1888 Nietzsche seems to have regarded the
fourth book of Also sprach Zarathustra as a bridge between the two works
(as we will discuss in Chap. 6).
There are also many parallels between Also sprach Zarathustra and the
Umwerthung aller Werthe. For example, when Nietzsche received the first
review of Also sprach Zarathustra he was highly pleased and wrote in a let-
ter to Peter Gast, 26 August 1883:
5
Der Antichrist, Foreword. The translator, R.J. Hollingdale, selected to have Zarathustra in italics
(and thus referring to Also sprach Zarathustra), but in the original German it is not in italics. The
difference is minor.
Also the first review of the first [part of ] Zarathustra, which has been sent
to me (by a Christian and antisemite, and, oddly enough, written in jail)
gives me encouragement for also there the public position, the only one of
my positions which can be understood, that is, my relation to Christianity,
is immediately well and distinctly understood. “Aut Christus, aut
Zarathustra!” [Latin for: Either Christ or Zarathustra] Or more clearly, it is
about the old and long promised coming of the antichrist—thus it is
understood by the reader.6
This is basically what Nietzsche examines and argues for, using history,
philosophy and values (including polemics and the revaluation of values)
five years later in the first book of the Umwerthung aller Werthe, Der
Antichrist.
1.3 The Role and Meaning of Nietzsche’s

Later Books
The conventional way to read or study Nietzsche is to regard his about 18
books as separate and individual works (except that some of them are
connected by Nietzsche, followed by later commentators, including the
four Untimely Meditations [Unzeitgemäße Betrachtungen], the three vol-
umes of Human, All Too Human [Menschliches, Allzumenschliches] and the
four Also sprach Zarathustra-books, although Nietzsche primarily con-
nects the first three of them). It is true that Nietzsche’s thought devel-
oped, and sometimes his books are divided into the early (Die Geburt der
Tragödie and the four Unzeitgemäße Betrachtungen), the middle
(Menschliches, Allzumenschliches (three books), Morgenröthe and Die
fröhliche Wissenschaft) and the late books (Also sprach Zarathustra, Jenseits
von Gut und Böse, Zur Genealogie der Moral, Der Fall Wagner, Götzen-
Dämmerung, Der Antichrist and Ecce homo), but none of them are treated
as much more important than the rest, although almost all commentators
agree that the later books are in general more important than the earlier
6
Nietzsche to Gast, 26 August 1883. Compare also Nietzsche’s letter to Overbeck from the
same date.
10 T. H. Brobjer
ones. Most academic philosophers in the Anglo-Saxon tradition tend to

prefer Zur Genealogie der Moral and lately Jenseits von Gut und Böse before
all the other books. Of the later books, Der Fall Wagner and Der Antichrist
are usually regarded as too focused on themes outside philosophy proper,
on (Wagnerian) aesthetics and Christianity, respectively. Götzen-
Dämmerung ought to be a contender with Jenseits von Gut und Böse and
Zur Genealogie der Moral for the attention of philosophers, but is fre-
quently regarded as too short and too concentrated to be sufficiently use-
ful to make comprehensible the late Nietzsche’s manner of philosophizing,
while Ecce homo is frequently regarded as a non-philosophical autobiog-
raphy (while it actually is much better and more correctly regarded as
written as a foreword to the Umwerthung aller Werthe, that is, not a
backward-looking autobiography, but as a forward-looking presentation
of himself and why he is able to revalue values when others seem not even
to see the problem, associated with the death of God, nihilism, life-
denying values and morality).7 See Table 1.2.
There are good reasons to defend the value, profundity and impor-
tance of the late Nietzsche’s most philosophical books, Jenseits von Gut
und Böse, Zur Genealogie der Moral and Götzen-Dämmerung—but in this
context, and from Nietzsche’s point of view, they were of minor impor-
tance as compared to Also sprach Zarathustra and the Umwerthung
aller Werthe.
Jenseits von Gut und Böse, which many commentators today, with good
reasons, argue is his best, most philosophical and most comprehensive
book, was in fact written as a recuperation from the work on Also sprach
Zarathustra (and the work with the Hauptwerk), using mainly less impor-
tant notes and working material, and concerned with less important and
more timely questions than that which he worked on for his Hauptwerk.
For Nietzsche, Jenseits von Gut und Böse was a less radical and fundamen-
tal work than Also sprach Zarathustra and the planned Umwerthung aller
Werthe (as reflected in that his discussion of Jenseits von Gut und Böse in
Ecce homo is on less than two pages, actually only one page).
7
I have attempted to make such studies of Ecce homo and Götzen-Dämmerung with my Nietzsche’s
‘Ecce Homo’ and the Revaluation of All Values: Dionysian versus Christian Values (2021) and the
forthcoming ‘Twilight of the Idols’ and Nietzsche’s Late Philosophy: Toward a Revaluation of Values.
Table 1.2 Views of Nietzsche’s Late Books
(i) The conventional view: Each book is regarded as separate and independent
1881 1882 1883-1885 1886 1887 1888 1888 1888 1888

Morgen- Die fröhliche Also sprach Jenseits Zur Der Fall Götzen- Der Ecce
röthe Wissenschaft Zarathustra von Gut Genealogie Wagner Dämmerung Antichrist homo
(I-IV) und Böse der Moral
(ii) Nietzsche’s view: Also sprach Zarathustra and the Umwerthung aller Werthe are regarded
as much more fundamental than the rest (which are regarded as either preliminaryor prefaces
to them or as commentaries to them).We will examine and follow this view in this study.
Also sprach Ecce Umwerthung …

Zarathustra homo aller Werthe
(I-III) I: Der
Antichrist
[with 3 further
planned books]
Götzen-
Dämmerung
Morgen- Die Jenseits Zur Der
röthe fröhliche von Genealogie Fall
Wissenschaft Gut der Moral Wagner
und
Böse
Note that this is in many ways implies the opposite to what many
English-language commentators assume and argue in regard to Nietzsche’s
thought and Nachlass (notes). Nietzsche saved his more important notes,
from the period 1881 to 1888, for use on especially his work on the
Hauptwerk (as we will discuss in Chap. 9), and in 1886 used the less
important notes for writing Jenseits von Gut und Böse. Jing Huang has
recently written an excellent paper on how Nietzsche’s notes have been
viewed in the Anglo-Saxon world, but in truth, her argument should be
further radicalized (Table 1.2).8
The fourth book of Also sprach Zarathustra is not included in (ii) since
it was not published (its role is discussed in Chap. 6).
The most important differences between the two interpretations are
that in the latter (i.e. in Nietzsche’s view):
8
Jing Huang, “Did Nietzsche want his notes burned? Some reflections on the Nachlass problem”,
British Journal of the History of Philosophy 27, 1194–1214 (2019).
12 T. H. Brobjer
1. Two works are regarded as much more important than the rest—and
both of these works have received relatively little attention in modern
Nietzsche scholarship
2. Ecce homo is regarded as foreword to the Umwerthung aller Werthe
(and meant to be published before Der Antichrist). The book is not
merely a backward-looking autobiography, but more preparatory and
forward-pointing to the coming Hauptwerk
3. Nietzsche’s corpus is not completed—further volumes of the
Umwerthung aller Werthe were planned and far developed during
many years
4. Der Antichrist is not separate and self-contained, but the first volume
of four of the Umwerthung aller Werthe
5. Götzen-Dämmerung is not a separate and self-contained work, but
based on excerpts from material related to the Umwerthung aller
Werthe, selected and written to tempt and prepare readers for that
work—he considered as subtitle for it several variants of “My
Philosophy in Extract”
6. Also sprach Zarathustra consists of three books, not four. Nietzsche
regarded this book as his most important published book, and as an
entrance hall to the forthcoming Umwerthung aller Werthe
7. Nietzsche came to regard the fourth book of Zarathustra as a bridge
between Also sprach Zarathustra and the Umwerthung aller Werthe in
1887 and 1888
Nietzsche claims in Ecce homo that he wrote the first three parts of Thus
Spoke Zarathustra in about ten intensive and inspired days each (the first
and second parts were written in January and July 1883, the third part in
January 1884, and the fourth part during January-early February 1885,
and published in May and September 1883, April 1884 and the fourth in
a small private edition of 45 copies in April 1885, respectively). This
claim of having written them in ten days each may in some ways be true,
but it also gives the wrong impression. He had found the fundamental
idea of the work already in August 1881 when he ‘discovered’ the idea of
eternal recurrence,9 and at least by 1882 he knew that he was going to

