Abstract
As a philosopher and culture-critic, Friedrich Nietzsche is intent upon exposing the intellectual and cultural conditions that impair a people's capacity to produce great human beings. At the same time, however, he recognizes the danger involved in promoting such radical exceptions to the general rule. Great men are “explosives." Greatness is problematic. He illustrates the basic relationship between greatness and smallness in an unpublished fragment depicting some dwarves on whom a giant is about to urinate. It is a comical tale hinging on word-play between Riese (giant) and riescln (drizzle), and on other puns that stubbornly resist translation. Faced with drowning, the dwarves must rise to the occasion and avert disaster. Their strategy to accomplish this is rooted in a "doubling" process, which represents the story's central philosophical interest.
Recommended Citation
Perkins, Richard. "A Giant and Some Dwarves: Nietzsche's Unpublished Marchen on the Exception and the Rule." Marvels & Tales 11.1 (1997). Web. <https://digitalcommons.wayne.edu/marvels/vol11/iss1/5>.
