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Articles

Nietzsche’s Women in The Gay Science

Linda Williams spots jewels within Nietzsche’s aphoristic archive of sexism.

At the beginning of Book Two of The Gay Science, Nietzsche presents a series of aphorisms on women. At the end of this series, Walter Kaufmann writes in a footnote to his translation, “With this absurd aphorism the pages on women (sections 60-75) reach their nadir and end. The rest of Book Two (through section 107) deals with art.” Kaufmann’s footnote suggests that the aphorisms on women are not only an anomaly within the second book but a rather embarrassing anomaly at that. I hope to show that Nietzsche’s placement of these aphorisms is no mistake or embarrassment, if we take a closer look at the role Book Two plays within the larger purpose of The Gay Science.

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