write a work like Thus Spoke Zarathustra.10 His notes from 1882 onwards
contain extensive drafts for such a work, and some of his extensive read-
ing at the time shows that he was searching for ideas and impulses for
such a work. The work is also much more consistent and closely related
and argued than one would assume if it had been written in just a few
inspired days. Nietzsche had prepared the first book for over a year, but
the pieces fell together in ten intensive creative days. Reading Nietzsche’s
notebooks from this period often makes the philosophical (i.e. the non-
literary and non-metaphorical) contents of the work more visible.
What is the place of Also sprach Zarathustra among Nietzsche’s corpus?
Is it correct that Nietzsche regarded it as his best and most important
book? The answer to the second question seems to be that it undoubtedly
was. Nietzsche’s own praise of the work seems to make it inevitable that
he regarded it as his foremost: He calls it “a non plus ultra” and claims that
“it is the most important work that exists” and states that it is “the most
profound book that humankind possesses”.11 Furthermore, following
Nietzsche’s own view of his development we can see that it represented
Nietzsche’s coming to himself, and to his “synthesis”, after the too
9
Compare Ecce homo, ‘Zarathustra’, 1, where Nietzsche claims that this idea constitute the cen-
trepiece of the work.
10
This is visible, among others, in letters to Lou Salomé, in the text on the cover of Die fröhliche
Wissenschaft where he states that this book ends his free spirit phase and most clearly in the last two
sections of the book, 341 and 342, were he introduces the central idea of the book, eternal recur-
rence, and the figure of Zarathustra.
The very first notes which suggest the work are from August 1881, the time when he discovered
the eternal recurrence and the figure of Zarathustra. The title and the expression Also sprach
Zarathustra does not occur until he worked on it in January 1883, but he used the expression “So
sprach Zarathustra” in KSA 9, 12[225] already in the autumn 1881.
Early versions of sections 68, 106, 125, 291 and 332 of The Gay Science contained references to
the name or figure Zarathustra, but these were withdrawn before the final version because he real-
ized that he wanted to save the figure of Zarathustra until his next book. Nietzsche introduces the
name Zarathustra in section 342. That whole section he essentially restates at the beginning of Thus
Spoke Zarathustra, which shows that he already in 1882 knew he was going to write Also sprach
Zarathustra.
11
Letters to Reinhart von Seylitz, 12 February 1888, to Naumann, 25 November 1888 and to Jean
Bourdeau, 17 December 1888. He uses these expressions in several letters, and also several other
expressions. Even as early as 1885 he makes similar claims, e.g. in letters to Marie Köckert, middle
of February 1885 and to Fritzsch, 29 August 1886. Similar statements can be found in his notes
and in his published books.
14 T. H. Brobjer
romantic and idealistic first phase and the too positivistic second phase.
His praise of Also sprach Zarathustra in his last book, Ecce homo, which he
largely wrote in the second half of October and the first part of November
1888, but continued to revise until his mental collapse in early January
1889, was extreme, and he throughout the book quotes long sections
from it, and refers to and praises Also sprach Zarathustra. In letters he
states that the purpose of Ecce homo is to get people to discover and better
understand Also sprach Zarathustra (as well as preparing them for the
Umwerthung aller Werthe)—emphasizing the importance he placed on
this work.
Also sprach Zarathustra was born out of Nietzsche’s thoughts
1880–1882/83, and by Nietzsche regarded as the fruit of this period. Not
only does Nietzsche present the themes of revaluation of values and the
idea of eternal recurrence in Die fröhliche Wissenschaft (1882), as well as
the figure Zarathustra. He was even convinced enough that he was mov-
ing into a new phase of his life to have printed on the back cover of Die
fröhliche Wissenschaft that this book ends his “free spirit” phase.
After having finished Also sprach Zarathustra in three parts, Nietzsche
went back and re-read Morgenröthe (1881) and Die fröhliche Wissenschaft
(1882), and found in them “hardly a single line that could not serve as an
introduction to, preparation for and commentary to” Also sprach
Zarathustra, as he writes in a letter to Overbeck, 7 April 1884. He con-
tinues: “It is a fact that I wrote the commentary before the text—”.12
That he regarded the works written after Also sprach Zarathustra as less
important than Zarathustra is clear. We know that he regarded the two
next books, Jenseits von Gut und Böse and Zur Genealogie der Moral, as
commentaries to Also sprach Zarathustra, and as preparatory for under-
standing it.13 This was also true for the fifth book of Die fröhliche
Wissenschaft, added in 1887: “My purpose with it was to give it [Die
fröhliche Wissenschaft] still more the character of a preparation ‘for Also
12
Nietzsche says the same thing in a letter to Resa von Schirnhofer, early May 1884.
13
In the letter accompanying Jenseits von Gut und Böse to Jacob Burckhardt, 22 Sept. 1886,
Nietzsche wrote: “Please read this book (although it says the same things as my Zarathustra, but
differently, very differently—)”. And to Seydlitz, 26 October 1886 he writes: “Hast Du Dich in
meinem ‘Jenseits’ umgethan? (Es ist eine Art von Commentar zu meinem ‘Zarathustra’. Aber wie
gut müsste man mich verstehn, um zu verstehn, in wie fern es zu ihm ein Commentar ist!)”.
sprach Zarathustra’”.14 That he regarded the books written after Also

sprach Zarathustra as less important and as in some ways commentaries to
it can, for example, be seen in what was meant to be the last section of
Zur Genealogie der Moral, after having described his desire for the “man
of the future” who will restore “its goal to the earth and his hope to man;
this Antichrist and antinihilist; the victor over God and nothingness—he
must come one day”:
—But what am I saying? Enough! Enough! At this point it behooves me

only to be silent; or I shall usurp that to which only one younger, “heavier
with future“, and stronger than I has a right—that to which only Zarathustra
has a right, Zarathustra the godless…15
The mostly short later books, Der Fall Wagner and Götzen-Dämmerung
he viewed as minor works and he repeatedly referred to both of them as
mere “resting-places” from the difficult task of writing the Umwerthung
aller Werthe, confirming the view that Also sprach Zarathustra was without
doubt his magnum opus among his published books (which, of course,
did not include the Hauptwerk).16
However, this does not give the full truth. Nietzsche already from early
on, from the period 1882–84, wanted to go beyond Also sprach Zarathustra,
in the sense of writing a more theoretical or philosophical account of his
14
See letter to Nietzsche’s publisher Fritzsch, 29 April 1887: “Meine Absicht dabei war, ihm [Die
fröhliche Wissenschaft] noch mehr den Charakter einer Vorbereitung ‘für Also sprach Zarathustra’
zu geben”.
15
Zur Genealogie der Moral, II, 25. This is the whole of the last section of the second essay of Zur
Genealogie der Moral, which originally was meant to end the work (but Nietzsche later wrote and
added the third essay). This was obviously written in order to get the reader to also read his Also
sprach Zarathustra.
See also Nietzsche’s letter to Overbeck, 17 September 1887 where he claims that with Zur
Genealogie der Moral “his preparatory activity has been brought to a finale“, here the preparatory
refers to in regard to his work on the Hauptwerk: “Mit dieser Schrift (drei Abhandlungen enthal-
tend) ist übrigens meine vorbereitende Thätigkeit zum Abschluß gelangt: im Grunde gerade so, wie
es im Programm meines Lebens lag, zur rechten Zeit noch, trotz der entsetzlichsten Hemmnisse und
Gegen-Winde: aber dem Tapferen wird Alles zum Vortheil.”
16
Nietzsche contra Wagner and Dionysos-Dithyramben are short and minor works, consisting largely
of selections of earlier written poems and earlier published texts about Wagner, with much less
philosophical contents than his other books. There is for both of them uncertainty whether he
really intended to publish them. I therefore do not include them in this discussion.
16 T. H. Brobjer
new philosophy and of eternal recurrence. This is the major project

Nietzsche worked on the last four or five years of his life, entitled “Midday
and Eternity”, “The Eternal Recurrence”, “The Will to Power” and finally
“Revaluation of All Values”. It is this project that he repeatedly refers to
as his Hauptwerk, his main work, his task and main task.17 This project
was never completed, but this intention and this project gave direction to
his work and thought the last years of his life. Thus, even the figure
Zarathustra and the book Also sprach Zarathustra was meant to be
preparatory.
In early 1884, after he had finished Also sprach Zarathustra in three
parts (he had no definite plans to continue it until late in 1884) he clearly
had plans to write a greater work in which he planned to elaborate on his
idea of eternal recurrence,18 and on his critique of values and morality—
he certainly wrote down a large number of titles for such a work in 1884
and 1885. It is at this time that his intention to write a Hauptwerk
becomes explicit as can be seen in many letters, including four letters
where Nietzsche speaks explicitly of Also sprach Zarathustra as merely an
‘entrance hall’ to his philosophy, and that he was working on the main
building—as we will discuss in Chap. 5 below.
During 1885, Nietzsche continued to plan and prepare for producing
a Hauptwerk. From the autumn of 1886—after having finished Jenseits
von Gut und Böse—Nietzsche began to refer to the projected major work
explicitly as his magnum opus, his Hauptwerk, and he now has a better
grasp of what it ought to contain after having drafted titles and contents
in his notebooks for several years. He began to call it ‘Der Wille zur
Macht’ in August or September 1885 which it would continue to be
called for the next three years, and which he felt certain enough about to
have published on the back cover of Jenseits von Gut und Böse (1886) as a
work in preparation,19 and it is interesting to see how a contemporary
reviewer of Jenseits von Gut und Böse interprets this:
17
For a longer discussion of this, see in my article, ’Nietzsche’s magnum opus’, History of European
Ideas 32 (2006), 278–294.
18
This is something which Nietzsche all along works on. To mention just one example, see KSA 10,
24[4], which is a draft for a work, almost certainly his Hauptwerk, entitled The Eternal Recurrence,
in four parts.
19
KGW VI.2, page 257.
Anyway, this book which the author himself has called: ‘Prelude to a
Philosophy of the Future’ is only a free preface; the great question is yet to
come. At least, announced on the cover of the book is as present in
preparation: ‘The Will to Power. Attempt at a Revaluation of All Values.
(In four books.)’ One will have to wait for this work before one can make
a final judgement of the original, but often only sudden notions written in
aphoristic form of the present book.20
To his sister Nietzsche writes, concerning his plans for a magnum opus:
For the coming 4 years the working out of a four-volume magnum opus
[Hauptwerks] has been announced; already the title is enough to raise
fears: ‘The Will to Power. Attempt at a Revaluation of All Values’. For its
sake I have need of everything, good health, solitude, good spirits, per-
haps a wife.21
Nietzsche continued to work on this project during the following two

years; sometimes feeling that things were going well, at other times being
more dejected and frustrated:
Ah, everything in my life is so uncertain and shaky, and always this horrible
ill health of mine! On the other hand, there is the hundredweight of this
need pressing upon me—to create a coherent structure of thought during the
next few years—and for this I need five or six preconditions, all of which
seem to be missing now or to be unattainable.22
During the autumn of 1888, shortly before his collapse, he mostly felt
that he was moving forward well, as can be seen in several letters, with
claims such as: “My life is now coming to a terrific confrontation, which
20
Joseph Viktor Widmann, Review of Jenseits von Gut und Böse in Der Bund, 16 and 17 September
1886, “Nietzsche’s Dangerous Book”, reprinted in KGB III.7/2, pp. 520–525.
21
Letter to Elisabeth and Bernhard Förster, 2 September 1886.
22
Letter to Overbeck, 24 March 1887.
18 T. H. Brobjer
has been long in preparation: that which I will do in the next two years is
such that it will overthrow our whole present order”.23
For what was Also sprach Zarathustra to be preparatory? For what was
it an entrance hall? The answer is for the project Revaluation of All Values
and the philosophy of Dionysos. Zarathustra was to be overcome and
transcended, just as Nietzsche had planned to have him killed in the con-
tinuation of the book,24 overcome and transcended by Dionysos.
Zarathustra, after all, is just a prophet, Dionysos a god! That is, a still
higher manifestation of Nietzsche himself (which was difficult to achieve
and live up to). In 1888, although Nietzsche praises Also sprach Zarathustra
excessively, Zarathustra only represents how far he has come philosophi-
cally 1883–1887/88 in his published books, while Dionysos represents
where he is going (and to some of his notes during these years). This is
also reflected in that the collection of poems he planned to publish in
1889, which was long intended to be entitled “Songs of Zarathustra” but
was now renamed Dionysos-Dithyramben. This new emphasis on Dionysos
as symbol for his philosophy is visible in Götzen-Dämmerung where
he writes:
A spirit thus emancipated stands in the midst of the universe with a joyful
and trusting fatalism, in the faith that only what is separated and individual
may be rejected, that in the totality everything is redeemed and affirmed—
he no longer denies … But such a faith is the highest of all possible faiths: I
have baptized it with the name Dionysos.25
In the section following the one after this one, which was originally
going to be the last section and sentence of the book, he wrote:
23
Letter to Helen Zimmern, 8 December 1888: “Mein Leben kommt jetzt zu einem lang vorbere-
iteten ungeheuren Eklat: das, was ich in den nächsten zwei Jahren thue, ist der Art, unsere ganze
bestehende Ordnung […] über den Haufen zu werfen.”
24
Nietzsche planned a continuation of Also sprach Zarathustra, a fifth and sixth book, in which
Zarathustra dies, until the autumn of 1885. This is reflected in a number of notes, among others
KSA 11, 35[73–75] and 39[3 and 22]. See also KGW VI.4, pp. 972ff.
25
Götzen-Dämmerung, ‘Streifzüge’, 49.
I have given mankind the profoundest book it possesses, my Zarathustra: I

