Epilogue
After his paralytic stroke, L. at first spends several months in an asylum, then returns home to the Schweigestill farm. There, he tries to wade into the Klammer Pool—possibly in an attempt to commit suicide, possibly in a gesture of baptism—but is saved from drowning by the farm hand. Soon after, his mother takes him home to Buchel Farm, where he will live for ten more years before succumbing to his illness. A distraught Z. remains to offer a prayer for his fatherland.
Time of composition: January 21–29, 1947. Time of narration: May 1945. Narrated time: 1930–1940.
| | Variation on John 20:15: “It is finished.” |
| the large pile of enlivened paper | Z. may here be playing with the traditional humanist trope of “living letters,” but may also be referring to the possibly demonic force that has been showing itself to work throughout DF. |
| poisoned by their doctors, then drenched in gasoline | Reference to the deaths of Adolf Hitler and Joseph Goebbels (1897–1945) on May 1, 1945. |
| means for having these pages reach America | See the “Contexts” section of this book for a summary of the transatlantic publication history of DF. |
| I fear that over this savage decade | This fear was TM’s as well. |
| old woman appeared […] in order to take her back with her | As did Nietzsche’s mother, who accompanied her son back to his native Naumburg in 1889. |
| “Woman, what have I to do with thee?” | |
| he who invokes the Devil […] only by “consigning the body” | This idea is mentioned several times in the Chapbook. There are several other ways to interpret L.’s suicide attempt, most importantly as an attempted baptism or as an allusion to The Little Mermaid. |
| the son erupted into anger against his mother | Another episode from the life of Nietzsche, who erupted into a similar fit of rage during the train journey from Frankfurt to Naumburg. |
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| | Presumably a reference to “Nobleman with a Hand on His Chest” (~1580) by El Greco (1541–1614). The subject of this painting does indeed closely match the description of L. that Z. offered in the last two chapters. |
| “May God have mercy on your poor soul” | TM found similar phrases both in a biographical volume on Nietzsche and in the letters of Hugo Wolf, tying L.’s final fate closely to that of two of his real-life models. |