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Nietzsche's entry in the album amicorum of "Fräulein" Simon.1
Enhanced image The Nietzsche Channel.

Nice, February 6, 1884:
To "Fräulein" Simon (album amicorum entry)

Some travel because they are looking for themselves; the others because they wish to lose themselves.

*    *
       *

We do the same thing when we are awake and when we are dreaming: we always first think up and dream up2 the people with whom we consort — and then immediately forget that we thought them up and dreamt them up.

*    *
       *

Honest with ourselves and to those who are friends to us, brave versus the enemy, magnanimous to the vanquished, polite to all. —

Friedrich Nietzsche.

1. In: Nietzsche. Handschriften, Erstausgaben und Widmungsexemplare. Die Sammlung Rosenthal-Levy im Nietzsche-Haus in Sils Maria. Basel: Schwabe-Verlag, 2009, 117. Enhanced image The Nietzsche Channel. From the album amicorum of a daughter of Carl August Simon (1817-1887), a Prussian general. After the general's retirement in 1874, his family frequented Sils Maria, where they met Nietzsche in the early 1880s. The daughter's name is unknown. When Simon, a career military man, was 44, he married the widow Ida Schmalfuss, née Sudhoff (1826-1879), who was 35 at the time. They had three daughters, but it's uncertain whether the daughters were their own, or from his wife's first marriage.
2. erfinden und erdichten.

Erwin Rohde.
As an older man.
Colorized image ©The Nietzsche Channel.

Nice, February 22, 1884:
Letter to Erwin Rohde.

My dear old friend

I don't know how it happened: but when I read your last letter1 and especially when I saw the charming picture of your children,2 it was to me as if you squeezed my hand while giving me a melancholy look: mournfully, as if you were about to say "How is it simply possible that we have so little in common now and how do we now live in such different worlds! Yet at one time — —"3

And that's how it is, my friend, with all the people I care about: it's all over, in the past, forbearance; we still see each other, we talk so as not to be silent — we still write letters, so as not to be silent. But the truth is expressed in their eyes: and it says to me (I hear it well enough!) "Nietzsche, my friend, now you are all alone!"

I've now actually come to this point. —

Meanwhile, I continue on my way, in fact it's a voyage, a sea voyage — and not in vain have I lived for years in the city of Columbus.4 — —

My "Zarathustra" is finished, in three acts: you have the first, I hope to be able to send you the other two in 4-6 weeks. It is a kind of abyss of the future, something hair-raising,5 especially in its rapture. Everything in it is me alone, without prototype, parallel, or precursor; whoever has once lived in it returns to the world with a different vision.6

But one should not speak about it. From you, as a homo litteratus, I will not hold back a confession: — I fancy that, with this Z[arathustra], I have brought the German language to its perfection. After Luther and Goethe there was still a third step to take —; see for yourself, old bosom friend, if power, suppleness, and euphony have ever been together like this before in our language. After reading a page of my book, read Goethe — and you will feel that the "undulatory" Goethe adhered to as a draftsman did not remain foreign to the shaper of language as well. I have the advantage of a stronger, manlier line than him, but without turning boorish like Luther. My style is a dance, a play of symmetries of all kinds and a leaping over and mockery of these symmetries. That goes as far as the choice of vowels. —

Forgive me! I will be careful not to confess this to anyone else, but you did once — I think you are the only one — express delight in my language. —

By the way, I have remained a poet within every limit of this term, despite having already browbeat myself thoroughly with the antithesis of all poetry. Ah friend, what a crazy, secluded life I live! So alone, alone! So without "children"!

Remain good to me, as I am truly yours!

Your
F. N.

