Nietzsche S Gay Science

A step by step illumination of the intricacy, 'logic', and importance of one of Nietzsche's richest and most complex works. In a clear and accessible manner the author explains the interconnectedness of The Gay Science's seemingly unrelated sections. Throughout she provides critical commentary, background information, and translation corrections.

Shows how Nietzsche's pivotal work The Gay Science formulates his three key concepts: the death of God, eternal recurrence and self-fashioning.

The largest collection of Nietzsche's published poetry, this volume also offers an extensive, sophisticated treatment of his core philosophical themes and views as well as his most influential ideas.

A guide to Nietzsche's most personal book

This book offers a lively and unorthodox analysis of Nietzsche by examining a neglected aspect of his scholarly personality--his sense of humor. While often thought of as ponderous and melancholy, the Nietzsche of Higgins's study is a surprisingly subtle and light-hearted writer. She presents a close reading of The Gay Science to show how the numerous literary risks that Nietzsche takes reveal humor to be central to his project. Higgins argues that his use of humor is intended to dislodge readers from their usual, somber detachment and to incite imaginative thinking.

In his first book, The Birth of Tragedy, Nietzsche observes that Greek tragedy gathered people together as a community in the sight of their gods, and argues that modernity can be rescued from 'nihilism' only through the revival of such a festival. This is commonly thought to be a view which did not survive the termination of Nietzsche's early Wagnerianism, but Julian Young argues, on the basis of an examination of all of Nietzsche's published works, that his religious communitarianism in fact persists through all his writings. What follows, it is argued, is that the mature Nietzsche is neither an 'atheist', an 'individualist', nor an 'immoralist': he is a German philosopher belonging to a German tradition of conservative communitarianism - though to claim him as a proto-Nazi is radically mistaken. This important reassessment will be of interest to all Nietzsche scholars and to a wide range of readers in German philosophy.

First published in 1882 and revised in 1887, "The Gay Science" was written at the peak of Nietzsche's intellectual abilities. It includes a large number of poems and an appendix of songs, all written with the intent of encouraging freedom of the mind. With praise for the benefits of science, intellectual discipline, and skepticism, "The Gay Science" also exhibits an enthusiastic affirmation of life, drawing from the influence of the Provencal tradition. Nietzsche additionally explores the notion of power and the idea of eternal recurrence, though not in a systematic way. This work is noted for one of Nietzsche's most famous quotations, "God is Dead," a phrase which figuratively expresses the idea that the Enlightenment had killed the possibility for a rational belief in God by modern society. Described by the philosopher himself as "perhaps my most personal book," this work is worthy of attention from anyone with an interest in moral philosophy and the most essential themes and views of Friedrich Nietzsche. This edition is printed on premium acid-free paper, follows the translation of Thomas Common, and includes an introduction by Willard Huntington Wright.

Friedrich Nietzsche believed his own work represented the dawning of a new historical era, and, despite the fact that he lived most of his sane life suffering in obscurity, it is not an exaggeration to say that his vision helped lay the foundations for modernism in style, substance and attitude. Nietzsche was himself devoted to the modern, for he reinterpreted every philosophy, every historical figure and event, every movement that came before him. This reconceptualization of the past through new, modern eyes opened up Nietzsche's thinking to exploring daring possibilities for the future. This prophetic boldness, which is so unique to his style, seduced the modernist generation across the spectrum. He was read by early Zionists as well as by Nazi racial theorists; by Thomas Mann and as well as by Salvador Dali. His influence stretched from psychoanalysis to anarchist politics. Understanding Nietzsche, Understanding Modernism traces the effect of Nietzsche's thinking upon a diverse set of problems: from ontology, to politics, to musical and literary aesthetics. The first section of the volume is a series of essays, each exploring a major work of Nietzsche's, explaining its significance while contributing new interpretations of the text. The middle portion connects Nietzsche's thought to the various strands of modernism in which it reveals itself. The final section is a glossary of key terms that Nietzsche uses throughout his works. An excellent resource for any scholar attempting to conceptualize the foundations of modernism or the historical importance of Nietzsche, this volume seeks to outline the philosopher's works and their reception amongst the generations that immediately followed his passing.