shall shortly give it the most independent.26
Meaning the planned Umwerthung aller Werthe, including its fourth

book, entitled Dionysos or Dionysos philosophos.
Nietzsche thereafter adds a chapter to Götzen-Dämmerung, “What I
Owe to the Ancients” in which he discusses both Dionysos and eternal
recurrence. It ends with the words: “I, the last disciple of the philosopher
Dionysos—I, the teacher of the eternal recurrence …”. Nietzsche
regarded Götzen-Dämmerung as preparatory for the Umwerthung aller
Werthe, as he states in the foreword and in several letters,27 and he even
stated, as we saw above, that he will shortly publish the Umwerthung
aller Werthe.
Ecce homo seems to show how highly he regarded Also sprach Zarathustra,
but this is at least in part a mirage. In the conclusion of it he states: “I
have not just now said a word that I could not have said five years ago
through the mouth of Zarathustra”,28 thus implying that he still held fast
to the same philosophical position now as then. It is correct that he val-
ued Also sprach Zarathustra extremely highly, but he felt that he was now
moving into a new stage, and the main purpose of Ecce homo was to be
preparatory for what was to come, by informing the readers who he was
and by bringing attention to his philosophical position before his coming
revaluation of all values in the form of both a philosophical project and a
four volume work. This is visible, for example, in a letter to his publisher
Naumann, 6 November 1888, where Nietzsche refers to Ecce homo as “a
in the highest degree preparatory text” to his Hauptwerk to which it con-
stitutes “in every sense a long preface”.29 Ecce homo also contains contin-
ual references to his future Hauptwerk. In the first sentence of the preface
he states that he is publishing the book because he will “shortly approach
26
Götzen-Dämmerung, ‘Streifzüge’, 51.
27
Letters to H. Taine, 8 December and to Naumann, 20 December 1888.
28
Ecce homo, ‘Why I Am a Destiny’, 8.
29
“Ich habe mich vollkommen davon überzeugt, noch eine Schrift nöthig zu haben, eine im höch-
sten Grade vorbereitende Schrift, um nach Jahresfrist ungefähr mit dem ersten Buche der
Umwerthung hervortreten zu können. […] Nun die Frage der Herstellung. Meine Absicht ist, die-
sem Werke bereits die Form und Ausstattung zu geben, die jenes Hauptwerk haben soll, zu dem es
in jedem Sinne eine lange Vorrede darstellt.”
20 T. H. Brobjer
mankind with the heaviest demand”, that is, with the revaluation of all
values which was to be contained in his work with the same name, the
Umwerthung aller Werthe. In the second section of the preface, he repeats
that he is “a disciple of the philosopher Dionysos”. Both Jenseits von Gut
und Böse and Zur Genealogie der Moral are now described as being prepa-
ratory for the coming revaluation.30 Furthermore, at the end of the review
of Der Fall Wagner he again explicitly refers to his coming Hauptwerk:
“And so, about two years before the shattering thunder of the Revaluation
which will set the earth into convulsions, I sent the ‘Wagner Case’ into
the world.” Der Fall Wagner was published in 1888, and he thus foresaw
the publication of the Umwerthung aller Werthe in or near 1890. In Ecce
homo he reviews all of his books, except Der Antichrist, which he regarded
as part of the coming ‘revaluation’. Ecce homo also ends with the words:
“Dionysos against the Crucified …”. This is almost a direct parallel to what
he had written about Also sprach Zarathustra in 1883: “Aut Christus, aut
Zarathustra!” [Latin for: Either Christ or Zarathustra], as quoted above in
Sect. 1.2 in Chap. 1.
However, as stated above, only the first volume, Der Antichrist, of this
planned magnum opus was finished when he collapsed in early January
1889. There are a number of drafts of the contents of the following two
planned volumes, but relatively few drafts for the fourth volume, called
in several notes: Dionysos: Philosophy of Eternal Recurrence, Dionysos phi-
losophos or just Dionysos.31 On the other hand, the notes for the fourth
volume show most consistency about what it was to contain. In Nietzsche’s
own view Also sprach Zarathustra represented the highest he publicly
achieved before he wrote the Hauptwerk, but we should be aware that he
for several years planned and aimed higher and beyond that, for a posi-
tion that he signified by the name Dionysos.
30
This is most obvious for Zur Genealogie der Moral, which is described as “three decisive prelimi-
nary studies of a psychologist for a revaluation of all values”.
31
See KSA 13, 14[89], 16[32], 19[8], 22[14 and 24] and 23[8 and 13], as well as the note KSA 13,
11[416], which also seems to have been added by Nietzsche after September 1888.
1.4 The Planned Contents of Volumes 2–4

of the Revaluation of All Values
What can we say about the planned contents of the unfinished volumes
2–4 of the Umwerthung aller Werthe? One way to determine this is simply
to use the last detailed draft for the Hauptwerk under the title Der Wille
zur Macht, from 26 August 1888 (i.e. from before he decided that the
first volume was to be a critique of Christianity), together with one of the
seven very similar final drafts of the Hauptwerk under the title Umwerthung
aller Werthe (or an average of them), from September and October 1888
(i.e. from after he had written Der Antichrist). However, these late seven
listings of the titles contain no chapter titles.32 Doing this gives us an
instant view of his plans during the autumn 1888 (after he had been
working hard on the Umwerthung aller Werthe during much of 1887 and
1888). This is done in Table 1.3. See also Tables 1.4 and 1.5. Although
almost certainly too simplified, it is possible to see that the transfer from
the earlier table of contents to the latter is simple. When this is done, we
see that the two versions are very compatible.
Nietzsche shortly after the writing of the last detailed table of contents
(26 August 1888) combined the introduction to the whole Hauptwerk,
“We Hyperboreans”, with the themes on religion (two chapters titles)
and other material on Christianity to write Der Antichrist, which is the
reason we need to rearrange most of the chapters, as done in Table 1.3.
We do not know the contents of the three further volumes since they
were never written due to Nietzsche’s mental collapse (but especially for
volume 3, much further information can be gained from notes written
after the writing of Der Antichrist). However, their titles are reasonably
consistent with the given contents in the last detailed draft, from 26
August 1888 (after it has been somewhat re-arranged due to the fact that
Der Antichrist, i.e. themes related to Christianity, constitute the first
32
Nietzsche’s very last outline for the last three volumes of Umwerthung aller Werthe is in KSA 13,
23[13], from October 1888. It consists of the following text: [Volume 2] The Free Spirit/ Critique
of Philosophy as a Nihilistic Movement. [Volume 3] The Immoralist/ Critique of Morality as the
Most Dangerous Kind of Lack of Knowledge. [Volume 4] Dionysos philosophos. The note 19[8] is
almost identical to this one.
22 T. H. Brobjer
Table 1.3 A comparison of the last draft for the Hauptwerk under the title Der
Wille zur Macht, 26 August 1888, with one of the several almost identical notes
for the Hauptwerk under the title Umwerthung aller Werthe, written in September
and October, but which does not contain any chapter titles
KSA 13, 18[17] The last draft for the ”Will KSA 13, 19[8], with chapter titles from
to Power”, dated 26 August 1888. KSA 13, 19[8], September 1888 18[17]
Entwurf des
Plans zu:
der Wille zur Macht. Umwerthung aller Werthe. [Constructed Table to Contents by
Versuch Combining the Two Previous Ones]
einer Umwerthung aller Werthe.
— Sils Maria
Wir Hyperboreer. — Grundsteinlegung

des Problems. Erstes Buch. Erstes Buch.
Der Antichrist. Versuch einer Kritik des Der Antichrist. Versuch einer Kritik des
Erstes Buch: „was ist Wahrheit?“ Christenthums. Christenthums.
Erstes Capitel. Psychologie des Irrthums.
Zweites Capitel. Werth von Wahrheit und Wir Hyperboreer
Irrthum. Die homines religiosi.
Drittes Capitel. Der Wille zur Wahrheit Gedanken über das Christenthum.
(erst gerechtfertigt
im Ja-Werth des Lebens Zweites Buch. Zweites Buch.
Der freie Geist. Kritik der Philosophie Der freie Geist. Kritik der Philosophie
Zweites Buch: Herkunft der als einer nihilistischen Bewegung. als einer nihilistischen Bewegung.
Werthe.
Erstes Capitel. Die Metaphysiker. Psychologie des Irrthums.
Zweites Capitel. Die homines religiosi. Werth von Wahrheit und Irrthum.
Drittes Capitel. Die Guten und die Der Wille zur Wahrheit
Verbesserer. Die Metaphysiker.
Zur Geschichte des europäischen
Drittes Buch: Kampf der Werthe Nihilismus.
Erstes Capitel. Gedanken über das Drittes Buch.
Christenthum. Der Immoralist. Kritik der Drittes Buch.
Zweites Capitel. Zur Physiologie der verhängnissvollsten Art von Der Immoralist.
Kunst. Unwissenheit, der Moral.
Drittes Capitel. Zur Geschichte des Die Guten und die Verbesserer.
europäischen Nihilismus. Zur Physiologie der Kunst. [?]
Psychologen-Kurzweil. Viertes Buch. Viertes Buch.