1. In his 12-22-1883 letter, Rohde gives a critique of Thus Spoke Zarathustra, and states "Der persische Weise bist zwar Du, aber es ist eine ganz andre Sache, ob man höchst persönliche Meinungen direct als solche ausspricht oder sich ein Idealwesen erschafft, damit dieses sie als seine Meinungen vortrage [....] Gewiß darum schuf sich Plato seinen Sokrates, und so Du nun Deinen Zarathustra." (The Persian sage is, to be sure, yourself, but it is quite a different thing to express highly personal opinions in such a direct way or to create an ideal character for this who lectures with his opinions [....] Surely that's why Plato created his Socrates and you your Zarathustra.)
2. Bertha and Franz Rohde. In his December letter, Rohde pours salt on Nietzsche's wounds in regard to his loneliness by affirming the putative wisdom that "In der That, meine Kinder sind mein und meiner guten kleinen Frau alleiniges Gut und Glück auf der Welt und ich weiß kein höheres." (In fact, my children and my good little wife are the only good thing and my sole happiness in the world and I know no higher.)
3. Rohde thought Nietzsche should have remained a classical philologist.
4. Genoa, Italy.
5. Schauerliches.
6. Gesichte.

Ferdinand Laban.
"Nach einer Photographie von Ludwig Faust in Preßburg (1881)."1
Colorized and enhanced image © The Nietzsche Channel.

Nice, Early March 1884:
Letter to Ferdinand Laban.2

My dear Herr Doctor,

Yesterday it occurred to me that I have not heard anything from you since last spring, not even that the photograph sent to you at that time had actually reached your hands and was in front of your eyes.3 Thus anxious thoughts came to me, I suspected that you might be ill — and in fact, from everything you have written, one senses (inhales as it were) the close presence of a very delicate, very suffering-capable entity.

Say a word to reassure me. I dream that in the not too distant future I will be living somewhere in the south, by the sea, on an island, surrounded by the most trustworthy friends and working comrades — and in this quiet convent I have also thought of including you. —

About "Thus Spoke Zarathustra" — (my "manifesto"); the first two parts were published last year. The third and last part is currently being printed.4

My address for the moment is still: Nizza (France) pension de Genève, petite rue St. Etienne.

With the very best wishes your
Nietzsche.

