The philosophy of Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900) was almost wholly neglected during his sane life, which ended abruptly in 1889. Since then he has been appropriated as an icon by an astonishingly diverse spectrum of people, whose interpretations of his thought range from the highly irrational to the firmly analytical.
Idiosyncratic and aphoristic, Nietzsche is always bracing and provocative, and temptingly easy to dip into. Michael Tanner's readable introduction to the philosopher's life and work examines the numerous ambiguities inherent in his writings. It also explodes the many misconceptions fostered in the hundred years since Nietzsche wrote prophetically: 'Do not not, above all, confound me with what I am not!"
Editorial Reviews
"Highly readable, an excellent introduction." —Guardian
"I find Tanner's book enormously useful for introducing Nietzsche philosophically.... Tanner manages to be succinct without being boring or pedantic.... I think his succinct and highly critical readings encourage genuine philosophical grappling with our modern self-proclaimed Dionysus, who after all needs to be treated as a philosopher, not an idol or a god." —Teaching Philosophy
"A breezy first look at Nietzsche....useful for undergraduates who need a quick and painless dose of Nietzsche's ideas." —Ethics
"Put end to end, this series will constitute a noble encyclopedia of the history of ideas." —Mary Warnock
About the Author
Michael Tanner is a Fellow of Corpus Christi College and a University Lecturer in Philosophy at Cambridge. His publications include A Critical History of Opera (Oxford, forthcoming) and Wagner, (Modern Masters, London, 1995).
