206 Besprechungen / Reviews respect, singling out classical or contemporary writers or poets to whom she calls attention as exemplary in their ability to bridge cultural divides. For it is this capacity to overcome cultural and religious difference that Mommsen considers the enduring message of Goethe and his Persian counterpart Hafez. It is this ethos that she captures in the title of the volume «Orient und Okzident sind nicht mehr zu trennen,» which is a citation from Goethe’s Faust and which constitutes a recurring refrain throughout the collection of essays. At the end of the volume, the reader can find a chronological list of the author’s lectures and interviews, a list of the illustrations, an index of names and works, as well as an index of Goethe’s works. The individual, frequently quite short essays of the volume are grouped thematically under these headings: «Orientalische Poesie,» «West-östliche Versammlung,» «Türken, Bagdad, 1001 Nacht,» and «Unterschiedliches zum Ausklang.» While the individual textual examples that Mommsen works with suggest a strategy of assimilation, she offers no overarching explicit argument as to how we are to imagine Goethe’s creation of this cultural bridge. What makes it possible to postulate such an identity or communality between such different and distinct cultures? And why do cultural differences matter? Mommsen comes closest to engaging these big questions in the essays grouped under the title «West-östliche Versammlung.» Here she draws attention to Calderón, especially Calderón’s El principe constante, and Goethe’s reception of Calderón as a playwright who recognized the indebtedness of the West to the East, which he reflected in his plays. According to Mommsen, it is in Calderón’s approach to Islam that Goethe found a model for how we are to read and relate to Hafez. In the same group of essays she also discusses Goethe’s relationship to the genres of wisdom literature and didactic literature as well as Goethe’s relationship to calligraphy in order to approach the question as to how the poet deals with the mediation between cultural differences. The final grouping, however, does not reflect on whether and how cultural differences matter but rather it seems to indicate something along the lines of «miscellaneous.» The strength of this volume lies in the many precise textual references and cross-references within Goethe’s work where he engages with specific texts and figures from the non-European cultures. Ultimately, the individual essays stand all very well on their own. Columbia University Dorothea von Mücke Paul Bishop (Ed.): A Companion to Friedrich Nietzsche: Life and Works. Rochester: Camden House, 2012. xii + 449 pp. $ 90.00. As indicated in its title (and underscored often enough by Nietzsche himself), this collection of essays by established European and American scholars emphasizes the intimate connection between the philosopher’s life and works - or, in editor Paul Bishop’s own words, «the reciprocity of biography and creativity» (6). In keeping with the continually growing Camden House Companion series, the volume is addressed to both beginning and advanced readers of Nietzsche. The bookends CG_45_2_s113-208_End.indd 206 14.07.15 20: 41 Besprechungen / Reviews 207 of its fifteen chapters are formed by an initial overview of Nietzsche’s early writings, from juvenilia to academic publications in classical philology, and a final essay on the complicated issue of his Nachlass; in between, each of his major works receives individual scrutiny. (Nietzsche’s musical compositions are understandably left out of the immediate discussion, though readers are given some helpful guidance for further study.) Beyond the commonality of interweaving Nietzsche’s life and œuvre, the chapters tend to differ slightly in approach: some offer immanent readings of the work in question while others proceed in more intertextual fashion, whether by incorporating additional writings of his or expanding the focus to include outside authors (e.g., Goethe, Schopenhauer, Dostoyevsky, et al.) that have a crucial bearing on his philosophy. Overall, this voluminous companion is distinguished by a fluid and cohesive narrative thanks to: (1) the biographical «links» that the editor provides to each work (rather than, say, packing all this information into the introduction); (2) some reiterative rather than merely repetitive introductory and concluding overlap in each essay; and (3) the emphasis in most chapters on the continuity of Nietzsche’s thought. This third point emerges as perhaps the most surprising: his thinking from precocious youth to premature mental invalid proves to be remarkably consistent despite his vaunted