Abstract

On September, 28th 1872 Nietzsche — a professor in Classical Philology since 1869 at the university of Basel — borrowed a newly published book from the university library: Die Sprache als Kunst by Gustav Gerber. Today both the book and its author would probably only be familiar to specialists in historical linguistics. The book must have made a strong impression on the young Nietzsche, although this is scarcely obvious from the few remarks on it made during that winter term.1 However, comparing Gerber’s 1871 book with Nietzsche’s lectures on rhetoric from 1872/73,2 it is clear that Nietzsche is not only indebted to Gerber but that he exploited him (and others) to such an extent that his lecture notes can be read as a kind of “collage.”3

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