Dionysos. Philosophie der ewigen Dionysos. Philosophie der ewigen
Viertes Buch: Der grosse Mittag. Wiederkunft. Wiederkunft.
Erstes Capitel. Das Princip des Lebens
„Rangordnung“. 1. Das Princip des Lebens
Zweites Capitel. Die zwei Wege. „Rangordnung“.
Drittes Capitel. Die ewige Wiederkunft. 2. Die zwei Wege.
3. Die ewige Wiederkunft.
In the third column chapter titles from the first column have been added to that
of the second. (The chapter titles are translated into English in the last column
of Table 1.5 below.)
volume, not “What is Truth?” as when the note was written), as well as
consistent with many of the earlier drafts.
An alternative way to summarize the planned contents of the
Umwerthung aller Werthe in 1888, which also shows how the plan for the
Hauptwerk developed, is to look at three actual tables of contents
Nietzsche wrote for this work during 1888, but letting the chapter titles
be organized according to how he planned the four volumes after Der
Antichrist, as volume 1, was written, listed in Table 1.5 below, which thus
includes much of Table 1.3 in the last column.
A simplified ”average” (of not just the last but of many different ver-
sions and drafts among the late notes) of the contents of the three never-
completed volumes of the Umwerthung aller Werthe can look something
like in Table 1.4:33
From earlier notes it is possible to acquire much more detail about the
planned contents of the different volumes, although one, of course, must
assume that some development and rearrangements occur as the project
evolves. From early 1888 it is possible to gain much detailed information.
It is sometimes difficult to distinguish among Nietzsche’s extant notes
which were designated to be used for the Umwerthung aller Werthe and
which should be regarded as other sorts of notes. For many of them there
probably was no such clear distinction and demarcation even in
Nietzsche’s own mind. Nonetheless, there exists a fairly large set of notes
that obviously and explicitly were written down with the intention to be
used for the Hauptwerk. Furthermore there are a fairly large number of
individual notes which Nietzsche added titles to, where it is obvious that
they too were meant for the work on the Hauptwerk. This is especially
true for most of the notes listed in three large notebooks, approximately
200 pages each, W II 1, W II 2 and W II 3, published in KSA 12,
33
Note that these three tables of contents are thus not Nietzsche’s own, but created by me from his
many drafts of tables of contents over several years (not just the last months of 1888) for the pur-
pose of giving a more ‘average’ and more representative content than what is found in any indi-
vidual draft written by Nietzsche.
24 T. H. Brobjer
Table 1.4 A Constructed Average of Many Late Notes for the Chapters and
Contents of the Three Last Volumes of the Umwerthung aller Werthe from the
period 1886 to 1888
Book 2: The Free Spirit: Critique of Philosophy as a Nihilistic Movement
(Alternative title: We Affirmative. Alternative subtitle: Salvation from ’the
Truth’.)
Table of Contents:
Truth: The Value of Truth and Falsehood
The Will to Truth
Nihilism (and Pessimism)
Book 3: The Immoralist: Critique of Morality as the Most Dangerous Kind of
Lack of Knowledge
Table of Contents:
Introduction: What is Morality?
The Errors of Psychology
Critique of ‘the Good [Humans]’
Critique of ’the Improvers’
Critique of the Ideals and human ‘desirables’
Book 4: Dionysos philosophos
(Alternative titles: The Hammar and The Great Midday)
Table of Contents:
Eternal Recurrence (by far the most important planned content of this volume)
The Tragic Worldview
The Grand Style
Grand Politics
Order of Rank
The Higher Human. The Lawgiver
9[1–190], 10[1–206] and KSA 13, 11[1–138] respectively,34 and also for
many notes in the notebook W II 4, KSA 13, 14[1–227], used during
April and May 1888. Note KSA 13, 12[2] arranges twelve chapters into
the four books (as do several other notes). More extensively, note KSA
13, 12[1] summarizes 374 notes (that Nietzsche had worked on over the
past years); each in a few words, and then lists to which of the four books
each belongs. We know that Nietzsche used this collection of summaries
and notes in September 1888 when he wrote Der Antichrist, and it seems
very probable that he also would have used it when writing the three
34
Nietzsche numbered and summarized 374 of these notes, and attributed them (except the last
ones) into the four planned volumes of the Hauptwerk, see KSA 13, 12[1–2], from early 1888. The
contents of these four large notebooks have been published in facsimile and diplomatic text in
KGW IX.6 and IX.7. I discuss these notes in more detail in Sect. 9.2 in Chap. 9.
Table 1.5 Chapter titles for Umwerthung aller Werthe from earlier in 1888, here
classified according to the book divisions from Sept.–Nov. 1888
Table of contents Table of contents
Umwerthung aller Table of contents from May or June from 26 August
Werthe from early 1888 of 1888 1888
Sept.–Nov. 1888 KSA 13, 12[2] KSA 13, 16[51] KSA 13, 18[17]
Book 1 of
Umwerthung aller
Werthe
The Anti-Christ:
Attempt at a
Critique of
Christianity
Critique of the The religious man The homines
Christian ideals as typical religiosi
décadent
The pagan in Thoughts about
religion Christianity
Book 2 of
Umwerthung aller
Werthe
The Free Spirit:
Critique of
Philosophy as a
Nihilistic
Movement
Nihilism, The true and the The psychology of
considered to apparent world errors
its final
conclusion
The ‘will to The philosopher as The value of truth
truth’ typical décadent and error
Psychology of Science against The will to truth
the ‘will to philosophy
power’
(pleasure, will,
concept etc)
Culture, Nihilism [and its The
Civilization, the opposite] metaphysicians
ambiguity of
‘the modern’
To the history of
European
nihilism
(continued)
26 T. H. Brobjer
Table 1.5 (continued)
Table of contents Table of contents

Umwerthung aller Table of contents from May or June from 26 August
Werthe from early 1888 of 1888 1888
Book 3 of
Umwerthung aller
Werthe
The Immoralist:
Critique of
Morality as the
Most Dangerous
Kind of Lack of
Knowledge
The origin of The good human The good and the
ideals being as typical improvers
décadent
How virtue
becomes
victorious
Herd-instincts
Morality as the
Circe of the
philosophers
Book 4 of
Umwerthung aller
Werthe
Dionysos: The
Philosophy of
Eternal
Recurrence
Eternal recurrence Life-prescriptions The will to power The principle of
for us as life: Peak of life: “Order of
the historical rank”
self-
consciousness
The type of the The ‘eternal The will to power: The two ways
lawgiver recurrence’ as discipline
The great The eternal
politics recurrence
further volumes. We will discuss and use this in Chaps. 9, 10, and 11
below, and many of these summaries and notes will be translated into
English and published for the first time.
We can immediately from Table 1.5 see that there is much similarity
between Also sprach Zarathustra and these plans. Zarathustra is the “most
Godless”, the bringer of new truths, the destroyer of morality—and the
teacher of new values and of the idea of eternal recurrence (which we will
discuss in Chaps. 7, 8, 9,10, and 11 below).
When Nietzsche wrote about Der Antichrist to Malwida von
Meysenbug, 4 October 1888, that “the first book of my Revaluation of All
Values is finished—the greatest philosophical event of all time, with
which the history of mankind will break into two halves …”, she responds
in the middle of October with interest and a rhetorical question: “I am
much looking forward to the first part of your great work. It is presum-
ably the complete discussion of that to which Zarathustra was the
introduction”.35
1.5 Zarathustra and Dionysos as Symbols

of Or Spokesmen for the Idea of Eternal
Recurrence and for Nietzsche’s
Philosophy of the Future
One of the similarities between Also sprach Zarathustra and the planned
Hauptwerk, which also makes them different from all of his other books,
is that in both of them Nietzsche makes use of a spokesman or symbol—
that of Zarathustra and Dionysos. This is most obvious for Also sprach
Zarathustra, but is clearly also true for at least the planned fourth volume
of the Umwerthung aller Werthe called Dionysos philosophos.
As symbols, Zarathustra and Dionysos are approximately equally
important to Nietzsche when measured by how frequently he used them.
Throughout his writings, there are approximately an equal number of
references to them, though of course they differ in that Nietzsche’s
35
KGB III.6, p. 331.
28 T. H. Brobjer
interest in Dionysos began early and was at its most intensive during the
early 1870s, with a revival of interest in the later 1880s, while he only
‘discovered’ Zarathustra in 1881 and referred to the figure most fre-
quently during the years 1882–85 and in late 1888. More relevant, at
least for our interest here, is that the late Nietzsche’s use of these symbols,
that is, his use of them after 1885, is almost evenly distributed between
the two.
Zarathustra was a symbol for many things for Nietzsche. More than
anything else, he was the teacher of eternal recurrence; but he also repre-
sents the overcoming of morality, thus immoralism, but also atheism,
skepticism and the like. He is a severe critic of present values and ideals,
and he also suggests new ‘half-written tables of values’. Zarathustra can
easily be taken to constitute Nietzsche’s most important symbol, and that
impression seems confirmed by Nietzsche’s claim that there were no
counter-ideals before Also sprach Zarathustra, and that he has said nothing
in Ecce homo that he could not have said already five years before, through
the mouth of Zarathustra.
Dionysos in Nietzsche’s writings also came to represent many impor-
tant topoi; tragedy, life-affirmation, creativity (and destruction) and real-
ism. He also represents darkness (and the forbidden—which seems
mainly to refer to revalued values—which Nietzsche had referred to both
at the end of Jenseits von Gut und Böse, the beginning of Ecce homo and in
many late notes—probably another allusion to what was to come in the
planned Umwerthung aller Werthe), revolution, the antichrist,36 extasis,
music, immoralism and association with Ariadne (which eventually will
lead Nietzsche to identify with Dionysos). Most of all, however, Dionysos
seems to be not just the teacher of eternal recurrence, but actually repre-
sent the idea of eternal recurrence itself.
However important Zarathustra was to Nietzsche, I think one must
say that both Zarathustra and Nietzsche failed as teachers. Neither in the
book Also sprach Zarathustra, where Nietzsche and Zarathustra more sug-
gest than expound on the idea of eternal recurrence, nor outside of the
book, are people aware of this idea, nor are the few that have that knowl-
edge persuaded by it. A poetic and metaphorical intimation of eternal
36
Die Geburt der Tragödie, Preface, 1.
recurrence was not sufficient. Nietzsche knew this, and thus also planned
to present it (and other aspects of his thought) in a more philosophical
manner—(while he still playfully wanted to present it as the philosophy
of the god Dionysos)—and that was the main purpose of the Umwerthung
aller Werthe.
1.6 Conclusion and Summary

