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Vienna XIX, Strassergasse 47
15. vii. 34
Dear Meister Arnold,
So you have tossed off a new play at top speed, an episode from the life of that magnificent rascal Napoleon, who remained fixated on his puberty phantasies, was blessed with incredible good luck, inhibited by no ties apart from his family, and made his way through life like a sleepwalker, until he was finally shipwrecked by his folie de grandeur. There scarcely ever was a genius so totally lacking in distinction, an absolutely classic Anti—Gentleman,2 but he was cut on the grand scale.
Curious as to how things are with you. You very much overestimate my knowledge of Nietzsche. And for that reason I cannot tell you anything that might be useful for you. For me there are two sentinels which bar the approach to the Nietzsche problem. First, it is impossible to understand anyone without knowing his sexual constitution, and Nietzsche's is a complete enigma. There is even a story that he was a passive homosexual and that he contracted syphilis in a male brothel in Italy. Whether this is true or not—quien sabe? Secondly, he had a serious illness and after a long period of warning symptoms he suffered a general paralysis. Everyone has conflicts. With a general paralysis the conflicts recede into the background of the aetiology. Should writers be