Carl Reader

A Wanderer at the Dawn Carl Reader

A Wanderer at the Dawn is a play about the philosopher Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche and takes place on the day of his death. His mind destroyed by tertiary syphilis, Nietzsche is partially paralyzed and under the care of his sister. As he lays dying, the play takes place in his mind as the various characters interact with him and illuminate the life and philosophy of this great anti-Christian. Details about his sickness, his relationship with the love of his life, Lou Salome, and his relationship with the great composer Richard Wagner, along with talks with his terribly disturbed sister and with his friend Paul Ree, comprise the majority of the work. Nietzsche emerges as a philosopher who refuses to compromise or stray from the truth, one who will not accept the intellectual degradation of mass movements like Christianity and one who insists Man can do better than he has.