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Lou Andreas-Salomé (born either Louise von Salomé or Luíza Gustavovna Salomé or Lioulia von Salomé, ; 12 February 1861 – 5 February 1937) was a Russian-born psychoanalyst and a well-traveled author, narrator, and essayist from a French
Huguenot The Huguenots ( , ; ) are a Religious denomination, religious group of French people, French Protestants who held to the Reformed (Calvinist) tradition of Protestantism. The term, which may be derived from the name of a Swiss political leader, ...
-German family. Her diverse intellectual interests led to friendships with a broad array of distinguished thinkers, including
Friedrich Nietzsche Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche (15 October 1844 – 25 August 1900) was a German philosopher. He began his career as a classical philology, classical philologist, turning to philosophy early in his academic career. In 1869, aged 24, Nietzsche bec ...
,
Sigmund Freud Sigmund Freud ( ; ; born Sigismund Schlomo Freud; 6 May 1856 – 23 September 1939) was an Austrian neurologist and the founder of psychoanalysis, a clinical method for evaluating and treating psychopathology, pathologies seen as originating fro ...
, Paul Rée, and
Rainer Maria Rilke René Karl Wilhelm Johann Josef Maria Rilke (4 December 1875 – 29 December 1926), known as Rainer Maria Rilke, was an Austrian poet and novelist. Acclaimed as an Idiosyncrasy, idiosyncratic and expressive poet, he is widely recognized as ...
.


Life


Early years

Lou Salomé was born in St. Petersburg to Gustav Ludwig von Salomé (1807–1878), and Louise von Salomé (née Wilm) (1823–1913). Lou was their only daughter; they had five sons. Although she would later be attacked by the
Nazis Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During H ...
as a "Finnish Jew", her parents were actually of French
Huguenot The Huguenots ( , ; ) are a Religious denomination, religious group of French people, French Protestants who held to the Reformed (Calvinist) tradition of Protestantism. The term, which may be derived from the name of a Swiss political leader, ...
and Northern German descent. The youngest of six children, she grew up in a wealthy and well-cultured household, with all children learning Russian, German, and French; Salomé was allowed to attend her brothers' classes. Born into a strictly Protestant family, Salomé grew to resent the Reformed church and Hermann Dalton, the Orthodox Protestant pastor. She refused to be confirmed by Dalton, officially left the church at age 16, but remained interested in intellectual pursuits in the areas of philosophy, literature and religion. In fact, she was fascinated by the sermons of the Dutch pastor Hendrik Gillot, known in St. Petersburg as an opponent of Dalton's. Gillot, 25 years her senior, took her on as a student, engaging with her in the fields of theology, philosophy, world religions, and French and
German literature German literature () comprises those literature, literary texts written in the German language. This includes literature written in Germany, Austria, the German parts of Switzerland and Belgium, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, South Tyrol in Italy ...
. Together they studied innumerable authors, philosophers, theological and religious subjects, and all of this wide-ranging study laid the groundwork for her intellectual encounters with very well-known thinkers of her time. Gillot became so smitten with Salomé that he wanted to divorce his wife and marry his young student; Salomé refused, for she was not interested in marriage and sexual relations. Though disappointed and shocked by this development, she remained friends with Gillot. Following her father's death in 1879, Salomé and her mother went to
Zürich Zurich (; ) is the list of cities in Switzerland, largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zurich. It is in north-central Switzerland, at the northwestern tip of Lake Zurich. , the municipality had 448,664 inhabitants. The ...
so that Salomé could acquire a university education as a "guest student." In her one year at the
University of Zurich The University of Zurich (UZH, ) is a public university, public research university in Zurich, Switzerland. It is the largest university in Switzerland, with its 28,000 enrolled students. It was founded in 1833 from the existing colleges of the ...
—one of the few schools that accepted female students—Salomé attended lectures in philosophy (logic, history of philosophy, ancient philosophy, and psychology) and theology (dogmatics). During this time, Salomé's physical health was failing due to lung disease, causing her to cough up blood. Due to this, she was instructed to heal in warmer climates, so in February 1882, Salomé and her mother went to Rome.


