Mito, leggenda e storia. La biografia simbolica di Nietzsche nell'opera di Ernst Bertram

This essay, entitled Myth, legend and history. The symbolic biography of Nietzsche in Ernst Bertram’s work, investigates some among the main themes in Bertram’s book Nietzsche. Versuch einer Mythologie (1918), devoting particular attention to sections Napoleon, Anecdote, Venice and Socrates. Although Bertram's interpretation of Nietzsche's thought had great resonance throughout the literary circles of the early twentieth century it is still mostly unknown among Italian scholars. This paper highlights how in Bertram’s study myth and legend are interweaved with the peculiar «typological» approach to history of the author. The limits and fruitful aspects of Bertram’s work are brought to the fore in the analysis of some among the most relevant symbols in Nietzsche’s thought and through an inedited comparison with Carlyle’s «great men» doctrine.