52 pages • 1-hour read
When Nietzsche Wept: A Novel Of Obsession
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Essay Topics
The novel’s portrayals of women often reflect the patriarchal assumptions common to early psychoanalytic theory—women are either objects of male desire, like Bertha, or sources of guilt and repression, like Breuer’s wife, Mathilde. Are there any ways in which the novel challenges these stereotypes, presenting its women characters as having complex inner lives of their own?
How do Breuer’s theories of psychology impact the way he understands Nietzsche’s symptoms? How does Breuer’s background as a physician inform his understanding of the relationship between mind and body?
How does antisemitism influence the work that Freud and Breuer collaborate on in the novel?
While Breuer is under hypnosis, he sees his fantasies become reality and realizes that they are just as full of problems as his real life. How does this experience influence him once he exits his hypnosis?
Breuer claims that Nietzsche is likely addicted to chloral-hydrate, a sedative drug that was commonly prescribed in the era, despite its highly addictive and harmful qualities. Nietzsche says he merely uses it to help him sleep. How does his use of the drug impact his behavior? How does it interact with his physical and psychological symptoms?
What does the novel say about the difference between love and lust? Use examples from the text to support your answer.
How do philosophy and psychology overlap in the novel? In which ways are they disconnected?
What does the novel suggest about the nature of dreams? Use examples from the text to support your answer.
Nietzsche says to Breuer, “If one is unable to give up a marriage, then the marriage is doomed” (280). What does this mean in practical terms, and how is it contiguous with Nietzsche’s philosophy more broadly, as it is presented in the novel?
How does the principle of amor fati (loving one’s fate) act as a tool of self-empowerment as examined in the novel?
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