Rée and Nietzsche, and later life

Salomé's mother took her to Rome when Salomé was 21. At a literary salon in the city, Salomé became acquainted with the author Paul Rée. Rée proposed to her, but she instead suggested that they live and study together as 'brother and sister' along with another man for company, and thereby establish an academic commune.''Nietzsche: The Man and his Philosophy'', by R.J. Hollingdale (Cambridge University Press 1999), page 149 Rée accepted the idea, and suggested that they be joined by his friend
Friedrich Nietzsche Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche (15 October 1844 – 25 August 1900) was a German philosopher. He began his career as a classical philology, classical philologist, turning to philosophy early in his academic career. In 1869, aged 24, Nietzsche bec ...
. The two met Nietzsche in Rome in April 1882, and Nietzsche is believed to have instantly fallen in love with Salomé, as Rée had earlier done. Nietzsche asked Rée to propose marriage to Salomé on his behalf, which she rejected, although interested in Nietzsche as a friend. Nietzsche nonetheless was content to join Rée and Salomé touring through Switzerland and Italy together, planning their commune. On 13 May, in Lucerne, when Nietzsche was alone with Salomé, he earnestly proposed marriage to her again, and she again rejected him. He was happy to continue with the plans for an academic commune. After discovering the situation, Nietzsche's sister Elisabeth became determined to separate him from Salomé whom she described as an "immoral woman". Nietzsche, Rée, and Salomé travelled with Salomé's mother through Italy and considered where they would set up their "Winterplan" commune. This commune was intended to be set up in an abandoned monastery, but as no suitable location was found, the plan was abandoned. After arriving in
Leipzig Leipzig (, ; ; Upper Saxon: ; ) is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Saxony. The city has a population of 628,718 inhabitants as of 2023. It is the List of cities in Germany by population, eighth-largest city in Ge ...
in October 1882, the three spent a number of weeks together. However, the following month Rée and Salomé parted company with Nietzsche, leaving for Stibbe without any plans to meet again. Nietzsche soon fell into a period of mental anguish, although he continued to write to Rée, asking him, "We shall see one another from time to time, won't we?"''Nietzsche: The Man and his Philosophy'', by R.J. Hollingdale (Cambridge University Press 1999), page 152 In later recriminations, Nietzsche would blame the failure in his attempts to woo Salomé both on Salomé, Rée, and on the intrigues of his sister (who had written letters to the families of Salomé and Rée to disrupt their plans for the commune). Nietzsche wrote of the affair in 1883 that he felt "genuine hatred for issister." Salomé would later (1894) write a study, ''Friedrich Nietzsche in seinen Werken'' (''Friedrich Nietzsche in his Works''), of Nietzsche's personality and philosophy. In 1884 Salomé became acquainted with Helene von Druskowitz, the second woman to receive a philosophy doctorate in Zurich. It was also rumoured that Salomé later had a romantic relationship with Sigmund Freud.


