With support from the University of Richmond

History News Network

History News Network puts current events into historical perspective. Subscribe to our newsletter for new perspectives on the ways history continues to resonate in the present. Explore our archive of thousands of original op-eds and curated stories from around the web. Join us to learn more about the past, now.

Curtis Cate: 82, a Biographer and Historian, Dies

Curtis Cate, an American biographer who chronicled the lives of several well-known European writers, among them Nietzsche, George Sand and André Malraux, died in Paris on Thursday. He was 82 and had lived in Paris for most of his life.

The cause was melanoma, his brother, Benjamin, said.

Mr. Cate’s most recent book, “Friedrich Nietzsche,” was published in the United States last year by the Overlook Press. Reviewing the biography in The New York Times Book Review, William T. Vollmann called it “a warmly intelligent introduction to Nietzsche.” He added, “Between the lines I sense a sincere sadness and discomfort about what became of Nietzsche, whom the author so clearly reveres.”

Curtis Wilson Cate was born in Paris on May 22, 1924, to transplanted American parents. From 1943 to 1946, he served in Europe with the United States Army.

Mr. Cate earned a bachelor’s degree in history from Harvard in 1947. This was followed by a master’s degree in Russian from the École des Langues Orientales in Paris and a master’s degree in philosophy, politics and economics from Oxford.
Read entire article at NYT