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Richard Schain. The Lagend of Nietzsche's Syphilis. Contributions in Medical Studies, no. 46. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 2001. xiii + 130 pp. 111. $62.95 (0-- 313-31940-5).
As the title indicates, Richard Schain's biography of the great philosopher is an attempt-a successful one, it seems to this reviewer-to show that he did not suffer (as is usually claimed) from syphilitic, but from schizophrenic madness. (The serologic test to diagnose the sexually acquired mental illness was introduced by Wasserman only six years after Nietzsche's death.) In contrast or in addition to the many previous biographies, this book focuses on the medical aspects of Nietzsche's life. He shared both migraine and epilepsy with several members of his family; he had cholera twice, as well as diphtheria and dysentery.
Nietzsche's talents were many, especially musical: he played the piano once in a brothel, and even composed music. He studied theology and philology, and in 1869 he went to Basel, becoming professor of philology and a Swiss citizen-but then he joined the Prussian army fighting the French. Returning to his sister in Saxony, now age thirty-four, he wrote: "My existence is a 'fearful' burden," yet, "this pleasure in knowledge brings me to heights in which I am victorious" (p. 26). At age forty-nine, after having completed Also Sprach Zarathustra, he wrote: "everything is boring, painful, degoutant.... I ... have a sense of imperfection" (p. 29).
Nietzsche never used the typewriter given him as a present. He drank no alcohol or coffee,...