Marriage and relationships

Salomé and Rée moved to
Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...
and lived together until a few years before her celibate marriageMark M. Anderson, "The Poet and the Muse", ''The Nation'', 3 July 2006, pp. 40–41. to linguistics scholar
Friedrich Carl Andreas Friedrich Carl Andreas (14 April 1846 in Batavia – 4 October 1930 in Göttingen) was an orientalist of German, Malay, and Armenian parentage (descendant of the Bagratuni royal family). He was the husband of psychoanalyst Lou Andreas-Sa ...
. Despite her opposition to marriage and her open relationships with other men, Salomé and Andreas remained married from 1887 until his death in 1930. Salomé's co-habitation with Andreas caused the despairing Rée to fade from Salomé's life despite her assurances. Throughout her married life, she engaged in affairs and/or correspondence with the German journalist and politician Georg Ledebour, the Austrian poet
Rainer Maria Rilke René Karl Wilhelm Johann Josef Maria Rilke (4 December 1875 – 29 December 1926), known as Rainer Maria Rilke, was an Austrian poet and novelist. Acclaimed as an Idiosyncrasy, idiosyncratic and expressive poet, he is widely recognized as ...
, about whom she wrote an analytical memoir, and the psychoanalysts
Sigmund Freud Sigmund Freud ( ; ; born Sigismund Schlomo Freud; 6 May 1856 – 23 September 1939) was an Austrian neurologist and the founder of psychoanalysis, a clinical method for evaluating and treating psychopathology, pathologies seen as originating fro ...
(whom she met personally in September 1911, on occasion of the 3rd Congress of Psychoanalysis held in
Weimar Weimar is a city in the state (Germany), German state of Thuringia, in Central Germany (cultural area), Central Germany between Erfurt to the west and Jena to the east, southwest of Leipzig, north of Nuremberg and west of Dresden. Together w ...
) and Victor Tausk, among others. Accounts of many of these are given in her volume '' Lebensrückblick''. An affair with the Viennese physician Friedrich Pineles ended in an abortion and a tragic renunciation of motherhood. Her relationship with Freud was still quite intellectual despite gossip about their romantic involvement. In one letter Freud commends Salomé's deep understanding of people so much that he believed she understood people better than they understood themselves. The two often exchanged letters. Salomé was romantically involved with the handsome and melancholic Victor Tausk, member of the Vienna Psychoanalytic Society, 18 years her junior. According to
Anna Freud Anna Freud CBE ( ; ; 3 December 1895 – 9 October 1982) was a British psychoanalyst of Austrian Jewish descent. She was born in Vienna, the sixth and youngest child of Sigmund Freud and Martha Bernays. She followed the path of her father a ...
, her work ''Friedrich Nietzsche in seinen Werken '' (Friedrich Nietzsche in his works) anticipated the psychoanalysis. It was the first book about the German philosopher. Anna Freud and von Salomé, who met in Vienna, had a long-time correspondence, like Sigmund Freud and von Salomé.


Meeting Rilke

In May 1897, in Munich, she met Rilke, who had been introduced to her by Jacob Wassermann.Philippe Jaccottet, ''Rilke par lui-même,'' 1970, p.29 She was 36 while Rilke was only 20. She had already published with some success ''Im Kampf um Gott'' "where she exposed the problem of loss of faith (which had been her own for a long time)", several articles, and the study ''Jesus der Jude'' that Rilke had read. As Philippe Jaccottet reports, Salomé wrote in '' Lebensrückblick'': "I was your wife for years because you were the first reality, where man and body are indistinguishable from each other, an indisputable fact of life itself. I could have said literally what you told me when you confessed your love to me: Only you are real. That is how we became husband and wife even before we became friends, not by choice, but by this unfathomable marriage ..We were brother and sister, but as in a distant past, before the marriage between brother and sister became sacrilegious." In 1899 with her husband Friedrich-Carl, then again in 1900, Lou travelled to Russia, the second time with Rilke, whose first name she changed from René to Rainer. She taught him Russian, to read Tolstoy (whom he would later meet) and Pushkin. She introduced him to patrons and other people in the arts, remaining Rilke's advisor, confidante, and muse throughout his adult life. The romance between the poet and Salomé lasted three years, then turned into a friendship, which would continue until Rilke's death, as evidenced by their correspondence. In 1937, Freud said of Salomé's relationship with Rilke: "She was both the muse and the attentive mother of the great poet."


Death

By 1930, Salomé was increasingly weak, suffered from a heart condition and diabetes, and had to be treated several times in the hospital. Her husband visited her daily during a six-week stay after a foot operation, which was arduous for the old, rather ill man, and this made them grow very close after a forty-year marriage marked by hurtful behaviour on both sides and long periods of non-communication. Freud appreciated this from afar, writing: "Only what is genuinely true proves itself so long-lasting." ("") Friedrich Carl Andreas died of cancer in 1930, and Salomé herself underwent a difficult cancer operation in 1935. At the age of 74, she ceased to work as a psychoanalyst. Salomé died of
uremia Uremia is the condition of having high levels of urea in the blood. Urea is one of the primary components of urine. It can be defined as an excess in the blood of amino acid and protein metabolism end products, such as urea and creatinine, which ...
in
Göttingen Göttingen (, ; ; ) is a college town, university city in Lower Saxony, central Germany, the Capital (political), capital of Göttingen (district), the eponymous district. The River Leine runs through it. According to the 2022 German census, t ...
on 5 February 1937. Her urn was laid to rest in her husband's grave in the cemetery on the Groner Landstraße in Göttingen. She is commemorated in the city by a memorial plaque outside the property where her house stood, a street named after her (Lou-Andreas-Salomé-Weg), and the name of the Lou Andreas-Salomé Institut für Psychoanalyse und Psychotherapie. A few days before her death, the Gestapo confiscated her library (according to other sources it was an SA group who destroyed the library shortly after her death). The reasons given for this confiscation were that she had been a colleague of Sigmund Freud, had practised "a Jewish science", and owned many books by Jewish authors.


