12.03.08
When Nietzsche Wept, Etc.
Despite the title’s provocative temper, I expected to finish this book disturbed and sickened. What could one anticipate from a fusion of fact and fiction set during the Wagnerian era, psychoanalysis, the “unholy trinity” of Friedrich Nietzsche, Paul Rée, and Lou Salome, the topic of obsession, Sigmund Freud, and Josef Breuer? Still, curiosity got the best of me and instead, I found myself engrossed in this riveting intellectual thriller.
When Nietzsche Wept was not ordinarily about Nietzsche but the exploration of obsession, despair, pride, catharsis, introspection, love, lust, morals, fate, choices, and friendship. In the end, I was amazed at my satisfaction and degree of appreciation for the author Irvin Yalom and this mesmerizing work – even if there looms a possibility that Nietzsche would not have approved of it.
“Can you imagine your tears having a voice? Give your tears a voice.
What would they say?” ~ When Nietzsche Wept, Irvin D. Yalom, M.D.
¤ ¤ ¤
I read this in the departure area, in the plane, and finally finished it in Cebu. This may surprise my Cebuano friends but… yes, I was in Cebu during the past few days. Apparently, Dandi was able to avail of a promo ticket for me and I was destined to tail along. I nicknamed my being away “L.O.A” since it was an absence under exceptional circumstances from my daily routine and it was not deemed as a vacation at first – even though it turned out to be one anyway. My dear Cebuano friends, please forgive me if I failed to notify any of you. The few people who knew of our arrival were Paulina because they invited to host us and it was her dad who actually booked the plane tickets, Cressi because she’s Dandi’s bestfriend, and Princess because Dandi informed her. I did not consider the trip “mine”, thus entrusting the entire three-day schedule to my brother. Other than being Dandi’s tag-along and reading my book, I had no other business being there – – oh, alright, alright, I was also itching to visit the week-old FullyBooked branch in Ayala. Haha They were still a bit disorganized but I nonetheless emerged from the shelves in a book-drunk stupor, a light wallet, and with C.S. Lewis’ Mere Christianity, The Screwtape Letters, The Abolition of Man, The Great Divorce, The Problem of Pain, Miracles, and A Grief Observed – all in one book!
¤ ¤ ¤
Dandi and I are back in Dipolog. I already had a student after unpacking my little bag. I am once again alone with my thoughts and my books. Taking small trips make me ponder on so many things, and this time, the reigning thought is all about traveling lightly. (An entire entry will be reserved for that subject.) The sky is weeping; it is raining… what if heaven’s tears had voices? What would they say?
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Karlo said,
December 3, 2008 at 11:01 pm
Oh, how he’d weep when he reads it! :)
Miracle ♪♫ said,
December 3, 2008 at 11:19 pm
Hahaha That might very well be the subconscious reason why I liked it. =P
sopraninigabi said,
December 4, 2008 at 9:28 pm
A Lewis anthology!?!?! How precious!! :)
Hmmm yet another book to add to my ever-growing shopping list.
About Wagner, I often wonder how someone so lost and twisted(?) could have come up with such sublime music… for example, the Pilgrim’s Chorus from Tannhauser. It really challenges the existentialist notion of the composer being inextricably connected to the work.
kendi said,
December 4, 2008 at 10:22 pm
hehe. you, your books and your trips Mir. haven’t been to fullybooked though. uber busy here too. ;) however, advance mewi kwizmas!
Miracle ♪♫ said,
December 5, 2008 at 10:10 am
¤ To Gabi:
Yes, Gabi. The Lewis book is almost too good to be true. I had to make sure they weren’t merely compiled summaries. hehe =)
Regarding Wagner, I suppose music is just so powerful that it dares to manifest its faculties even through the most undesirable of instruments. haha =)
¤¤¤
¤ To Kendi:
Happy holidays to you as well, Kendz!
Had I visited Cebu during the weekend, I would have informed you and brought you a pair of demitasses and the Book 5 Beryl was looking for. However, I didn’t wanna burden anybody’s schedule. Anyway, I can’t be away from Cebu for too long. It’s my second city after all. I’ll see you soon. =)
cress said,
December 6, 2008 at 10:45 pm
we loved having you guys here mira =) how much did you get the book for? when i went, it was so disorganized i couldn’t find anything. hehehe.
Miracle ♪♫ said,
December 6, 2008 at 10:55 pm
…and we’d love to have you guys here, Cress! April 2010 is marked!
Hmmm… the book cost more than my round trip plane ticket. hihi ^_^
Yeah, I hope the bookstore’s state will improve after the soft-opening period. Even though Plato relates rhetoric with culinary arts, I don’t agree with how they placed their philosophy books alongside the cookbooks. =S
Thanks for being one of the first people to inform me about its opening! =D
kendi said,
December 7, 2008 at 9:09 pm
aww.. choks ra mir. everyday is christmas anyway.
and yeah, tough sked here lately. 12hours on the job most of the time. ’tis the season of getting sick man gud. hehe. :)
Miracle ♪♫ said,
December 7, 2008 at 9:52 pm
Yeah, I should know, Kendz. *sniffles*
sopraninigabi said,
December 25, 2008 at 3:23 pm
Finished this book today. Ang bigat!! Wahahaha but yes it WAS highly satisfying, with a lot of truths (to be carefully discerned from the other misleading “truths”)
Merry Christmas to thee, sibling-brained friend!
Miracle ♪♫ said,
December 26, 2008 at 8:36 am
Diba? The chapters before the finale already began to worry me - that reading the book was not worth it. Fortunately, the ending was wonderful without being predictable. =)
Yes, especially when Nietzsche is concerned, one must carefully weigh the words - or in biblical terms, “rightly divide” the words that we take in. =)
Happy Birthday, sibling-brained friend! =D