The most immediately visible of the editorial alterations of the 1960 edition is the omission of the eipgraphs placed by Richardson at the heads of eight of the chapters. The epigraphs help to illuminate the events of the chapters and to develop the theme of the getting of wisdom. The epigraph to chapter XVII, which offers the comment that "He who cannot lie does not know what truth is," intended by Nietzsche as a criticism of small-minded pedants, is especially pertinent to Laura's experience. Karen McLeod adds that "the act of lying itself demands an imaginative vigour that is valuable, although neither Laura nor her schoolfellows realise it at this stage."24 And McLeod observes that "the injunction that prefaces the final chapter, that Laura should learn to 'dance beyond herself' is vivid, full of possibilities and an enriching of the final paragraphs," a valuable appreciation of the significance of the epigraph to the work. The epigraphs also contribute, I feel, to the book's comic or at least ironic quality, casting a mock epic importance on a schoolgirl's petty trials and preoccupations.
In an appendix to her work, McLeod provided these translations of the epigraphs (keyed to the chapters where they occur).25
CHAPTER XII: The neighbor reigns, one becomes a mere neighbor. (Da regiert der Nachbar da wird man Nachbar.) From Nietzsche contra Wagner, section 2.
CHAPTER XVII: Inability to lie is far from being love of the truth. . . . He who cannot lie does not know what truth is. (Ohnmacht zur Luge ist lange noch nicht Liebe zur Wahrheit. . . . Wer nicht lugen kann, weiss nicht, was Wahrheit ist.) From Thus Spoke Zarathustra, part 4.
CHAPTER XVIII: The criminal is often enough not equal to his deed. (Der Verrecher is haufig genug seiner Tat nicht gewachsen.) From Beyond Good and Evil, section 109.
CHAPTER XX: How should a stream not find its way to the sea at last! (Wie sollte ein Strom nicht endlich den Weg zum Meere finden!) From Thus Spoke Zarathustra, part 2.
CHAPTER XXII: And do not forget to laugh well! (Und vergesst mir auch das gute Lachen nicht!) From Thus Spoke Zarathustra, part 4.
CHAPTER XXIII: Good and evil and joy and sorrow and I and you. (Gut und bose und Lust und Leid und Ich und Du.) From Thus Spoke Zarathustra, part 1.
CHAPTER XXIV: What does not kill me makes me stronger. (Was mich nicht umbringt, macht mir starker.) From Twilight of the Idols.
CHAPTER XXV: None of you has learnt to dance as a man ought to dance — beyond yourselves! (Ihr lerntet alle nicht tanzen, wie man tanzen muss — uber euch hinweg tanzen!) From Thus Spoke Zarathustra, part 4.
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This essay was the introduction to the 1993 Mercury House reissue of The Getting of Wisdom.
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Notes
24 McLeod, 85-86.
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25 McLeod, 244-45. According to McLeod, the first translation is by W. J. Kaufmann from The Portable Nietzsche and the others are from R. J. Hollingdale's Penguin translations.
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home | © 1993 by Thomas Christensen