Friedrich Nietzsche

In Friedrich Nietzsche, author Robert C. Holub disputes the conventional belief that Nietzsche was out of touch with the discourse of his time. Although Nietzsche, apparently in reference to himself, once said "some are born posthumously," Holub argues that we should instead consider him as a participator in nineteenth-century thought. Hardly a bystander in his era - and not at all like Zarathustra, surrounded by baffled disciples who failed to grasp his prophetic message - Nietzsche engaged repeatedly in the controversies of his day. Though he frequently took issue with the dominant wisdom, he nonetheless entered into debates with his contemporaries on many important social, political, and cultural issues, debates that bind him to his times in ways not generally appreciated by subsequent generations of scholars. These dialogues with contemporaries, Holub claims, have long been underestimated. In contrast to previous criticism, Holub thus offers a resoundingly new perspective on Nietzsche's writings. In a clear, coherent, and engaging manner, Holub presents a complete survey of Nietzsche's life, taking into account new sources of information and paying special attention to the style and structure of the philosopher's works. The author devotes separate chapters to various aspects of Nietzsche's thought, providing insights that help explain not only why Nietzsche has continued to attract so many readers, but also why those who read him often come to widely divergent conclusions about what he meant.