Nietzsche in France: a conflict of the early interpretations

Abstract

This paper deals with the reception of Friedrich Nietzsche's philosophy in France before the birth of the post-modern “French Nietzsche”. The attitude of French intellectuals to the German thinker has never been simple. The author emphasizes that the first reviews of Nietzsche's works were very harsh: French critics accused Nietzsche of nihilism and immorality; chaotic and devastating nature of Dionysian ecstasy repelled them. Nietzsche's ideas aroused interest mainly in literary circles, while professional philosophers did not accept them. The article gives an idea of the first academic studies of Nietzsche's writings published by the founders of German studies in France, the right-wing thinker Henri Lichtenberger and the socialist Charles Andler, both of them natives of Alsace and Lorraine. The difficult destiny of Nietzsche's philosophy in France was determined by the strategy chosen by the Nietzsche Archive in Weimar and the position adopted by Elisabeth Förster-Nietzsche, philosopher's sister, as well as by the two world wars. A significant contribution to the rehabilitation of Nietzsche was made by Georges Bataille (who focused on those aspects of Nietzsche's philosophy which were alien to National Socialist ideology), by postmodernists and poststructuralists, and by Giorgio Colli and Mazzino Montinari who published Nietzsche`s manuscripts. Famous colloquia at Royaumont (1964) and Cerisy (1972) are evidence of special attention paid by philosophers to Nietzsche. At the end of 1960s Nietzsche's philosophy became part of the program of higher education in France. The majority of interpretations of Nietzsche's works are mutually exclusive.