In the summer of 1897, the young poet Rainer Maria Rilke passionately expressed his admiration for Lou Andreas-Salomé, a woman who, since her birth in Saint Petersburg in 1861, defied the strict social norms of her time. Born into a wealthy family, Lou was raised in a disciplined environment and received an education influenced by great philosophers like Kant and Nietzsche. An early heartbreak with her tutor, who proposed marriage despite being married himself, led her to renounce romantic love and sexual experience, setting the course for a life defined by intellectual and personal independence.
After her father’s death, Lou continued her studies across Europe, where she met influential figures such as Paul Rée and Friedrich Nietzsche, both captivated by her brilliance but ultimately rejected by her in favor of purely intellectual relationships. She married Friedrich Carl Andreas, though their marriage lacked intimacy, and lived a peripatetic life that brought her into contact with Rilke, whom she mentored and loved deeply. Later, following Rée’s death and a period of deep depression, Lou embraced psychoanalysis, becoming one of the first women accepted into Freud’s inner circle and an influential psychoanalyst and writer in her own right.
Lou Andreas-Salomé left behind more than twenty books, essays, and poems covering psychology, philosophy, and literature. She challenged the prescribed roles for women in society and paved the way for future generations of free-thinking women. Her life stands as a testament to courage, intellect, and autonomy, continuing to inspire today and securing her place as a vital symbol in the history of Western thought and culture until her death in 1937.
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