1. In: Eduard Castle, Geschichte der deutschen Literatur in Österreich-Ungarn im Zeitalter Franz Josephs I. Ein Handbuch unter Mitwirkung hervorragender Fachgenossen herausgegeben von Eduard Castle. Bd. 2. Wien: Fromme, 1937, 1435. The back of a Faust photograph at this time gives a general address for his studio in Pressburg as: "Promenade. Neben dem Theater." See an example online.
2. Ferdinand Laban (1856-1910): Hungarian-born German writer, librarian, and art historian. Laban was born in Pressburg on February 1, 1856. After completing his historical and literary studies at the universities of Vienna, Strasbourg and Cluj from 1874-1882 with his doctoral examination at the latter university, Laban moved to Berlin at the beginning of 1883, where he became a member of Paul Rée's and Lou Salomé's discussion group while they were staying in Schmargendorf near Berlin. Around 1884, Laban became the librarian of the Royal Museum in Berlin, and later in 1894, editor of the yearbook of the Royal Prussian Art Collections. Laban learned of Nietzsche's writings in 1874 while a student at the University of Vienna. There he was a member of the student organization "Leseverein der deutschen Studenten Wiens" (the group existed from 1872-1878), including the "Pernerstorfer circle," or the so-called "Nietzsche Society." Nietzsche and Laban never met, but Nietzsche heard about him from Heinrich von Stein, who was a close friend of Laban and who reviewed Laban's book in 1884. See Heinrich von Stein, "Ferdinand Laban: Dialogische Belustigungen. Pressburg und Leipzig, C. Stampfel 1883." In: Bayreuther Blätter. Jahrg. 7 (1884), 185-187. On 04-05-1883, Laban sent Nietzsche a dedicated copy of the book. Online at HAAB. Laban was also an admirer of Schopenhauer, and wrote a bibliography of works about Schopenhauer in which Nietzsche is mentioned several times. See Ferdinand Laban, Die Schopenhauer-Literatur. Versuch einer chronologischen Uebersicht derselben. Leipzig: Brockhaus, 1880. Nietzsche is mentioned on pages: 13, 18, 86, 88, 91, 92, 99, and 111. Furthermore, on 07-11-1881, Laban had sent Nietzsche a copy of his book. Auf der Haimburg: eine Dichtung. Wien: Konegen, 1881. In Nietzsche's copy, Laban's dedication: "Herrn Professor Dr. Friedrich Nietzsche als Zeichen aufrichtiger Hochachtung d. Verf. Preßburg in Ungarn 11. Juli 1881." (Herrn Professor Dr. Friedrich Nietzsche as a token of sincere esteem t[he] auth[or]. Preßburg in Hungary July 11, 1881." See the entry for Laban in Nietzsche's Library. Finally, in 1904, Laban reminisced about his dealings with Nietzsche: "Als ich Anno 1874 in Wien als ordentlicher Immatrikulierter der philosophischen Fakultät die jugendlich ungestüm herbeigesehnte, aber im philosophischen Hörsaal schmerzlich vermißte Sophie unordentlich genug auf eigene Faust extra muros suchen ging, fand ich neben dem bereits berühmten Schopenhauer auch den noch unberühmten Nietzsche. Die beiden ersten Bücher Nietzsches waren kurz vorher erschienen. Ich erkannte sofort, daß diese beiden Schriftsteller das Höchste seien, was die deutsche Geisteskultur des 19. Jahrhunderts ihren Jüngern zu bieten habe [....]. Mein Erlebnis war also, daß ich Nietzsche von seinem ersten Auftreten an aufmerksam verfolgte und seine Entwicklung miterlebte. Ich habe ihn persönlich nie kennen gelernt — obschon ich Briefe an ihn und er Briefe an mich absandte — , ich hatte damals auch nie etwas Intimeres über seine Lebensumstände erfahren. Doch schon 1881 fiel mir in seiner "Morgenröte" befremdend ein zuweilen durchbrechender boshafter Ton auf. Und als 1883 sein erstes Heftchen "Zarathustra" auf den Markt kam, da sagte ich schmerzlich betroffen zu mir und auch zu anderen: 'Dieser Geist ist in der Auflösung begriffen!' Ich glaube, ich habe während diesen zehn Jahren König Nietzsches Glück und Ende mit dem Enthusiasmus und mit der Spannung eines Premièrebesuchers miterlebt, habe die Funken am finsteren Nachthimmel des Lebens aus der Esse stieben gesehen, pulsierendes Herzblut gefühlt, wo heute ein Bücherbrett vollsteht. In den Gesichtskreis der großen Welt aber war Nietzsche noch immer nicht eingetreten, er, der Impressionist der Philosophie, der, die Atelier-Systemmacherei mißachtend, in pointillierender Weise einen Sentenzenwirbel mit kühner Hand aussäte und die Spekulation in den Farben des Lebens und der Wirklichkeit erstrahlen ließ, wie noch nie vordem." (When I went to Vienna in 1874, as a full-time student of the faculty of philosophy, to search for sophia on my own, in a disorderly way, extra muros, something I had longed for with youthful impetuousness but which I sorely missed in the philosophical lecture hall, I found alongside the already famous Schopenhauer the not-so-famous Nietzsche. Nietzsche's first two books had been published shortly beforehand. I immediately recognized that these two writers were the best that German intellectual culture of the 19th century had to offer its followers [....]. Hence my experience was that I followed Nietzsche closely from his first appearance and witnessed his development. I never got to know him personally — although I sent letters to him and he sent letters to me — I never learned anything more personal about the circumstances of his life back then. But as early as 1881 I was struck by the strange, sometimes malicious tone that broke through in his "Dawn." And when his first volume of "Zarathustra" was released in 1883, I said to myself then and also to others with great concern: "This mind is disturbed!" I believe that during these ten years I witnessed King Nietzsche's happiness and death with the enthusiasm and excitement of a person attending a première, saw the sparks fly out of the forge into the dark night-sky of life, felt pulsating life-blood where a bookshelf is now full. But Nietzsche had still not entered the wider world's sphere of vision, he, the impressionist of philosophy, who, disregarding the workshop of system-mongers, sowed a whirlwind of aphorisms in a pointed manner with a bold hand and allowed speculation to shine in the colors of life and reality as never before.) Excerpt from Ferdinand Laban, "Im zwanzigsten Jahre nach Manets Tode." In: Zeitschrift für bildende Kunst. N. F. Fünfzehnter Jahrgang. Leipzig: Seemann, 1904, 25-35 (25-26).
3. Laban had requested a photograph of Nietzsche. Cf. Pressburg, 04-17-1883: Letter from Ferdinand Laban to Nietzsche in Genoa. In German. In English.
4. Also sprach Zarathustra, Part III was published on 04-10-1884.

