In a month or two something _philosophical_ may be expected; under the
very inoffensive title of _Leisure Hours of à Psychologist_ I am saying
agreeable and disagreeable things to the world at large--including that
intelligent nation, the Germans.
But all this is in the main nothing but recreation beside the main
thing: the name of the latter is _Transvaluation of all Values_. Europe
will have to discover a new Siberia, to which to consign the author of
these experiments with values.
I hope this high-spirited letter will find you in one of your usual
_resolute_ moods.
With kind remembrances,
Yours,
Dr. NIETZSCHE.
Address till middle of November: Torino (Italia) ferma in posta.
17. BRANDES to NIETZSCHE.
_Copenhagen_, Oct. 6, 1888.
MY DEAR SIR,
Your letter and valued gift found me in a raging fever of work. This
accounts for my delay in answering.
The mere sight of your handwriting gave me pleasurable excitement.
It is sad news that you have had a bad summer. I was foolish enough to
think that you had already got over all your physical troubles.
I have read the pamphlet with the greatest attention and much
enjoyment. I am not so unmusical that I cannot enter into the fun of
it. I am merely not an expert. A few days before receiving the little
book I heard a very fine performance of _Carmen_; what glorious music!
However, at the risk of exciting your wrath I confess that Wagner's
_Tristan und Isolde_ made an indelible impression on me. I once heard
this opera in Berlin, in a despondent, altogether shattered state of
mind, and I felt every note. I do not know whether the impression was
so deep because I was so ill.
Do you know Bizet's widow? You ought to send her the pamphlet. She
would like it. She is the sweetest, most charming of women, with a
nervous _tic_ that is curiously becoming, but perfectly genuine,
perfectly sincere and full of fire. Only she has married again (an
excellent man, a barrister named Straus, of Paris). I believe she
knows some German. I could get you her address, if it does not put you
against her that she has not remained true to her god--any more than
the Virgin Mary, Mozart's widow or Marie Louise.
Bizet's child is ideally beautiful and charming.--But I am gossiping.
I have given a copy of the book to the greatest of Swedish writers,
August Strindberg, whom I have entirely won over to you. He is a true
genius, only a trifle mad like most geniuses (and non-geniuses). The
other copy I shall also place with care.
Paris I am not well acquainted with now. But send a copy to the
following address: Madame la Princesse Anna Dmitrievna Ténicheff, Quai
Anglais 20, Petersburg. This lady is a friend of mine; she is also
acquainted with the musical world of Petersburg and will make you known
there. I have asked her before now to buy your works, but they were all
forbidden in Russia, even _Human, all-too-Human_.