Work

Salomé was a prolific writer who wrote fiction, criticism and essays on religion, philosophy, sexuality and psychology. A uniform edition of her works is being published in Germany by MedienEdition Welsch. She authored a " Hymn to Life" that so deeply impressed Nietzsche that he was moved to set it to music. Salomé's literary and analytical studies became such a vogue in
Göttingen Göttingen (, ; ; ) is a college town, university city in Lower Saxony, central Germany, the Capital (political), capital of Göttingen (district), the eponymous district. The River Leine runs through it. According to the 2022 German census, t ...
, where she lived late in her life, that the
Gestapo The (, ), Syllabic abbreviation, abbreviated Gestapo (), was the official secret police of Nazi Germany and in German-occupied Europe. The force was created by Hermann Göring in 1933 by combining the various political police agencies of F ...
waited until shortly after her death to "clean" her library of works by Jews. She was one of the first female psychoanalysts and one of the first women to write psychoanalytically on female sexuality, before Helene Deutsch, for instance in her essay on the anal-erotic (1916), an essay admired by Freud. However, she had written about the psychology of female sexuality before she ever met Freud, in her book ''Die Erotik'' (1911). She wrote more than a dozen novels and novellas, including ''Im Kampf um Gott'', ''Ruth'', ''Rodinka'', ''Ma'', ''Fenitschka – eine Ausschweifung'', as well as non-fiction studies such as ''Henrik Ibsens Frauengestalten'' (1892), a study of
Ibsen Henrik Johan Ibsen (; ; 20 March 1828 – 23 May 1906) was a Norwegian playwright, poet and actor. Ibsen is considered the world's pre-eminent dramatist of the 19th century and is often referred to as "the father of modern drama." He pioneered ...
's female characters, and a book on Nietzsche, ''Friedrich Nietzsche in seinen Werken'' (1894). The first English translation of her novel ''Das Haus'' (1921) appeared in 2021 under the title ''Anneliese's House'', in an annotated edition by Frank Beck and Raleigh Whitinger. Salomé edited a memoir about Rilke after his death in 1926. Among her works is also her ''Lebensrückblick'', which she wrote during her last years based on memories of her life as a free woman. In her memoirs, first published in their original German in 1951, she goes into depth about her faith and her relationships. Salomé is said to have remarked in her last days, "I have really done nothing but work all my life, work ... why?" And in her last hours, as if talking to herself, she is reported to have said, "If I let my thoughts roam I find no one. The best, after all, is death."