Ernst Schmeitzner's "Liebesgabe zum Antisemitischen Agitationsfond." 1
Ca. 1880.

Nice, April 2, 1884:
Postcard to Franz Overbeck.

My dear friend, most recently I forgot to ask you to send2 me another 500 frc. here. —

Here I found out how much I was reproached in Vienna for [having] such a publisher.5 —

1. "'Liebesgabe zum Antisemitischen Agitationsfond' is a stamp proving payment of fees (Beitragsmarke) produced by the entourage of Wilhelm Marr and Ernst Schmeitzner, around 1880. Producing stamps and using sovereign signs was for the fragmented antisemitic movement a mean to appear publicly as an authority. The price of the stamp is stated to be a 'gift of love' (Liebesgabe) for a fund for antisemitic agitation." Isabel Enzenbach, "Stamps, Stickers and Stigmata. A Social Practice of Antisemitism Presented in a Slide-show." In: Quest. Issues in Contemporary Jewish History. Journal of Fondazione CDEC, n.3 July 2012.
2. Overbeck sent Nietzsche his pension.
3. Ernst Schmeitzner had fallen into financial misfortune through his anti-Semitic dealings and agitation. From the onset of their relationship, Nietzsche had allowed Schmeitzner to invest his savings (in government bonds), but this arrangement was short-lived, as it appears Schmeitzner invested in long-term real estate schemes, and probably in anti-Semitic enterprises. When Schmeitzner failed to fulfill Nietzsche's request to redeem his savings, a long drawn-out negotiation and legal wrangling occurred. Schmeitzner finally paid off his debt with the assistance of his father. For further information, see William H. Schaberg, "The Lawsuit against Schmeitzner." In: The Nietzsche Canon. Chicago: Univ. of Chicago Press, 1995, 109-119.
4. On May 22, 1885, Elisabeth Nietzsche married the anti-Semite Bernhard Förster. Cf. Richard Frank Krummel, "Josef Paneth über seine Begegnung mit Nietzsche in der Zarathustra-Zeit." In: Nietzsche-Studien 17 (1988). 478-495. "Dann gieng ich zu Nietzsche ... Nach einigen einleitenden Bemerkungen kamen wir auf den Antisemitismus. Ich fragte ihn, wieso er seine 'Idyllen aus Meßina' in einer Zeitschrift zur Bekämpfung des Judenthums habe erscheinen laßen. Die Zeit schrift hätte damals noch nicht den Character gehabt; sie sei im entgegengesetzten Sinne, im Sinne derer, die gute Europäer sein wollten, gegründet worden und sie, sowie sein Verleger, seien erst später Antisemiten geworden. Ihm liege diese Feindseligkeit ganz ferne; er habe sich von Jugend auf von Race- und Religionsvorurtheilen frei zu halten gesucht. Er wünsche von mir zu wißen, was denn unter den Juden für Hoffnungen da wären? Worauf ich ihm sagte, daß ich, und die so wie ich dächten, gar nicht als Juden, als Raße angesehen sein wollten, sondern Jeder als Individuum; daß der Glaube an das auserwählte Volk mit dem Glauben an die fünf Bücher Mosis stehe und falle; daß es für das Judenthum nirgends eine Einheit, ein Centrum gäbe; daß es aber ganz unmöglich sei, sich jetzt nicht als Jude zu bekennen, ohne den Vorwurf der Feigheit auf sich zu laden. Er wollte anfangs den Einfluß der Raße vertheidigen, gab es aber dann auf und stimmte mit mir vollstaendig überein, daß es reine Raßen nicht gäbe; am allerwenigsten hätten die Deutschen Anspruch darauf, eine solche zu sein. [....] Allmählich kam dann heraus, daß ihm im Lauf der letzten Zeit hart zugesetzt worden sei, sich dieser 'Schweinerei' in die Arme zu werfen, daß seine Existenz davon bedroht gewesen sei; daß