principle of self-overcoming and traditional scholarly tendencies to categorize his philosophy in distinct phases, e.g., his early romantic Schwärmerei for Schopenhauer, Wagner, and Greek tragedy; his middle period of scientific-positivistic sobriety; and his later rampage in the cause of revaluation. Rather than give cursory if not perfunctory nods to each chapter, let me highlight the best ones in an effort to do them some semblance of justice. Adrian Del Caro presents a brilliant and nuanced reading of Die Geburt der Tragödie, showing how the Apollonian, the Dionysian, and what one might with some allowance call the «Wagnerian» inform Nietzsche’s view of tragedy and furthermore anticipate later aspects of his thought. Del Caro neatly ties all of these conceptual strands together into a coherent elucidation that newcomers to Nietzsche will surely profit from and specialists can duly learn from - namely how to write a straightforward yet solid interpretation of a Nietzschean text that engages all audiences. Keith Ansell-Pearson’s examination of Die fröhliche Wissenschaft is also straightforward and solid. As he demonstrates in his eloquent analysis, this refreshing work breathes a general sense of cheerfulness and convalescence; more specifically, it introduces the all-important notions of eternal recurrence and the death of God. Michael Allen Gillespie and Keegan F. Callanan offer a no-nonsense close reading of Zur Genealogie der Moral. Much in accord with the work itself, the argumentative flow here is tight and the analytical tools are as sharp as the ones Nietzsche himself employs. Paul Bishop’s take on Ecce homo is much different, though no less illuminating. Also in accord with its object of investigation, his chapter relies on the tools of contextualization and intertextuality in order to get at the textual - rather than (f)actual - Nietzsche that arises from this «exercise in self-narration» (364). Bishop brings the radically self-constructed narrator of Ecce homo into dialogue with Goethe, Schopenhauer, Spinoza, Pindar, Helvétius, and Jung, in the process painting a rich portrait of this hyperbolic autobiography that asserts life over truth. Alan D. CG_45_2_s113-208_End.indd 207 14.07.15 20: 41 208 Besprechungen / Reviews Schrift explores the many problems associated with Nietzsche’s vast Nachlass, with special consideration of Der Wille zur Macht, which ultimately remains more a philological Machwerk concocted by dubious scholars than a philosophical Macht- Werk created by the author himself. Schrift’s overview of the work’s genesis and editorial history will be especially instructive for many readers, who tend to have preconceptions about it as Nietzsche’s magnum opus. Even if much of this chapter covers familiar territory for insiders, its concluding deliberations on the value of these posthumously published texts are revealing for all. As Schrift points out, they afford insight into Nietzsche’s experimental workshop; constitute a kind of intellectual diary; are philologically important for their variants of aphorisms and other passages that later become finalized in publication; and they have given rise to some of the most original exegeses of his philosophy, above all in postwar France. Finally, they problematize the very practice of interpretation, forcing judicious scholars to relativize and prioritize their respective approaches. Indeed, there is plenty of such relativization and prioritization throughout this companion. To be sure, all of Nietzsche’s published texts - even his poetry - undergo chapter-long treatments, but within each of these chapters the interpreter of course has to pick his or her methodological battles. This is particularly true in the case of heterogeneous texts like Menschliches, Allzumenschliches I and II, Morgenröte, and Jenseits von Gut und Böse. And here readers do in fact hit some rough ground and may at times find themselves more befuddled than enlightened. Nevertheless, most of the essays in this well-orchestrated volume serve as excellent accompaniment to Nietzsche’s generically diverse and thematically wide-ranging oeuvre. As suggested above, the most admirable quality of any scholarly compendium of this sort is that it appeals to a broad spectrum of readers, whether neophytes or so-called experts. Leaving aside the greater question whether all sincere readers of Nietzsche cannot but remain lifelong neophytes and continue to make new discoveries when rereading his works, it is safe to say that Paul Bishop delivers to all parties a well-balanced assessment, one that is both informative to digest and enjoyable to read. University of Missouri Sean Ireton CG_45_2_s113-208_End.indd 208 14.07.15 20: 41