In this study I will show and argue for that there is a close and important
kinship and direct relation between Also sprach Zarathustra37 and the
Hauptwerk (which I refer to by its final title Umwerthung aller Werthe)
which he worked on from at least 1884 until late in 1888. There has been
almost no recognition or discussion of this significant link in previous
Nietzsche research, although the realization of this has a number of impor-
tant consequences, including that it can lead to a new and better under-
standing of both Also sprach Zarathustra and the plans for the Hauptwerk,
and thus also of Der Antichrist, and Nietzsche’s mature philosophy.
I put forward five main arguments for this thesis, further supported by
a number of minor ones.
1. I argue that the principle content of both Also sprach Zarathustra and
the Hauptwerk were conceived around the idea of eternal recurrence,
and that it was the discovery of this idea in August 1881 that was the
stimulus for the writing of both books.
2. I further show that both these works concretely have their origin in
the draft for a work entitled Midday and Eternity, and that both works
developed out of this projected work.
3. I argue that both works share in expressing a new conception of man.
This is obviously true for Also sprach Zarathustra, in which the
Übermensch-theme is arguably more prominent than even the idea of
eternal recurrence, but this has not been realized for the case of the
Umwerthung aller Werthe, since although present in the plans for it, see
especially sections three and four of Der Antichrist (where even the
When I refer to Also sprach Zarathustra I usually mean the first three books or parts of it that
37
Nietzsche made public. The fourth part, ZaIV, not published by Nietzsche, I usually treat separately.
30 T. H. Brobjer
word Übermensch is mentioned) it is on the whole not especially

prominent in its first volume, Der Antichrist. However, as is visible in
Nietzsche’s late notes, this theme, although not the word Übermensch,
was planned to be much more prominent in the three further volumes
of the Umwerthung aller Werthe, as free spirit, as immoralist and as
higher humans, respectively.
4. My fourth major argument is that both works express Nietzsche’s pro-
found concern with a revaluation of values. This has been recog-
nized—but less discussed and elaborated on than one could expect—in
regard to the Hauptwerk, where this theme is obvious already in the
title (or subtitle).38 However, it has not been significantly realized in
regard to Also sprach Zarathustra, in part perhaps because he had not
yet, when he wrote this work, coined the expression ‘revaluation of all
values’, but this theme is nonetheless prominent in the work, as I will
show below.
5. I also argue that for Nietzsche the idea of eternal recurrence and the
revaluation of values are closely associated. The idea of eternal recur-
rence, which he discovered in August 1881, was really a response and
answer to his profound concern with values at this time. He later pre-
sented both these ideas in the same published work, Die fröhliche
Wissenschaft (1882), and used almost the same expression when intro-
ducing them: “In what do you believe?—In this, that the weights [die
Gewichte] of all things must be determined anew” (FW, 269) and the
section where he introduces the idea of eternal recurrence is called
“The greatest weight [Das grösste Schwergewicht]” (FW, 341).
Recognizing that the idea of eternal recurrence and revaluation are
closely related helps make the often difficult to comprehend idea of
eternal recurrence more comprehensible, as I show in Chap. 7.
These arguments for the kinship between Also sprach Zarathustra and
the Umwerthung aller Werthe are supplemented by several others, such as
the existence of several other parallel contents in the two works, and the
structural similarity between them. The main problem is identified in
In the subtitle for those who prefer to refer to Nietzsche’s Hauptwerk by its penultimate title, Der
38
Wille zur Macht, with the subtitle: “Attempt at a Revaluation of All Values”.
both of them as a consequence of the death of God, nihilism and values

which tame and belittle man, the solution is presented in the form of a
new conception of man. Both works lead up to life affirmation, amor fati,
and of the idea of eternal recurrence as the ultimate test and/or solution
that can crush the life-denying and strengthen the life-affirmative—but
this requires new values. Furthermore, Nietzsche on many occasions
refers to Zarathustra and Also sprach Zarathustra explicitly as precursors
and prefaces to, or preparation for, the Hauptwerk. I will also show that
Nietzsche in 1887 and 1888, when he worked most intensively on writ-
ing the Hauptwerk, came to regard the fourth part of Also sprach
Zarathustra as a bridge between the two works, and that it suits well for
such a purpose.
In this study we follow Nietzsche’s work, notes and letters more or less
chronologically, and many of his most important notes and letters are
here translated into English, published and discussed for the first time.
After this introductory chapter, we will in the second chapter show that
both Also sprach Zarathustra and Nietzsche’s Hauptwerk (magnum opus)
have the same origin. Thereafter follow two chapters that deal with Also
sprach Zarathustra (parts I–III), Chap. 3, which discusses its purpose and
its relation to the plans for a Hauptwerk. Chapter 4 examines the role of
values and revaluation in Also sprach Zarathustra (a theme almost ignored
by most earlier studies of Also sprach Zarathustra, in spite of the fact that
it clearly is one of its most prominent themes). In Chap. 5, we examine
Nietzsche’s plans and work in 1884, after he had finished Also sprach
Zarathustra (I–III), and show that he then worked hard and intensively
on the Hauptwerk, and was mostly pleased with his progress. Nonetheless,
occasionally he also avoided it because it was too difficult and started
other more minor projects. One of these ‘minor’ projects at the end of
1884 was writing the fourth part of Also sprach Zarathustra. In Chap. 6,
we discuss the place of this work in relation to Also sprach Zarathustra
(I–III) and to the Revaluation of All Values. Having concluded that the
fourth part of Also sprach Zarathustra should not be part of the published
three parts of Also sprach Zarathustra, we return to that work and examine
the relation between it and the Hauptwerk in 1887 and 1888 in the last
four chapters. Before then, in Chap. 7, we examine the most prominent
philosopheme, the idea of eternal recurrence, in the two works, present a
32 T. H. Brobjer
new interpretation of this idea, as a thought that makes us experience life

more intensively, and show that it is closely related to the revaluation of
all values.
In the short Chap. 8, we discuss the relation between Also sprach
Zarathustra and the first book of the magnum opus, The Antichrist. In the
last three chapters, we examine the relation between Also sprach Zarathustra
and the three planned but not written books of the Revaluation of
All Values.
A prominent theme in this study of Also sprach Zarathustra and the
Umwerthung aller Werthe, and their relation, is also the close relation
between their respective most central ideas, the idea of eternal recurrence
and the revaluation of all values. For Nietzsche, these two philosophemes
developed together and belong together.
One of the advantages of the approach that I use in this study is that it
becomes easier to read Also sprach Zarathustra philosophically rather than
merely poetically. By combining the discussion of these two paramount
but stylistically very different works, the more theoretical and philosophi-
cal themes and the value contents of Also sprach Zarathustra becomes
more apparent. Another advantage is that we follow Nietzsche’s own
views and intentions much closer than when one follows the conven-
tional view.
This work will give much needed new attention to and new informa-
tion about both Also sprach Zarathustra but especially to and about
Nietzsche’s final philosophical project, the unfinished Revaluation of All
Values, with special reference to the revaluation of values, and thus also to
and about the late Nietzsche’s philosophy more generally.
A further advantage of this study is that it makes it easier to think with
and beyond Nietzsche. His philosophizing was not finished and com-
pleted when he collapsed 3 January 1889. I would argue that especially a
concern with values, with examining values and perhaps revaluating
them, remains an important task also today.
2
The Common Origin of Thus Spoke
Zarathustra and the Revaluation of All
Values
2.1 Introduction
The titles Also sprach Zarathustra and Umwerthung aller Werthe both
began as subtitles to Nietzsche’s planned Hauptwerk, and it seems as if
both of these works grew out of a project which began in 1881 and 1882.
Nietzsche made a number of important new philosophical ‘discoveries’ in
the early 1880s (the death of God, nihilism, Übermensch, immoralism),
with the discovery of the idea of eternal recurrence, in August 1881, as
the most important one. Perhaps equally important was that he during
this time became increasingly aware of the themes of the concept of will
to power and of the revaluation of values, but the thought of these took
longer time to develop, from circa 1880 until 1883. The development of
all these philosophical themes would make Nietzsche move into a new
stage, that of the mature (or late) Nietzsche, and these concepts and ideas
would constitute important ingredients in both Also sprach Zarathustra
and the plans for the Hauptwerk.
© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2023 33

T. H. Brobjer, The Close Relationship between Nietzsche’s Two Most Important Books,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-18731-5_2
34 T. H. Brobjer
2.2 The Origin of Thus Spoke Zarathustra