seine eigene Schwester und ein naher Freund seines Hauses Dr Bernhard Foerster dieser Richtung angehörten; ja wenn er in den letzten Jahren einen Selbstmord verübt hätte, so hätten diese Quälereien, denen ihn gerade der Antisemitismus aussetzte, sehr viel Anteil daran gehabt. Man habe ihm das Leben damit schrecklich verbittert. Auch hätten sich einige Menschen jüdischer Abstammung schlecht gegen ihn benommen, das sei als Argument gegen die Raße benützt worden." (Then I went to [see] Nietzsche ... After a few introductory remarks, we came to [the subject of] anti-Semitism. I asked him why he had permitted his "Idylls from Messina" to appear in a periodical combating Judaism. At the time, the periodical did not yet have that [anti-Semitic] character; it had been founded for the opposite purpose, for the purpose of those good Europeans, and it[s contributors], as well as its publisher, had only later become anti-Semites. This hostility was entirely remote from him; from the time of his youth on, he had tried to steer clear of racial and religious prejudices. He wanted to know from me what were the hopes of the Jews at the time? Whereupon I told him that I, and those who thought as I did, did not want to be viewed as Jews, as a race, but each person as an individual; that the belief in the chosen people stands and falls with the belief in the five books of Moses; that nowhere is there an entity, a centrality for Judaism; but that now it was quite impossible not to acknowledge being a Jew, unless one wanted to be accused of cowardice. He wanted to defend the influence of race initially, but then conceded and completely agreed with me that there were no pure races; and Germans least of all were entitled to be one. [....] Gradually it came out that he had been hard pressed in recent times to throw himself into the arms of this "swinishness," that his existence had been threatened by it; that his own sister and a close friend of those at home, Dr Bernhard Foerster, belonged to this movement; indeed, if he had tried to commit suicide in recent years, then these tortures, which had exposed him to anti-Semitism, would have had a very considerable part in it. They had embittered his life so horribly. Also, some people of Jewish descent had behaved badly towards him, which had been used as an argument against the race. [An allusion to Paul Rée and Lou Salomé.])
5. The source is probably Josef Paneth (1857-1890): Austrian physiologist. In the 1870s, Paneth was a member of the student organization at the University of Vienna, the "Leseverein der deutschen Studenten Wiens." Amidst that group, he belonged to the "Pernerstorfer circle," or the so-called "Nietzsche Society." Overtures by the group to Nietzsche were started in April and June 1876 by another member, Joseph Ehrlich. For more information on the "Pernerstorfer circle," see Aldo Venturelli, "Nietzsche in der Berggasse 19. Über die erste Nietzsche-Rezeption in Wien." In: Kunst, Wissenschaft und Geschichte bei Nietzsche. Berlin; New York: de Gruyter, 2003, 257-290 (also in Nietzsche-Studien, 13 (1984): 448-480). William J. McGrath, "Mahler and the Vienna Nietzsche Society." In: Jacob Golomb, ed., Nietzsche and Jewish Culture. London: Routledge, 1997, 218-232. Reinhard Gasser, "Kontakte mit Nietzsche-Verehrern in der Studentenzeit." In: Nietzsche und Freud. Berlin; New York: de Gruyter, 1997, 7-29. Cf. 10-15-1877 letter from Siegfried Lipiner to Nietzsche.