In fiction and film

Fictional accounts of Salomé's relationship with Nietzsche occur in four novels: Irvin Yalom's '' When Nietzsche Wept'', Lance Olsen's '' Nietzsche's Kisses'', Beatriz Rivas's ''La hora sin diosas'' (''The time without goddesses''), and
William Bayer William Bayer (pronounced “byer”) is an American novelist, the author of twenty-one books including ''The New York Times'' best-sellers ''Switch'' and ''Pattern Crimes.'' Bayer has written a series of novels featuring fictional New York Polic ...
's ''The Luzern Photograph'', in which two reenactments of the famous image of her with Nietzsche and Rée impact a murder in contemporary
Oakland, California Oakland is a city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area in the U.S. state of California. It is the county seat and most populous city in Alameda County, California, Alameda County, with a population of 440,646 in 2020. A major We ...
. Mexican playwright Sabina Berman includes Lou Andreas-Salomé as a character in her 2000 play ''Feliz nuevo siglo, Doktor Freud (Freud Skating)''. Salomé is also fictionalized in Angela von der Lippe's ''The Truth about Lou'', in Brenda Webster's ''Vienna Triangle'', in Clare Morgan's ''A Book for All and None'', in Robert Langs' two-act play ''Freud's Bird of Prey'','' and in Araceli Bruch's five-act play ''Re-Call'' (written in Catalan). In Liliana Cavani's movie '' Al di la' del bene e del male'' (''
Beyond Good and Evil ''Beyond Good and Evil: Prelude to a Philosophy of the Future'' () is a book by philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche that covers ideas in his previous work ''Thus Spoke Zarathustra'' but with a more polemical approach. It was first published in 1886 ...
'') Salome is played by
Dominique Sanda Dominique Marie-Françoise Renée Varaigne (born 11 March 1951) professionally known as Dominique Sanda, is a French actress. Life and career Sanda was born on 11 March 1951 in Paris, to Lucienne (née Pichon) and Gérard Varaigne. She appeare ...
. In Pinchas Perry's film version of '' When Nietzsche Wept'', Salome is played by Katheryn Winnick. ''Lou Salome'', an opera in two acts by Giuseppe Sinopoli with libretto from Karl Dietrich Gräwe, premiered in 1981 at the Bavarian State Opera, with August Everding as General Director, staging by Götz Friedrich and set design by Andreas Reinhardt. ', a German-language movie directed by , was released in German cinemas on 30 June 2016. Andreas-Salome is portrayed onscreen by and as a young woman by Liv Lisa Fries. The film was released in New York City and Los Angeles in April 2018, with a wider release to follow. ''The Locked Body of Lou'' (''Заклученото тело на Лу'') is a postmodern novel by Macedonian author Olivera Kjorveziroska, published in 2005. The novel explores the character of Lou Andreas-Salomé from a biofictional perspective.


Bibliography

Lou Andreas-Salomé's published works as cited by ''An Encyclopedia of Continental Women Writers''. *''Im Kampf um Gott'', 1885. *''Henrik Ibsens Frau-Gestalten'', 1892. *''Friedrich Nietzsche in seinen Werken'', 1894. *''Ruth'', 1895, 1897. *''Fenitshcka. Eine Ausschweifung'', 1898,1983. *''Menschenkinder'', 1899. *''Aus fremder Seele'', 1901. *''Ma'', 1901. *''Im Zwischenland'', 1902. *''Die Erotik'', 1910. *''Drei Briefe an einen Knaben'', 1917. *''Das Haus'', 1919,1927. *''Die Stunde ohne Gott und andere Kindergeschichten'', 1921. *''Der Teufel und seine Grossmutter'', 1922. *''Rodinka'', 1923. *''Rainer Maria Rilke'', 1928. *''Mein Dank an Freud: Offener Brief an Professor Freud zu seinem 75 Geburtstag'', 1931. *''Lebensrückblick. Grundriss einiger Lebenserinnerungen'', ed. E. Pfeiffer, 1951, 1968. *''Rainer Maria Rilke – Lou Andreas-Salomé. Briefwechsel'', ed. E. Pfeiffer, 1952. *''In der Schule bei Freud'', ed. E. Pfeiffer, 1958. *''Sigmund Freud – Lou Andreas-Salomé. Briefwechsel'', ed. E. Pfeiffer, 1966. *''Friedrich Nietzsche, Paul Rée, Lou von Salomé: Die Dokumente ihrer Begegnung'', ed. E. Pfeiffer, 1970. Translations *''The Freud Journal of Lou Andreas-Salomé'', tr. Stanley Leavy, 1964. *''Sigmund Freud and Lou Andreas-Salomé, Letters'', tr. byu W. and E. Robson Scott, 1972. *''Ibsen's Heroines'', ed., tr., and introd. by Siegfried Mandel, 1985. *''Anneliese's House'', edited and translated by Frank Beck and Raleigh Whitinger. Boydell and Brewer, 2021.


