The Birth of Tragedy, Twilight of the Idols, The Antichrist and Ecce Homo

Introduction

This volume contains the beginning and the end of Nietzsche's thought. The Birth of Tragedy, his first book, published when he was twenty-eight, argues that Greek culture rests on two fundamental impulses: Apollo stands for dream, image and the beauty of measure, Dionysus for intoxication, music and the ecstasy in which the individual dissolves into the whole; from their union Attic tragedy was born, and the rationalism of Socrates brought about its death. The other three were all written in his last year before his collapse. Twilight of the Idols is subtitled 'How to Philosophise with a Hammer'; he strikes at every idea set up as an idol, and writes, 'What does not kill me makes me stronger.' The Antichrist is a fierce attack on Christianity. Ecce Homo is his autobiography, with chapters titled 'Why I Am So Wise', 'Why I Am So Clever' and 'Why I Write Such Good Books'.