Venice, Early May 1884:
Letter to Josef Paneth.1

Dear Herr Doctor,

First of all, my congratulations! But perhaps you are doing so well right now that nothing more "is left to be desired" — then so much the better! And it will be all the more in line with my wishes for you!2

My publisher3 has long been instructed to send you the last part of my Zarathustra.4 Consider me now as someone who has unfurled his flag and leaves no doubt about it. —

But please note: my work has time — and I absolutely do not want to be confused with what the present age has to solve as their task. In fifty years, perhaps some people (or one person — it would take a genius for that!) will see what has been accomplished because of me. But at the moment it is not only difficult, but absolutely impossible (according to the laws of "perspective") to speak publicly about me without interminably falling far short of the truth. — —

Therefore! — my dear Herr Dr. Paneth, I do not want anything to "be written" about me just yet.5

Please keep me and our conversations on the provençal Riviera (the home of the "Joyful Science" —) in good memory!

Your
Nietzsche.

Venice, San Canciano calle nuova 5256

1. Josef Paneth (1857-1890): Austrian physiologist. In the 1870s, Paneth was a member of the student organization at the University of Vienna, the "Leseverein der deutschen Studenten Wiens." Amidst that group, he belonged to the "Pernerstorfer circle," or the so-called "Nietzsche Society." Overtures by the group to Nietzsche were started in April and June 1876 by another member, Joseph Ehrlich. For more information on the "Pernerstorfer circle," see Aldo Venturelli, "Nietzsche in der Berggasse 19. Über die erste Nietzsche-Rezeption in Wien." In: Kunst, Wissenschaft und Geschichte bei Nietzsche. Berlin; New York: de Gruyter, 2003, 257-290 (also in Nietzsche-Studien, 13 (1984): 448-480). William J. McGrath, "Mahler and the Vienna Nietzsche Society." In: Jacob Golomb, ed., Nietzsche and Jewish Culture. London: Routledge, 1997, 218-232. Reinhard Gasser, "Kontakte mit Nietzsche-Verehrern in der Studentenzeit." In: Nietzsche und Freud. Berlin; New York: de Gruyter, 1997, 7-29. Cf. Baden bei Wien, 10-15-1877: Letter (in German; in English) from Siegfried Lipiner to Nietzsche in Basel. Also Nice, 04-02-1884: Postcard to Franz Overbeck.
2. Paneth's letter is lost, so it's impossible to know what Nietzsche is referring to.
3. Ernst Schmeitzner.
4. Also sprach Zarathustra, III was published on 04-10-1884.
5. Paneth apparently planned to write something about Nietzsche.

Helene Druskowitz.
Unknown date.
Colorized and enhanced image ©The Nietzsche Channel.

Zürich, October 21, 1884:
Letter from Helene Druskowitz.1

Esteemed Herr Professor,

Would you like to take a walk this afternoon and let's choose the city museum2 as a meeting and starting point, where you would meet me (namely, in the second reading room) between 2-3 o'clock?

With special respect

Very truly yours
H. Druskowitz[.]

1. Helene Druskowitz (1856-1918): early feminist writer who earned a PhD in philosophy in 1878 from the University of Zürich. It's likely that Nietzsche learned of Druskowitz through his visits to Zürich, which began in the 1870s. In a 07-18-1882 letter to Franz Overbeck, he asked for the address of "Frl. Helene Truschkowitz." On 08-01-1885, Nietzsche asked Heinrich Köselitz to send her a copy of Also sprach Zarathustra, 4. Three weeks later, he regretted the decision (see Sils Maria, 08-21-1885: Letter to Heinrich Köselitz in Venice), but learned that she would only read and not keep the copy. In 1886, Druskowitz began writing — disapprovingly — about Nietzsche's philosophy and Also sprach Zarathustra. See Moderne Versuche eines Religionsersatzes. Ein philosophischer Essay. Heidelberg: 1886. TNC reprint of pp. 45-59. This led to Nietzsche making some disparaging remarks about her in a postscript to a Sils Maria, 09-17-1887 letter to Carl Spitteler in Basel: "Die kleine Litteratur-Gans Druscowicz ist Alles Andere als meine 'Schülerin'." (The little literature-goose Druscowicz is anything but my "pupil.") For books by Druskowitz that Nietzsche actually owned, see her entry in Nietzsche's Library.
2. Druskowitz seems to have made a mistake: there was no city museum. However, she was probably referring to the "Museumsgesellschaft" reading rooms.

Friedrich Hegar.
Unknown date.
Colorized image ©The Nietzsche Channel.

Zürich, October 22, 1884:
Letter to Elisabeth Nietzsche.