Notes


References

* Astor, Dorian: ''Lou Andreas-Salomé'', Gallimard, folio biographies, 2008; * Binion, R., ''Frau Lou: Nietzsche's Wayward Disciple'', foreword by Walter Kaufmann, Princeton, Princeton University Press, 1968 * Freud, S. and Lou Andreas-Salome: ''Letters'', New York: Norton, 1985 * Jaccottet, Philippe, ''Rilke par lui-même,'' Paris, Seuil, coll. " Ecrivains de toujours ", 1970, " Naissance de Rainer-Maria ", p. 29–37 * Livingstone, Angela: (1984). ''Lou Andreas Salomé: Her Life and Work''. London: Gordon Fraser, 1984; * Michaud, Stéphane: ''Lou Andreas-Salomé. L'alliée de la vie''. Seuil, Paris 2000; * Pechota Vuilleumier, Cornelia: O Vater, laß uns ziehn!' Literarische Vater-Töchter um 1900. Gabriele Reuter, Hedwig Dohm, Lou Andreas- Salomé''. Olms, Hildesheim 2005; * Pechota Vuilleumier, Cornelia: ''Heim und Unheimlichkeit bei Rainer Maria Rilke und Lou Andreas-Salomé. Literarische Wechselwirkungen''. Olms, Hildesheim 2010; * Peters, H. F., ''My Sister, My Spouse: A Biography of Lou Andreas-Salome'', New York: Norton, 1962 * Roudinesco, Elisabeth et Michel Plon, ''Dictionnaire de la psychanalyse'', Paris,
Fayard Fayard (complete name: ''Librairie Arthème Fayard'') is a French Paris-based publishing house established in 1857. Fayard is controlled by Hachette Livre. In 1999, Éditions Pauvert became part of Fayard. Claude Durand was director of Fayar ...
, coll. " La Pochothèque ", 2011 (1re éd. 1997) (), " Andreas-Salomé Lou, née Liola (Louise) von Salomé (1861–1937). Femme de lettres et psychanalyste allemande ", p. 63–68 * Salomé, Lou: ''The Freud Journal'', Texas Bookman, 1996 * Salomé, Lou: ''Friedrich Nietzsche in seinen Werken'', 1894; Eng., ''Nietzsche'', tr. and ed. Siegfried Mandel,
Champaign, Illinois Champaign ( ) is a city in Champaign County, Illinois, United States. The population was 88,302 at the 2020 census. It is the List of municipalities in Illinois, tenth-most populous municipality in Illinois and the fourth most populous city in ...
: University of Illinois Pres
Univ. of Illinois Press
2001 * Salomé, Lou: ''You Alone Are Real to Me: Remembering
Rainer Maria Rilke René Karl Wilhelm Johann Josef Maria Rilke (4 December 1875 – 29 December 1926), known as Rainer Maria Rilke, was an Austrian poet and novelist. Acclaimed as an Idiosyncrasy, idiosyncratic and expressive poet, he is widely recognized as ...
'', tr. Angela von der Lippe, Rochester
BOA Editions
2003 *Stieg, Gerald: « Rilke (Rainer Maria) », in ''Dictionnaire du monde germanique'' , Dir: É. Décultot, M. Espagne et J. Le Rider, Paris, Bayard, 2007, p. 979–980 () * Vollmann, William T.
Friedrich Nietzsche: The Constructive Nihilist
''The New York Times'', 14 August 2005. * Vickers, Julia: ''Lou von Salome: A Biography of the Woman who Inspired Freud, Nietzsche and Rilke''. McFarland 2008


External links

* * **
Friedrich Nietzsche in seinen Werken
', Wien, Verlag von Carl Konegen, 1894. **
Friedrich Nietzsche in seinen Werken
', Wien, Verlagsbuchhandlung Carl Konegen, 1911.
Articles on Lou Andreas-Salomé
in ''Encyclopedia of World Biography'', ''Encyclopedia of Modern Europe'', and ''International Dictionary of Psychoanalysis''
Lou Andreas-Salomé
by Paul B. Goodwin in ''Women in World History: A Biographical Encyclopedia''

by Petri Liukkonen {{DEFAULTSORT:Andreas-Salome, Lou 1861 births 1937 deaths 19th-century writers from the Russian Empire 20th-century Russian writers 19th-century women writers from the Russian Empire 20th-century Russian women writers German women writers German psychoanalysts Russian people of French descent Russian people of German descent Russian people of Danish descent German people of Russian descent Writers from Saint Petersburg Analysands of Sigmund Freud