and of the Revaluation of All Values
The expression “Also sprach Zarathustra” occurs for the very first time
among Nietzsche’s notes, not as the main title, but as the subtitle to a
work, Midday and Eternity, which later became Also sprach Zarathustra1—
just like the expression “Umwerthung aller Werthe” occurs for the first
time in the summer/autumn 1884 as subtitle to the more philosophical
work Philosophy of Eternal Recurrence,2 (which seems to have been an
early title for Nietzsche’s planned Hauptwerk) and thereafter it was again
used as a subtitle to the new title The Will to Power3 until, in August/
September 1888, it became the full title of that planned Hauptwerk.
The original draft for the work out of which Also sprach Zarathustra
eventually evolved—Midday and Eternity [Mittag und Ewigkeit]—has a
long and interesting history, as we will discuss below, and both the con-
cept of midday and that of eternity (both related to the idea of eternal
recurrence) continue to echo throughout the whole of Also sprach
Zarathustra as well as in the work on the Hauptwerk.
To discuss the early origin of any work by Nietzsche is, in part, unavoid-
ably speculative. The process before Nietzsche himself (or any author)
had decided to write a specific book, will always be uncertain and only
vaguely discernible. Nonetheless, with the aid of Nietzsche’s extensive
notebooks, including the frequent drafts of titles for planned works in
them, and his statements in letters, some fairly definite knowledge and
conclusions can be reached.
In his notes from the autumn 1881 we see that he soon after the dis-
covery of the idea of eternal recurrence quickly decided to write a book
to elaborate on this theme. Already two to three weeks after the discovery
1
It occurs for the first time as a subtitle to Mittag und Ewigkeit (which we will discuss later in this
chapter), in the note KSA 10, 4[39], from the winter 1882/83, and thereafter in the note 4[186].
Nietzsche had once before used the similar expression “So sprach Zarathustra”, KSA 9, 12[225],
but then not as a title. The notes in this notebook has been dated by Montinari as having been
written during the autumn 1881, but the final notes, to which this one belongs, were probably
added later. The last note, 12[231], was written during the end of March 1882.
2
KSA 11, 26[259]. Philosophie der ewigen Wiederkunft.
3
KSA 12, 2[100], summer 1886. Der Wille zur Macht.
2 The Common Origin of Thus Spoke Zarathustra… 35
of the idea of eternal recurrence he for the first time uses the expression
“Midday and Eternity”, and already then it is used as a title for a work
which obviously was meant to elabortate on this idea.4 Furthermore,
immediately below the title is Nietzsche’s first reference to Zarathustra—
in a sentence which essentially is identical to the first sentence of the
book (and also the first sentence of the last section, 342, of Die fröhliche
Wissenschaft).
Nietzsche found and picked up the figure of Zarathustra as his spokes-
man while reading the cultural historian and anthropologist Friedrich
von Hellwald’s Culturgeschichte in ihrer natürlichen Entstehung bis zur
Gegenwart (Augsburg, 1874, 2. ed. 1875), 839 pages.5 The introduction
of Also sprach Zarathustra is almost a direct quotation from Hellwald, and
this is even truer of Nietzsche’s very first reference to Zarathustra which
is as follows:
Zarathustra, born at the lake Urmi, left his home when he was thirty years
old, and went to the province of Aria and wrote there, during ten years of
solitude in the mountains, the Zend-Avesta.6
The central part of this text is taken from Hellwald, who wrote:
Zarathustra, the great prophet of the Iranians […] was born in the town of
Urmi, by the lake of the same name […] At the age of thirty, he left his
home, went eastwards to the province of Aria and spent there in the moun-
tains ten years in solitude and occupied himself with composing the
Zend-Avesta.7
From the very start, the idea of eternal recurrence seems to have consti-
tuted the centerpiece of a project, that fairly quickly turned into two
projects; a more poetical and prophetic version (which became Also sprach
4
KSA 9, 11[195].
5
‘Beiträge zur Quellenforschung mitgeteilt von Paolo D’Iorio,” Nietzsche-Studien 22 (1993),
395–397.
6
KSA 9, 11[195]. The next note, on the same theme, under the title “Zum ‘Entwurf einer neuen
Art zu leben’“is at the end dated with the words “Sils-Maria 26. August 1881,” i.e. only a few weeks
after his discovery of the idea of eternal recurrence.
7
Hellwald, Culturgeschichte (1874), p. 128. My translation.
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George stopped, and his heart and his conscience smote him.
William was his sister’s cousin and his brother’s guest, and he had
been neglected by both George and Betty; for Betty had grown about
ten years, in her own estimation, since dancing with officers and
being allowed to come to the first table. George thought this rather
ridiculous of Betty; but was it not equally ridiculous of him to lord it
over William, as if there were twenty years between them, instead of
William being actually older than he?
“I see how it is, William,” said George, after a pause. “I dare say I
have often made a fool of myself in this last week, talking to men as
if I were their equal, and to boys of my own age as if I were a man.
But, although you may laugh at me, I do feel a great deal older in the
last two months—I suppose because I have been with men like Lord
Fairfax and Lance, and then Admiral Vernon and his officers. But if
you will be friends again with me I will promise not to treat you as I
have done, and I acknowledge it was not very gentlemanly of me.”
William was of too gentle a nature to resist this, and the two boys in
five minutes were as good friends as ever. George recalled how
silently William had borne neglect, how ready he had been to be
friends again, and he wondered if he himself had so much
generosity.
The house seemed strangely quiet after all the company had left,
and there were no more routs and balls and romping and hunting.
Snow had fallen, and George and Betty were waiting for good
weather before attempting the journey back to Ferry Farm. George
spoke to Betty about William, acknowledging that he had been as
much to blame as she; and Betty, being of a generous nature, felt
ashamed of herself, with the result that William enjoyed the latter
part of the time much more than the first. But he was destined to
have one more clash with George before their friendship became so
firmly cemented that it lasted during the whole of their lives.
CHAPTER XI
One night, some days after this, George was awakened in the
middle of the night by hearing persons stirring in the house. He rose,
and, slipping on his clothes, softly opened his door. Laurence
Washington, fully dressed, was standing in the hall.
“What is the matter, brother?” asked George.
“The child Mildred is ill,” answered Laurence, in much agitation. “It
seems to be written that no child of mine shall live. Dr. Craik has
been sent for, but he is so long in coming that I am afraid she will die
before he reaches here.”
“I will fetch him, brother,” said George, in a resolute manner. “I will go
for Dr. Craik, and if I cannot get him I will go to Alexandria for
another doctor.”
He ran down-stairs and to the stable, and in five minutes he had
saddled the best horse in the stable and was off for Dr. Craik’s, five
miles away. As he galloped on through the darkness, plunging
through the snow, and taking all the short cuts he could find, his
heart stood still for fear the little girl might die. He loved her dearly—
all her baby ways and childish fondness for himself coming back to
him with the sharpest pain—and his brother and sister, whose hopes
were bound up in her. George thought, if the child’s life could be
spared, he would give more than he could tell.
He reached Dr. Craik’s after a hard ride. The barking of the dogs, as
he rode into the yard, wakened the doctor, and he came to the door
with a candle in his hand, and in his dressing-gown. In a few words
George told his business, and begged the doctor to start at once for
Mount Vernon. No message had been received, and at that very time
the negro messenger, who had mistaken the road, was at least five
miles off, going in the opposite direction.
“How am I to get to Mount Vernon?” asked the doctor. “As you know,
I only keep two horses. One I lent to a neighbor yesterday, and to-
night, when I got home from my round, my other horse was dead
lame.”
“Ride this horse back!” cried George. “I can walk easily enough; but
there must be a doctor at Mount Vernon to-night. If you could have
seen my brother’s face—I did not see my poor sister, but—”
“Very well,” answered the doctor, coolly. “I never delay a moment
when it is possible to get to a patient; and if you will trudge the five
miles home I will be at Mount Vernon as soon as this horse can take
me there.”
Dr. Craik went into the house to get his saddle-bags, and in a few
minutes he appeared, fully prepared, and, mounting the horse,
started for Mount Vernon at a sharp canter.
George set out on his long and disagreeable tramp. He was a good
walker, but the snow troubled him, and it was nearly daylight before
he found himself in sight of the house. Lights were moving about,
and, with a sinking heart, George felt a presentiment that his little
playmate was hovering between life and death. When he entered the
hall he found a fire burning, and William Fairfax sitting by it. No one
had slept at Mount Vernon that night. George was weary and wet up
to his knees, but his first thought was for little Mildred.
“She is still very ill, I believe,” said William. “Dr. Craik came, and
Cousin Anne met him at the door, and she burst into tears. The
doctor said you were walking back, and Cousin Anne said, ‘I will
always love George the better for this night.’”
George went softly up the stairs and listened at the nursery door. He
tapped, and Betty opened the door a little. He could see the child’s
crib drawn up to the fire, the doctor hanging over it, while the poor
father and mother clung together a little way off.
“She is no worse,” whispered Betty.
With this sorry comfort George went to his room and changed his
clothes. As he came down-stairs he saw his brother and sister go
down before him for a little respite after their long watch; but on
reaching the hall no one was there but William Fairfax, standing in
the same place before the hearth. George went up and began to
warm his chilled limbs. Then William made the most indiscreet
speech of his life—one of those things which, uninspired by malice,
and the mere outspoken word of a heedless person, are yet capable
of doing infinite harm and causing extreme pain.
“George,” said he, “you know if Mildred dies you will get Mount
Vernon and all your brother’s fortune.”
George literally glared at William. His temper, naturally violent,
blazed within him, and his nerves, through fatigue and anxiety and
his long walk, not being under his usual control, he felt capable of
throttling William where he stood.
“Do you mean to say—do you think that I want my brother’s child to
die?—that I—”
George spoke in a voice of concentrated rage that frightened
William, who could only stammer, “I thought—perhaps—I—I—”
The next word was lost, for George, hitting out from the shoulder,
struck William full in the chest, who fell over as if he had been shot.
The blow brought back George’s reason. He stood amazed and
ashamed at his own violence and folly. William rose without a word,
and looked him squarely in the eye; he was conscious that his
words, though foolish, did not deserve a blow. He was no match
physically for George, but he was not in the least afraid of him. Some
one else, however, besides the two boys had witnessed the scene.
Laurence Washington, quietly opening wide a door that had been
ajar, walked into the hall, followed by his wife, and said, calmly:
“George, did I not see you strike a most unmanly blow just now—a
blow upon a boy smaller than yourself, a guest in this house, and at
a time when such things are particularly shocking?”
George, his face as pale as death and unable to raise his eyes from
the floor, replied, in a low voice, “Yes, brother, and I think I was crazy
for a moment. I ask William’s pardon, and yours, and my sister’s—”
Laurence continued to look at him with stern and, as George felt, just
displeasure; but Mrs. Washington came forward, and, laying her
hand on his shoulder, said, sweetly:
“You were very wrong, George; but I heard it all, and I do not believe
that anything could make you wish our child to die. Your giving up
your horse to the doctor shows how much you love her, and I, for
one, forgive you for what you have done.”
“Thank you, sister,” answered George; but he could not raise his
eyes. He had never in all his life felt so ashamed of himself. In a
minute or two he recovered himself, and held out his hand to
William.
“I was wrong too, George,” said William; “I ought not to have said
what I did, and I am willing to be friends again.”
The two boys shook hands, and without one word each knew that he
had a friend forever in the other one. And presently Dr. Craik came
down-stairs, saying cheerfully to Mrs. Washington:
“Madam, your little one is asleep, and I think the worst is past.”
For some days the child continued ill, and George’s anxiety about
her, his wish to do something for her in spite of his boyish incapacity
to do so, showed how fond he was of her. She began to mend,
however, and George was delighted to find that she was never better
satisfied than when carried about in his strong young arms. William
Fairfax, who was far from being a foolish fellow, in spite of his silly
speech, grew to be heartily ashamed of the suspicion that George
would be glad to profit by the little girl’s death when he saw how
patiently George would amuse her hour after hour, and how willingly
he would give up his beloved hunting and shooting to stay with her.
In the early part of January the time came when George and Betty
must return to Ferry Farm. George went the more cheerfully, as he
imagined it would be his last visit to his mother before joining his
ship. Laurence was also of this opinion, and George’s warrant as
midshipman had been duly received. He had written to Madam
Washington of Admiral Vernon’s offer, but he had received no letter
from her in reply. This, however, he supposed was due to Madam
Washington’s expectation of soon seeing George, and he thought
her consent absolutely certain.
On a mild January morning George and Betty left Mount Vernon for
home in a two-wheeled chaise, which Laurence Washington sent as
a present to his step-mother. In the box under the seat were packed
Betty’s white sarcenet silk and George’s clothes, including three
smart uniforms. The possession of these made George feel several
years older than William Fairfax, who started for school the same
day. The rapier which Lord Fairfax had given him and his
midshipman’s dirk, which he considered his most valuable
belongings, were rather conspicuously displayed against the side of
the chaise; for George was but a boy, after all, and delighted in these
evidences of his approaching manhood. His precious commission
was in his breast-pocket. Billy was to travel on the trunk-rack behind
the chaise, and was quite content to dangle his legs from Mount
Vernon to Ferry Farm, while Rattler trotted along beside them.
Usually it was a good day’s journey, but in winter, when the roads
were bad, it was necessary to stop over a night on the way. It had
been determined to make this stop at the home of Colonel Fielding
Lewis, an old friend of both Madam Washington and Laurence
Washington.
All of the Mount Vernon family, white and black, were assembled on
the porch, directly after breakfast, to say good-bye to the young
travellers. William Fairfax, on horseback, was to start in another
direction. Little Mildred, in her black mammy’s arms, was kept in the
hall, away from the raw winter air. Betty kissed her a dozen times,
and cried a little; but when George took her in his arms, and, after
holding her silently to his breast, handed her back to her mammy,
the little girl clung to him and cried so piteously that George had to
unlock her baby arms from around his neck and run away.
On the porch his brother and sister waited for him, and Laurence
said:
“I desire you, George, to deliver the chaise to your mother, from me,
with my respectful compliments, and hopes that she will soon make
use of it to visit us at Mount Vernon. For yourself, let me hear from
you by the first hand. The Bellona will be in the Chesapeake within a
month, and probably up this river, and you are now prepared to join
at a moment’s notice.”
George’s heart was too full for many words, but his flushed and
beaming face showed how pleased he was at the prospect.
Laurence, however, could read George’s boyish heart very well, and
smiled at the boy’s delight. Both Betty and himself kissed and
thanked their sister for her kindness, and, after they had said good-
bye to William, and shook hands with all the house-servants, the
chaise rattled off.
Betty had by nature one of the sunniest tempers in the world, and,
instead of going back glumly and unwillingly to her modest home
after the gayeties and splendors of Mount Vernon, congratulated
herself on having had so merry a time, and was full of gratitude to
her mother for allowing her to come. And then she was alone with
George, and had a chance to ask him dozens of things that she had
not thought of in the bustle at Mount Vernon; so the two drove along
merrily, Betty chattering a good deal, and George talking much more
than he usually did.
They reached Barn Elms before sunset, and met with a cordial
welcome from Colonel Lewis and the large family of children and
guests that could always be found in the Virginia country-houses of
those days. At supper a long table was filled, mostly with merry
young people. Among them was young Fielding Lewis, a handsome
fellow a little older than George, and there was also Miss Martha
Dandridge, the handsome young lady with whom George had
danced Sir Roger de Coverley on Christmas night at Mount Vernon.
In the evening the drawing-room floor was cleared, and everybody
danced, Colonel Lewis himself, a portly gentleman of sixty, leading
off the rigadoon with Betty, which George again danced with Martha
Dandridge. They had so merry a time that they were sorry to leave
next morning. Colonel Lewis urged them to stay, but George felt they
must return home, more particularly as it was the first time that he
and Betty had been trusted to make a journey alone.
All that day they travelled, and about sunset, when within five miles
of home, a tire came off one of the wheels of the new chaise, and
they had to stop at a blacksmith’s shop on the road-side to have it
mended. Billy, however, was sent ahead to tell their mother that they
were coming, and George was in hopes that Billy’s sins would be
overlooked, considering the news he brought, and the delightful
excitement of the meeting.
The blacksmith was slow, and the wheel was in a bad condition, so it
was nearly eight o’clock of a January night before they were in the
gate at Ferry Farm. It was wide open, the house was lighted up, and
in the doorway stood Madam Washington and the three little boys.
Every negro, big and little, on the place was assembled, and shouts
of “Howdy, Marse George! Howdy, Miss Betty!” resounded. The dogs
barked with pleasure at recognizing George and Betty, and the
commotion was great.
As soon as they reached the door Betty jumped out, before the
chaise came to a standstill, and rushed into her mother’s arms. She
was quickly followed by George, who, much taller than his mother,
folded her in a close embrace, and then the boys were hugged and
kissed. Madam Washington led him into the house, and looked him
all over with pride and delight, he was so grown, so manly; his very
walk had acquired a new grace, such as comes from association
with graceful and polished society. She was brimming with pride, but
she only allowed herself to say:
“How much you have grown, my son!”
“And the chaise is yours, mother,” struck in Betty. “Brother Laurence
sent it you—all lined inside with green damask, and a stuffed seat,
and room for a trunk behind, and a box under the seat.”
George rather resented this on Betty’s part, as he thought he had the
first right to make so important an announcement as the gift of a
chaise, and said, with a severe look at Betty:
“My brother sent it you, mother, with his respectful compliments, and
hopes that the first use you will make of it will be to visit him and my
sister at Mount Vernon.”
Betty, however, was in no mood to be set back by a trifling snub like
that, so she at once plunged into a description of the gayeties at
Mount Vernon. This was interrupted by supper, which had been kept
for them, and then it was nine o’clock, and Betty was nearly falling
asleep, and George too, was tired, and it was the hour for family
prayers. For the first time in months George read prayers at his
mother’s request, and she added a special thanksgiving for the
return of her two children in health and happiness, and then it was
bedtime. Madam Washington had not once mentioned his
midshipman’s warrant to George. This did not occur to him until he
was in bed, and then, with the light heart of youth, he dismissed it as
a mere accident. No doubt she was as proud as he, although the
parting would be hard on both, but it must come in some form or
other, and no matter how long or how far, they never could love each
other any less—and George fell asleep to dream that he was
carrying the Bellona into action in the most gallant style possible.
Next morning he was up and on horseback early, riding over the
place, and thinking with half regret and half joy that he would soon
be far away from the simple plantation life. At breakfast Betty talked
so incessantly and the little boys were so full of questions that
Madam Washington had no opportunity for serious talk, but as soon
as it was over she said:
“Will you come to my room, George?”
“In a minute, mother,” answered George, rising and darting up-stairs.
He would show himself to her in his uniform. He had the natural
pride in it that might have been expected, and, as he slipped quickly
into it and put the dashing cap on his fair hair and stuck his dirk into
his belt, he could not help a thrill of boyish vanity. He went straight to
his mother’s room, where she stood awaiting him.
The first glance at her face struck a chill to his heart. There was a
look of pale and quiet determination upon it that was far from
encouraging. Nevertheless, George spoke up promptly.
“My warrant, mother, is up-stairs, sent me, as my brother wrote you,
by Admiral Vernon. And my brother, out of his kindness, had all my
outfit made for me in Alexandria. I am to join the Bellona frigate
within the month.”
“Will you read this letter, my son?” was Madam Washington’s
answer, handing him a letter.
George took it from her. He recognized the handwriting of his uncle,
Joseph Ball, in England. It ran, after the beginning: “‘I understand
you are advised and have some thoughts of putting your son George
to sea.’” George stopped in surprise, and looked at his mother.
“I suppose,” she said, quietly, “that he has heard that your brother
Laurence mentioned to me months ago that you wished to join the
king’s land or sea service, but my brother’s words are singularly apt
now.”
George continued to read.
“‘I think he had better be put apprentice to a tinker, for a common
sailor before the mast has by no means the common liberty of the
subject, for they will press him from ship to ship, where he has fifty
shillings a month, and make him take twenty-three, and cut and
slash and use him like a dog.’”
George read this with amazement.
“My uncle evidently does not understand that I never had any
intention of going to sea as a common sailor,” he said, his face
flushing, “and I am astonished that he should think such a thing.”
“Read on,” said his mother, quietly.
“‘And as to any considerable preferment in the navy, it is not to be
expected, as there are so many gaping for it here who have interest,
and he has none.’”
George folded the letter, and handed it back to his mother

