Content area
Full text
As the title suggests, Nietzsche in Turin describes Friedrich Nietzsche's final collapse into insanity in the city of Turin in January 1889 when he was found embracing a horse in an attempt to comfort it after it had been mercilessly beaten by its owner. The philosopher's descent into madness is most effectively portrayed throughout
The novella opens with a dream sequence in which Nietzsche "sah sich die Englische Promenade entlanggehen ... zum Meer hinuntersteigen, langsam, sehr langsam." The incipient gaping chasm of insanity is suggested here and at intervals throughout by the use of the reflexive verb: Nietzsche, wholly self-occupied, continually sees himself in action, as if his sane part were observing his insane part as it splits...