January 23, 2009 -- Nietzch* (for Nietzsch*)Philosopher Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche’s name is not the easiest to spell—perhaps a cataloguer would have to be an Übermensch to get it right all the time. The misspelling Nietzch* garners over 500 hits in Worldcat, and appears on the “high probability” Ballard list.
However, the difficulty of keeping the library catalogue perfect does not mean we should give up. The philosopher (pictured here) declared that “admiration for a quality or an art can be so strong that it deters us from striving to possess it” and we must keep from applying this fear of perfection to our own work.
Nietzsche strove to be a bit übermenschlich himself, admiring Renaissance Men such as Leonardo da Vinci. In addition to his philosophical writings, he explored the arts, writing poetry and composing music--he was an excellent pianist, but many have observed that his compositions showed a lack of originality.
Leanne Olson
(image of Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche from Wikipedia)
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