Lou von Salome: A Biography of the Woman Who Inspired Freud, Nietzsche and Rilke Review
Lou von Salome: A biography of the woman who inspired Freud, Nietzsche, and Rilke is set in the backdrop of the European cultural revolution at the turn of the last century. An extraordinary woman, far ahead of her time Lou von Salome, was writer, critic, inspiration, and cultural revolutionist.
In Vickers biography we can see the patterns, habits, loss, frustrations, fears, and joys of Lou von Salome. Lou, through her writing, gives to the world a fresh viewpoint to the male dominated cultural revolution of Europe at the turn of the last century. In her quest to understand herself she reaches out to and inspires some of the greatest minds of the time. Ms. Vickers provides a clear vision of Lou's life from fairy tale childhood, questing adolesence, confident adult, to inspired old age. Vickers writing style has a delicate touch, and at times is almost lyrical. At times I believed the author must even have known Lou personally, although that can not be possible.
I recommend this book to anyone who is interested in psychology, philosophy, religion, or poetry. I didn't want to put it down.
The daughter of an illustrious Russian general, Lou von Salome left her home in the heart of Tsarist Russia to conquer intellectual Europe at the tender age of 18. Eventually settling in Germany, she became a best-selling novelist, a groundbreaking essayist, and a well-known literary critic. In addition to all this, Salome was a real-life muse for some of the most brilliant men of her time.
This biography tells the story of Salome's entire life and career, focusing on her young adulthood; celibate marriage with linguistics scholar Carl Friedrich Andreas; rumored affairs with Friedrich Nietzsche, Rainier Maria Rilke, and several other authors and poets; and her relationship with Sigmund Freud, which was marked most notably by their contrasting views of psychoanalysis.
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