respectfully.
“Forgive me, mother,” said he, “but I think my uncle Joseph a very
ignorant man, and especially ignorant of my prospects in life.”
“George!” cried his mother, reproachfully.
George remained silent. He saw coming an impending conflict, the
first of their lives, between his mother and himself.
“My brother,” said Madam Washington, after a pause, “is a man of
the world. He knows much more than I, a woman who has seen but
little of it, and much more than a youth like you, George.”
“He does not know better than my brother, who has been the best
and kindest of brothers, who thought he was doing me the greatest
service in getting me this warrant, and who, at his own expense,
prepared me for it.”
Both mother and son spoke calmly, and even quietly, but two red
spots burned in Madam Washington’s face, while George felt himself
growing whiter every moment.
“Your brother, doubtless, meant kindly towards you, and for that I
shall be ever grateful; but I never gave my consent—I shall never
give it,” she said.
“I am sorry to hear you say that, mother,” answered George,
presently—“more sorry than I know how to say. For, although you
are my dear and honored mother, you cannot choose my life for me,
provided the life I choose is respectable, and I live honestly and like
a gentleman, as I always shall, I hope.”
The mother and son faced each other, pale and determined. It struck
home to Madam Washington that she could not now clip her eaglet’s
wings. She asked, in a low voice:
“Do you intend to disobey me, my son?”
“Don’t force me to do it, mother!” cried George, losing his calmness,
and becoming deeply agitated. “I think my honor is engaged to my
brother and Admiral Vernon, and I feel in my heart that I have a right
to choose my own future course. I promise you that I will never
discredit you; but I cannot—I cannot obey you in this.”
“You do refuse, then, my son?” said Madam Washington. She spoke
in a low voice, and her beautiful eyes looked straight into George’s
as if challenging him to resist her influence; but George, although his
own eyes filled with tears, yet answered her gently:
“Mother, I must.”
Madam Washington said no more, but turned away from him. The
boy’s heart and mind were in a whirl. Some involuntary power
seemed compelling him to act as he did, without any volition on his
part. Suddenly his mother turned, with tears streaming down her
face, and, coming swiftly towards him, clasped him in her arms.
“‘MY SON, MY BEST-LOVED CHILD’”
“My son, my best-loved child!” she cried, weeping. “Do not break my
heart by leaving me. I did not know until this moment how much I
loved you. It is hard for a parent to plead with a child, but I beg, I
implore you, if you have any regard for your mother’s peace of mind,
to give up the sea.” And with sobs and tears, such as George had
never before seen her shed, she clung to him and covered his face
and hair, and even his hands, with kisses.
The boy stood motionless, stunned by an outbreak of emotion so
unlike anything he had ever seen in his mother before. Calm,
reticent, and undemonstrative, she had showed a Spartan firmness
in her treatment of her children until this moment. In a flash like
lightning George saw that it was not that foolish letter which had
influenced her, but there was a fierceness of mother love, all
unsuspected in that deep and quiet nature, for him, and for him
alone. This trembling, sobbing woman, calling him all fond names,
and saying to him, “George, I would go upon my knees if that would
move you,” his mother! And the appeal overpowered him as much by
its novelty as its power. Like her he began to tremble, and when she
saw this she held him closer to her, and cried, “My son, will you
abandon me, or will you abandon your own will this once?”
There was a short pause, and then George spoke, in a voice he
scarcely knew, it was so strange:
“Mother, I will give up my commission.”
CHAPTER XII
As soon as George had spoken he disengaged himself gently from
his mother’s arms. She was still weeping, but blessing him.
“God will reward you, my son, for this yielding to your mother!” she
cried.
“I don’t know, mother, whether I deserve a reward or not,” he
answered, in the same strange voice in which he had first spoken. “I
am not sure whether I am doing right or not, but I know I could not do
otherwise. I did not yield to your command, but to your entreaty. But
let me go, mother.” And before she could stop him he was out of the
room, and she heard his quick step up the stairs and his door locked
after him.
He tore off his uniform as if every shred of it burned him, put on his
ordinary clothes, and then, sitting down on the bed, gazed blankly
before him.
And blank looked the life before him. He had suffered himself to
dwell upon the thought of a naval or military career until it had
become a part of his life. He foresaw that the same strange
weakness on his mother’s part which kept him from joining the navy
might keep him out of the army. True, if there should be war between
the French and English in the Northwest it would be his duty to
defend his country, and no pleadings could keep him back then; but
that was only a contingency. And, in any event, he could not again
ask the help, in getting a commission, of the only persons who could
serve him—his brother Laurence and Lord Fairfax—after this
unfortunate ending of his first attempt. And, worst of all, he was not
sure that he was right, and he was very sure his mother was wrong.
That of itself was a staggering blow. He had always fancied his
mother perfect, and her weakness, her blind partiality for him over
the rest of her children, at once shattered his ideal. She was a true
and devoted mother, but in a great emergency she showed a tender
unwisdom that seemed foreign to her character. George did not love
her any the less for this, but he realized that after this he must think
and act for himself. She had not thought of how far he was
committed in the matter, or that his brother Laurence might be justly
offended at his course—she only thought of the anguish of giving
him up. It was all hard and inscrutable to the boy, sitting with rigid
face and dry eyes, gazing before him and seeing nothing. He did not
know how long he sat there. He heard Betty’s light step and lighter
tap upon the door, and she called him, softly, through the keyhole.
“Go away, dear Betty,” answered George; “I can’t see anybody just
now.”
It seemed to him days, not hours, before he heard the bell for dinner.
He gathered himself together and went down-stairs. Betty almost
cried out when she saw him, he was so haggard. His mother saw it
too, and it made her heart ache; but in her heart she felt that it was
better to have him as he was than to say good-bye to him forever,
which she was firmly persuaded would be the case had he gone in
the navy. Madam Washington, being naturally a woman of great
integrity, was not at ease in her mind. She had not forgotten the light
in which she would appear before Laurence Washington and Lord
Fairfax. She read again and again that letter from Joseph Ball, which
George had appalled her by calling both ignorant and foolish. She
had been taught to think brother Joseph a monument of wisdom; but
she was not so sure of it after having acted on his advice in this
great event.
At dinner both George and his mother were perfectly composed and
polite. Neither the children nor the servants knew that anything was
the matter until Betty betrayed it. But little Betty’s heart was so full for
George’s disappointment that she could not eat her dinner, and tears
dropped upon her plate. Towards the last of the dinner one of the
little boys suddenly exclaimed:
“Brother, I saw you in your uniform this morning; are you going to
wear it every day?”
At this Betty burst into a loud sob, and, getting up from the table,
rushed to George and threw her arms about him. George rose and
led the weeping girl out of the room. Usually such an infraction of
discipline and table manners as George and Betty leaving the table
without permission would have been strictly prohibited. But their
mother saw that these two young souls were wrought up to the
keenest distress, and as she had gained her victory she could afford
to be magnanimous.
“Betty,” said George, hurriedly, when they got out of the room, “put
on your hood, and let us go into the woods. It makes one feel better,
when one is sad, to go into the woods.”
The day was dull and overcast as the boy and girl, hand in hand,
tramped across the fields to where the fringe of cedars formed the
advance guard of the woodlands. George held Betty’s hand very
tightly in his. She understood him, at least.
They said but little until they were well in the heart of the woods, and
had sat down upon a fallen tree. Then George, laying his head on
Betty’s shoulder, burst into tears, and cried as if his heart would
break.
No creature was ever better formed to feel for others than sweet little
Betty. She had never seen George weep like that; but she was not
frightened or disconcerted. She only laid her wet cheek against
George’s, and sighed so deeply that he knew that his burden lay as
heavy on her heart as on his. Presently, when he had become more
composed, Betty spoke:
“Brother, hard as it is, I am glad of one thing—nobody can say
anything to you about it, after you have said that you gave way to our
mother, for no boy, or man either, can let anybody in the world find
fault with his mother.”
“Yes, Betty,” answered George, sadly. “I will not be such a poltroon
as to let any one say my mother has not acted right.”
“She meant to act right,” said Betty; “but—” Betty paused, and the
brother and sister looked into each other’s eyes and said no more,
but each understood the other.
“Of course,” sighed Betty, “it would have been the hardest thing in
the world to have you go away; but if you wanted to go, dear
George, and it was best for you, I would have given you up, and I
would have tried not to cry when you went away, and I would have
thought of you every single day while you were away, and if you had
not come home for ten years, or twenty years, I would have loved
you just as much as ever.”
George had always loved Betty dearly, but he felt now, at the hour of
his cruelest disappointment, what it was to have that tender sister, to
whom he could reveal his whole heart. Much as he loved his brother
Laurence, deeply as he revered Lord Fairfax, and with all his love
and reverence for his mother, he felt obliged to keep up before them
a manly fortitude; but Betty was young and inexperienced like
himself, and, because of that, in some ways she was nearer to him
than anybody else.
The two sat there until late in the afternoon, and so quiet were they
that a squirrel came boldly out of his hole and hopped past them,
and a robin, with a weak little pretence of a song, in spite of the
wintry weather, swung within reach of them. It was nearly sunset
before they took their way homeward. George, like all boys, was not
glib of tongue in expressing his emotions; but when they got to the
edge of the woods he kissed her, and said:
“Betty, I don’t know what I would have done if it hadn’t been for you
this miserable day.”
The little sister’s loyal heart grew almost happy at this.
A hard task remained for George. He had to write to his brother
Laurence and to Lord Fairfax, announcing what he had done. They
were not easy letters to write, but he carefully refrained from any hint
of blame upon his mother.
Madam Washington, having gained her heart’s desire, could not now
do too much for George. He was already far advanced beyond Mr.
Hobby’s school, and his mother determined to have a tutor for him.
Nothing was too good for him now; his tutor must be a university
man, with every qualification in family and manners, as well as
learning. But there was no such person within reach, and
communication in those days being slow and uncertain, there
seemed no immediate chance of finding one. George went his way
calmly, but with his disappointment eating into his heart. He studied
surveying, in which he was already proficient, with Mr. Hobby; but he
did nothing else. Even his beloved hunting and shooting palled upon
him. He would spend the day at work, having Mr. Hobby’s help in the
afternoon, and at night he would work out at home what he had done
during the day. Mother and son never failed in courtesy and even
affection for each other—indeed, Madam Washington lavished
affection upon him in a manner hitherto unknown to him, but there
was a little shadow between them.
Heretofore George had not escaped being lectured for his youthful
shortcomings, but no fault was ever found with him now. Even Billy’s
laziness was excused, and he might be as idle as he pleased; like
his young master, he enjoyed a complete immunity from fault-finding.
This was not a natural or a healthy way for the mother and son to
live; and one day, when George walked in and laid a letter from Lord
Fairfax in his mother’s hand, saying, simply, “I think I should like that,
mother,” Madam Washington, with one sharp pang, felt that they
must part—at least, for a while.
The letter was brief, and had no mention of the warrant in the navy,
by which George subtly understood that Lord Fairfax knew it was a
delicate subject, and would say nothing about it. The earl wrote,
however, that he had determined to have his lands across the
mountains surveyed during the coming summer, and offered George
for it a sum of money so large that to the boy’s unsophisticated mind
it seemed a fortune. But Lord Fairfax stipulated that George should
have a license from the State of Virginia, as his surveys would no
doubt often be called in question, and there must be a recorded
proof of his efficiency.
Madam Washington sighed deeply, yet there was no doubt that he
must go. He would be sixteen within a few days, and he was already
as developed in mind and body as a young man of nineteen. Her
plans for his further education seemed impossible to realize, and it
was plain there was but one thing to do—to let him go. She told him
so that night, and the first gleam of sunshine came into his face that
she had seen since the day after his return home. Betty’s comment
was like her.
“If you want to go, George, I want you to go; but it will be doleful at
Ferry Farm without you.”
George immediately made preparations for his examination in
surveying, and, having passed it successfully, and got his certificate,
he was ready to start on his journey as soon as the spring should
open. He wrote to his brother Laurence stating his plan, and saying
he would spend a night at Mount Vernon on his way. Laurence had
shown the same consideration for George’s feelings that Lord
Fairfax had, and, in reply to the letter returning the midshipman’s
warrant, had merely said that he regretted he had not known of
Madam Washington’s determination sooner. One sentence at the
end touched George: “Your little niece is well, but she is but a frail
child, and I have a presentiment that Mount Vernon will never come
to any child of mine. For that reason, as you will some day be master
of this place, I would like to have you here as often and as long as
your mother can spare you. My own constitution is delicate, and
nothing is more probable than that you will have Mount Vernon for
your own before you are of age.”
Madam Washington made the preparations for George’s departure
with a steady cheerfulness that belied her sad heart. She herself
proposed that he should take Billy along. She offered him such a
considerable sum of money that George knew she must be depriving
herself of many things, and refused to take it all. In every way there
was a strong though silent purpose to make up to him for her one
moment of weakness. George felt this, and when, on the morning of
his departure, his mother bade him good-bye with a smile on her
pale lips, he felt a softening of the heart towards her that lasted not
only during this separation but through all the coming years with their
tremendous events.
Little Betty wept torrents of tears, protesting all the time—“Dear
George, I am glad for you to go—I don’t want you to stay—I can’t
help crying a little, though.”

