In one of Nietzsche's
notebooks from early 1886 there's a passage in which he wrote "The Titles of Ten New Books." And then he lists out the names of all these books that he's thinking about writing: "The Will to Power," "The Artist," "We Godless Ones," "Midday and Eternity," "Beyond Good and Evil," "Gai Saber," "Music," "Experiences of a Scribe" and "The History of Modern Darkening." Of these ten books, the only one that Nietzsche would end up writing is "Beyond Good and Evil," which he would complete later in 1886. "The Will to Power" he spent considerable time working on, but ultimately he never finished it before the onset of his insanity in January of 1889. The problem for Nietzsche wasn't a lack of ideas or things to write about, it was a lack of time to bring these ideas to fruition. He wanted to write them all, I'm sure, but it took time to write some of them and other projects intervened. He certainly kept himself very busy for the next three years, producing several books, but he just couldn't write everything he wanted to.
I had mentioned earlier that
ideas are cheap. Though I hope I have a lot more time ahead of me than Nietzsche, I've still got more ideas for stories and novels than I can write right now, and will probably come up with new ideas before I put all of my current ideas into execution. I'm sure Nietzsche would've gladly traded his overabundance of ideas for some more time. It's basic supply and demand: too many ideas means low value. The only people who are complaining about people stealing their ideas are people that don't have many.
In one of Nietzsche's
notebooks from early 1886 there's a passage in which he wrote "The Titles of Ten New Books." And then he lists out the names of all these books that he's thinking about writing: "The Will to Power," "The Artist," "We Godless Ones," "Midday and Eternity," "Beyond Good and Evil," "Gai Saber," "Music," "Experiences of a Scribe" and "The History of Modern Darkening." Of these ten books, the only one that Nietzsche would end up writing is "Beyond Good and Evil," which he would complete later in 1886. "The Will to Power" he spent considerable time working on, but ultimately he never finished it before the onset of his insanity in January of 1889. The problem for Nietzsche wasn't a lack of ideas or things to write about, it was a lack of time to bring these ideas to fruition. He wanted to write them all, I'm sure, but it took time to write some of them and other projects intervened. He certainly kept himself very busy for the next three years, producing several books, but he just couldn't write everything he wanted to.
I had mentioned earlier that
ideas are cheap. Though I hope I have a lot more time ahead of me than Nietzsche, I've still got more ideas for stories and novels than I can write right now, and will probably come up with new ideas before I put all of my current ideas into execution. I'm sure Nietzsche would've gladly traded his overabundance of ideas for some more time. It's basic supply and demand: too many ideas means low value. The only people who are complaining about people stealing their ideas are people that don't have many.
Too Many Ideas, Not Enough Time
Hi Joseph
ReplyDeleteThanks for the post. I'm currently wrestling with the problem of too many ideas, too little time, and you've certainly put it in perspective. Though I'm not sure if it consoles me that Nietzsche went insane before finishing, or even making a dent in, his self-assigned to-do list!
Andrew