When Nietzsche Wept: A Novel Of Obsession

It is 1882, and Dr. Joseph Breuer is on vacation in Venice, sitting at a café and daydreaming about one of his patients. He glances at a letter he received the day before from a person named Lou Salome, urgently requesting a meeting. It is in answer to this letter that he finds himself here, at the Café Sorrento at nine o’ clock as requested, despite being somewhat put out by the impertinence of this stranger. As Breuer considers how his mind is always occupied by Bertha, Lou comes walking in and sits down with Breuer. She immediately mentions that she is meeting with him because her friend, Friedrich Nietzsche, is very ill and no doctor has been able to determine the cause of his sickness. Salome hands Breuer a letter written by the famed composer Richard Wagner, who vouches for Nietzsche, his friend. Salome then lists all of Nietzsche’s symptoms, which include insomnia and impending blindness. Breuer points out that since Nietzsche has seen 24 other doctors, there probably will not be much he can do for the man. With this disclaimer, Breuer agrees to meet with Nietzsche, but in his office in Vienna and not in Venice.