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The Close Relationship between

Nietzsche's Two Most Important Books

ISBN 978-3-031-18730-8 ISBN 978-3-031-18731-5 (eBook)

© The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2023

8 The Relation between Thus Spoke Zarathustra and The

9 The Relation between Zarathustra and the Planned The

10 The Relation between Zarathustra and The Immoralist

Selected Bibliography of Nietzsche’s Works in English327

Table 1.1 The Evolution of the Planned Title of Nietzsche’s magnum

© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2023 1

true—but one needs also to realize that Nietzsche does it because he

What is the place of Also sprach Zarathustra among Nietzsche’s corpus?

Why was eternal recurrence so important for Nietzsche—and what is its

1.2 Nietzsche’s Plans for a Hauptwerk

Die Wiederkunft des Gleichen

The Recurrence of the Same

1.3 The Role and Meaning of Nietzsche’s

ones. Most academic philosophers in the Anglo-Saxon tradition tend to

Table 1.2 Views of Nietzsche’s Late Books

1881 1882 1883-1885 1886 1887 1888 1888 1888 1888

Also sprach Ecce Umwerthung …

eternal recurrence,9 and at least by 1882 he knew that he was going to

sprach Zarathustra’”.14 That he regarded the books written after Also

—But what am I saying? Enough! Enough! At this point it behooves me

new philosophy and of eternal recurrence. This is the major project

Nietzsche continued to work on this project during the following two

I have given mankind the profoundest book it possesses, my Zarathustra: I

Meaning the planned Umwerthung aller Werthe, including its fourth

1.4 The Planned Contents of Volumes 2–4

Wir Hyperboreer. — Grundsteinlegung

Psychologen-Kurzweil. Viertes Buch. Viertes Buch.

Table 1.5 (continued)

Table of contents Table of contents

1.5 Zarathustra and Dionysos as Symbols

1.6 Conclusion and Summary

word Übermensch is mentioned) it is on the whole not especially

both of them as a consequence of the death of God, nihilism and values

new interpretation of this idea, as a thought that makes us experience life

© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2023 33

2.2 The Origin of Thus Spoke Zarathustra

George folded the letter, and handed it back to his mother

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8 The Relation between Thus Spoke Zarathustra and The

9 The Relation between Zarathustra and the Planned The

10 The Relation between Zarathustra and The Immoralist

Selected Bibliography of Nietzsche’s Works in English327

1.2 Nietzsche’s Plans for a Hauptwerk

1.3 The Role and Meaning of Nietzsche’s

1.4 The Planned Contents of Volumes 2–4

1.5 Zarathustra and Dionysos as Symbols

1.6 Conclusion and Summary

2.2 The Origin of Thus Spoke Zarathustra