I Am Dynamite!

Outline

I Am Dynamite! (2018) tells the life of Friedrich Nietzsche, from his childhood as a pastor’s son to his years as a brilliant young professor, his wandering life of illness and solitude, and his final mental collapse. Sue Prideaux shows how his relationships, rivalries, and struggles shaped ideas such as the will to power and the Übermensch, and how his sister later distorted his legacy.

• Nietzsche grew up as a pastor's son before becoming a brilliant young professor.
• Much of his later life was spent wandering, in poor health and solitude.
• His relationships, rivalries and personal struggles helped shape ideas like the will to power and the Übermensch.
• His life ended in a mental collapse that brought his working years to a close.
• His sister later distorted his legacy, which helps explain why he is so often misunderstood.

Sue Prideaux is a British biographer, novelist, and art historian known for vivid biographies of major European thinkers and artists. Her book Edvard Munch: Behind the Scream won the James Tait Black Memorial Prize, and I Am Dynamite! won the Hawthornden Prize. She has also written Strindberg: A Life and Wild Thing, a biography of Paul Gauguin.