Nietzsche

This classic biography of Nietzsche, first published in the 1960s, was enthusiastically reviewed at the time. The biography is now reissued with its text updated in the light of recent research. Hollingdale’s biography remains the single best account of the life and works for the student or non-specialist. The biography chronicles Nietzsche’s intellectual evolution and discusses his friendship and breach with Wagner, his attitude towards Schopenhauer, and his indebtedness to Darwin and the Greeks. It follows the years of his maturity and his mental collapse in 1889. The final part of the book considers the development of the Nietzsche legend during his years of madness. R. J. Hollingdale, one of the preeminent translators of Nietzsche, allows Nietzsche to speak for himself in a translation that transmits the vividness and virtuosity of Nietzsche’s many styles. This is the ideal book for anyone interested in Nietzsche’s life and work to learn why he is such a significant figure for the development of modern thought.

• Simply the best single English-language account of both Nietzsche’s life and thought • It can serve as both an introduction for students and an account for the general reader • The interest in Nietzsche is huge and cuts across many disciplines • Hollingdale is a renowned translator of Nietzsche (his translations are published by Cambridge and Viking). He has translated many excerpts from Nietzsche’s works and correspondence in this biography and this adds to its appeal

Preface to revised edition; Part I. 1844–1869: 1. The child; 2. The schoolboy; 3. The student; Part II. 1869–1879: 4. The professor; 5. Wagner, Schopenhauer, Darwin and the Greeks; 6. Basel and Bayreuth; 7. Sorrento and an end in Basel; Part III. 1879–1889: 8. The turning-point; 9. The wanderer; 10. Lou Salomé; 11. Zarathustra; 12. The solitary; 13. The year 1888; 14; The revaluation; 15. The poet; 16. The collapse; Part IV. 1889–1900: 17. Nietzsche’s death; Postscript 1999; Selective bibliography; Index.

‘Hollingdale’s reliable, learned, reasonable, and above all deeply humane biography of Nietzsche has provided students with a trustworthy guide to the life of one of the most important thinkers of modern times and a helpful introduction to the development of his thought. This new edition, revised in style and corrected and updated in context throughout, and furnished with an important appendix supplying an overview of recent developments in scholarship in Nietzsche, should equip new generations of students with the orientation, understanding and critical sympathy they will need to face the challenges posed to the contemporary world by Nietzsche, and by those who claim to represent him.’

– Glenn W. Most, University of Chicago