Tuesday, April 29, 2008

Newly Reconstituted "Journal of Nietzsche Studies"

Christa Davis Acampora at Hunter College has taken over as editor of The Journal of Nietzsche Studies, and is making an effort to turn it into a serious scholarly journal. To that end, I accepted her kind invitation to serve on the journal's new editorial board. (The gushing bios of the members of the editorial board are slightly ridiculous, I'm afraid.) Some readers will know that I am rather skeptical about the "Nietzsche specialist" journals, but Professor Acampora has indicated that her ambition is to do better, and certainly there are enough able people on the editorial board that one may hope this will be possible. We'll revisit things in a year or so to see how JNS has been doing.

11 comments:

Recovering Ironist said...

Those are some very big names in Nietzsche scholarship. It's almost to the point where if you aren't on this board, you are not part of today's elite Nietzsche studies community--if ever such a community could exist. I think most of the members assembled for this board deserve the praise they received. Why isn't Professor Solomon on this board?

Brian Leiter said...
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Brian Leiter said...

Professor Solomon's untimely death occurred in January 2007, otherwise I imagine he would have been invited. I would emphasize that there are a number of extremely able Nietzsche scholars not represented on the board: Bernard Reginster, Nadeem Hussain, Mathias Risse, Julian Young, Jessica Berry all come to mind right away. For all I know, they may have declined invitations to serve.

Brian Leiter said...

Also, Peter Poellner is a surprising omission, but again, he may have been invited and declined, I did not have occasion to discuss it with him.

Anonymous said...

And Robert Pippin?

Anonymous said...

If it were the Journal of Hegel Studies, one would expect Pippin, but not for Nietzsche.

Brian Leiter said...

Pippin might also be added to this list, so too Bernd Magnus. They are certainly as notable contributors to Nietzsche studies as some of those on the editorial board.

Anonymous said...

I thought Pippin did "first-rate work on Hegel, mediocre work on Nietzsche, inconsequential work on Kant," Brian?

Do you generate these labels randomly on different days or is there a method to them?

Brian Leiter said...

Dear Anonymous (for now),

I do not think much of Pippin's Nietzsche work that I've read--it seems to me not to be his strong suit, certainly when compared to the work on Hegel. Yet he certainly has as much claim to be on this editorial board as some of those currently on it. I imagine it would be somewhat embarrassing to note some of the identifying information behind this "anonymous" post, but I will treat that as our secret for now.

Anonymous said...

Different anon here:

Is there any reason to think the editorial board will influence the direction of the journal? What is its role?

Brian Leiter said...

I imagine we will be asked to referee papers, and Professor Acampora has certainly been eager to receive our suggestions for the journal, including ideas for symposia, young scholars who should be solicited for manuscripts or reviews, and the like.