Reading the New Nietzsche: The Birth of Tragedy, the Gay Science, Thus Spoke Zarathustra, and on the Genealogy of Morals: An Approach to His Principal Works - Hardcover

Allison, David B.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0847689794 ISBN 13: 9780847689798

Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 2000

Synopsis

In this long-awaited volume, David B. Allison argues for a "generous" approach to Nietzsche's writings, and then provides comprehensive analyses of Nietzsche's The Birth of Tragedy, The Gay Science, On the Genealogy of Morals, and Thus Spoke Zarathustra. Unique among other books on Nietzsche, Allison's text includes individual chapters devoted to Nietzsche's principal works. Historically-oriented and continentally-informed, Allison's readings draw on French and German thinkers, such as Heidegger, Battaille, Derrida, Birault, and Deleuze, while the author explicitly resists the use of jargon that frequently characterizes those approaches. Reading the New Nietzsche is an outstanding resource for those reading Nietzsche for the first time as well as for those who wish to know him better.

About this title

Review:

It is the peculiar (and maybe cruel) fate of Friedrich Nietzsche to have, a hundred years post facto, an audience that is wide yet uncomprehending. David Allison's achievement in this lucid, graceful work is to restore both the difficulty and the warmth of Nietzsche's message: focusing on four key works, he extends the range of Nietzsche interpretation precisely by virtue of sanity, balance and, above all, humaneness. A new Nietzsche? More like the one who was there all along, waiting for the right reader.--Mark Kingwell, University of Toronto

David Allison enriches the reading of these key Nietzschean texts with helpful information and leads the reader to the philosophical issues at stake. His exposition is informed by the most sophisticated contemporary debates. First time as well as long time readers of Nietzsche will find they are discovering a Nietzsche writing for today.--Al Lingis, Penn State University

Had Nietzsche been aware that so many competing schools of interpretation would claim him for their own, he would doubtless have been flattered, after the almost complete neglect his writings had during his own lifetime. David Allison's book is the only one, however, he would have endorsed, as having gotten his philosophy down exactly as he would have wished, but hardly dared expect. The book is a masterpiece of exposition and analysis, presenting the work and the life through a brilliant reading of four of Nietzsche's great books. Nietzsche's enthusiasts can clear their shelves of the bickering secondary literature. This is the book to keep.--Arthur C. Danto, art critic; Professor Emeritus of Philosophy, Columbia University

David Allison, as much as anyone else, has helped to make the 'new Nietzsche' speak English; now he offers provocative and scintillating readings of four of the most significant and challenging texts of a thinker who is always renewing himself. Allison's mastery of the classical and humanistic background of Nietzsche's writing is impressive; his careful *and* daring interpretations respond imaginatively to the philosopher's invitation that reading be an adventure--like a dance and a song in the mountains. Amazingly, this is a book that will delight and instruct both the beginner and the scholar.--Gary Shapiro, Tucker-Boatwright Professor in the Humanities-Philosophy, University of Richmond

First time readers of Nietzsche will find these text-based readings valuable guides to the intricacies of Nietzsche's writing. Readers already familiar with Nietzsche's works will find the readings cogent and thoughtful. However, for novice and experienced readers alike, what is most valuable in Allison's text is the background information from the history of ideas and from Nietzsche's life the he brings to bear on his readings.--Review of Metaphysics

This is an excellent book. It finds a space for its arguments in the already-crowded literature, benefits from a simplicity of writing about complicated matters, and provides the scholarly references in detailed notes.--The Heythrop Journal

Synopsis:

Reading the New Nietzsche is devoted to a comprehensive analysis of the four most important ad widely read of Nietzsche's works. After a largely biographical introduction, a chapter is devoted to each work. Read in succession they give an overall philosophical account of Nietzsche's thought. Allison's approach is to be as generous as possible toward the texts - to deal with them in Nietzsche's own terms. He stresses how Nietzsche privileges the autonomy of his audience by encouraging the development of the reader's own critical abilities. By his remarkable rhetorical and stylistic skills, he writes to the heart as well as to the mind. Other topics discussed include the mistaken prejudice of Nietzsche's identification with German nationalism; his seemingly extreme statements on ethics, politics, religion,a dn gender; and his critique of philosophical foundationalism. Throughout Allison lends perspective on the usually excessive preoccupation with Nietzsche's personal life, making reference to it only when it is particularly germane, as is the case with Zarathustra.

David Allison's long-awaited book conveys throughout the broad range of concerns, the provocative and compassionate style of writing, and the historical sensitivity that underlie Nietzsche's wide appeal and influence. Visit our website for sample chapters!

About this edition

• Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers
• Publication date: 2000
• ISBN 10: 0847689794
• ISBN 13: 9780847689798
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 334