Yesterday, my dear Lama, was a beautiful day, and your letter1 came to hand amidst nothing but good things. In the morning, the weather glorious in Nicean splendor. At 9 o'clock I went to the concert hall and refreshed myself with Beethoven and Bizet. Then the German proprietor of the Hôtel des Etrangers2 announced to me in the most deferential way his joy that I was thinking of coming to his house for the winter and guaranteed the same conditions as before in Nice. Then Hegar3 came and brought the Köselitzian score:4 every autumn, he makes himself and his orchestra available and offered of his own accord to hand over to Mr. Peter Gast half an hour from each of his own orchestral rehearsals, at which time K[öselitz] could thus "take control" of the orchestra himself and rehearse his stuff. After this proposal I stated the now fulfilled request of K[öselitz]: to come over here to H[egar] in order to live in close proximity to an orchestra — in short, everything fits together well and I believe I have brought to the fore K[öselitz]'s destiny with this stay in Zurich. — In the afternoon I took a long walk with my new friend Helene Druscowicz,5 who lives with her mother a few houses away6 from the Pension Neptune: of all the women I know, she has, by far, dealt with my books in the most serious manner,7 and not in vain. Just take a look and see what you think of her latest works ("Drei englische Dichterinnen,"8 among them Elliot [sic], whom she admires a lot) and a book about Shelley.9 She is now translating the English poet Swineburne.10 I think she is a noble and righteuous creature who does my "philosophy" no harm.11 After that, read the novellas of my Berlin admirer Miss Glogau: they praise her a lot due to her "psychological acuity."12 In the evening I was at the first concert in the Concert Hall, to which H[egar] had invited me: and thus I spent the evening of this fine day with "Arlésienne"13 and laid myself to sleep. This morning a cordial and extremely tactful letter14 arrived from my old friend Overbeck, which essentially expresses his utter joy that I have not lost "such a portion of loyal and original attachment as is mine in my mother and sister." — Since I did not have your addresses where you're traveling, I sent a letter to you to Naumburg.

Faithfully Yours
F.

Long live independence! — this is my daily thought. Have nothing to do with getting married!15

My regards to all the relatives who have remained dear to me.

1. 10-10-1884 letter from Elisabeth Nietzsche.
2. An establishment in Mentone.
3. Friedrich Hegar (1841-1927). Hegar, whom Nietzsche had met while visiting Richard Wagner, was the founder and director of the music conservatory in Zurich, the conductor of the Zurich Symphony, and a close friend of Johannes Brahms.
4. "Der Löwe von Venedig" (The Lion of Venice), a composition by Heinrich Köselitz.
5. Helene Druskowitz (1856-1918): early feminist writer who earned a PhD in philosophy in 1878 from the University of Zürich. It's likely that Nietzsche learned of Druskowitz through his visits to Zürich, which began in the 1870s. In a 07-18-1882 letter to Franz Overbeck, he asked for the address of "Frl. Helene Truschkowitz." Ten months after their 1884 meeting, Nietzsche asked Heinrich Köselitz to send her a copy of Also sprach Zarathustra, 4. Apparently Druskowitz, in a now lost letter to Nietzsche that thanked him for sending it, had announced her intention to write about or critique Nietzsche's work. We can try to glean what she said from the draft of Nietzsche's response, but we know that whatever she wrote did not meet with Nietzsche's approval, since he expressed his regrets in a 08-21-1885 letter to Heinrich Köselitz. Nietzsche's draft to Druskowitz states that he should not be included among those who "produce lit[erature]." Her "sincere" but not very "modest" response could be rectified with "a half-hour conversation" to set her straight, according to Nietzsche. In 1886, Druskowitz wrote — disapprovingly — about Nietzsche's philosophy and Also sprach Zarathustra. See Moderne Versuche eines Religionsersatzes. Ein philosophischer Essay. Heidelberg: 1886. TNC reprint of pp. 45-59. This led to Nietzsche's disparaging remarks about her in a postscript to a 09-17-1887 letter to Carl Spitteler: "Die kleine Litteratur-Gans Druscowicz ist Alles Andere als meine 'Schülerin'." (The little literature-goose Druscowicz is anything but my "pupil.") For books by Druskowitz that Nietzsche actually owned, see her entry in Nietzsche's Library.
6. She resided at Stadelhoferstrasse 14.
7. For a discussion of Druskowitz's philosophical works and her relationship with Nietzsche, see Carol Diethe, Nietzsche's Women: Beyond the Whip. Berlin; New York: de Gruyter, 1996, 95-100. Cf. Curt Paul Janz, Friedrich Nietzsche Biographie. Munich; Vienna: Hanser, 1979. Bd. 2, 351-356.
8. Drei englische Dichterinnen. Essays von H. Druskowitz Dr. phil. Verfasser von "Percy Bysshe Shelley." Berlin: R. Oppenheim, 1885. [Essays on Joanna Baillie (1762-1851), Elizabeth Barrett-Browning (1806-1861), and George Eliot (1819-1880)]. PDF.
9. Perce Bysshe Shelley von H. Druskowitz, Dr. phil. Berlin: Robert Oppenheim, 1884. PDF.
10. The translation was never published.
11. Druskowitz's subsequent publications disparaged Nietzsche's writings. See her entry in Nietzsche's Library.
12. Bertha Glogau (1849-?): German writer. Glogau published two books under the name, "B. Glogau." It's uncertain to which one Nietzsche was referring. 1. Novellen. Von B. Glogau. Berlin: Verlag von Wilhelm Hertz (Bessersche Buchhandlung), 1880; 2. Neue Novellen. Zweite Folge. Leipzig: B. Schlicke, 1883. [CONTENTS: An der letzten Roulette. Das Opfer.] The following review of her writings appeared in 1881: "In den 'Novellen' von B. Glogau fällt zunächst die feuilletonistische Behandlung auf. Einige darunter, zum Beispiel, die 'Frau Pfarrerin' oder 'Sitzen geblieben,' sind geradezu Skizzen, in denen eigentlich gar nichts vorgeht. Aber sie sind lebendig und mit allen jenen Pointen geschrieben, die man von dem Feuilletonisten verlangt. Daß Glogau auch ein eigentliches Erzählertalent ist, daß er gut erfinden und kräftig schildern kann, das beweisen die erste und die letzte seiner Novellen. 'An der polnischen Landstraße' heißt die eine, 'Im Exil' die andere. Der Osten Europas ist neuestens in der deutschen Literatur stark in die Mode gekommen, und auf unserem Parnaß tanzen freiwillige Sarmaten Krakowiak. Wir lieben diese exotische, nach dem Parfum der Uncultur duftende Poesie nicht sonderlich und lassen uns durch ihren seltsamen Reiz nicht blenden; aber Glogau's Novelle ist spannend und mit großer Gewandtheit entworfen. Dennoch ziehen wir ihr die einfache Geschichte von dem deutschen Manne vor, den ein Brustleiden an fernerer wissenschaftlicher und politischer Thätigkeit verhindert und an die Riviera zu übersiedeln zwingt. Dort wird der hochgebildete Mann — Wirth und trägt seiner Familie zuliebe den neuen Beruf wie ein Held bis zu seinem Tode. Die Erzählung, die leicht lächerlich werden konnte, ist sehr hübsch durchgeführt, und wir bewundern den herrlichen Charakter des tapferen Dulders ebenso wie der Verfasser, ja wir sind von seiner Schilderung so überzeugt, daß wir meinen, der wackere Mann müßte wirklich gelebt haben." (In B. Glogau's "Novellas," the first thing that strikes you is the feuilletonist treatment. Some of them, for example, the "Frau Pastor" or "Have a Seat," are frankly sketches in which nothing really happens. But they are lively and written with all the lines one expects from a feuilletonist. The first and last of her novellas prove that Glogau is also a real storyteller, that she can weave and depict powerfully. "On the Polish Country Road" is one of them, "In Exile" another. Eastern Europe has recently become very fashionable in German literature, and Sarmatians freely dance the Krakowiak on our Parnassus. We do not particularly love this exotic poetry, which smells of the perfume of the uncultured, and let us not be dazzled by its strange charm; but Glogau's novella is exciting and crafted with great skill. Nevertheless, we prefer to it the simple story of the German man prevented by a lung disease from further scholarly and political activity and forced to move to the Riviera. There the highly educated man becomes a landlord and for the sake of his family he carries on his new profession like a hero until his death. The story, which could easily become ridiculous, is very nicely done, and we admire the marvelous character of the brave sufferer just as much as the author; indeed, we are so convinced of his description that we think the brave man must really have existed.) See K. v. Th., "Literatur-Blatt. Neue Novellen." In: Neue Freie Presse. Nr. 5897. 1881-01-28. Page 4.
13. Composed in 1872 by Georges Bizet (1838-1875).
14. The letter is lost.
15. Elisabeth had written that Nietzsche's friend Berta Rohr was possibly coming to Nice. Berta Rohr (1848-1940) lived in Basel, and was also a friend of Malwida von Meysenbug. Nietzsche met her in 1873. She was seen as a marriage prospect.