The Birth of Tragedy (Barnes & Noble Library of Essential Reading) - Softcover

Nietzsche, Friedrich

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0760780862 ISBN 13: 9780760780862

Publisher: Barnes & Noble, 2006

Synopsis

Argues the importance of the tension between what the author called Apollonian and Dionysian forces. In this title, the author boldly combines aesthetics and psychology in a creative meditation on the sources of artistic inspiration. It also addresses the problem of nihilism in modern culture."

About this title

From the Inside Flap:

The Birth of Tragedy (1872) was Nietzsche's first book. Its youthful faults were exposed by Nietzsche in the brilliant "Attempt at a Self-Criticism" which he added to the new edition of 1886. But the book, whatever its excesses, remains one of the most relevant statements on tragedy ever penned. It exploded the conception of Greek culture that was prevalent down through the Victorian era, and it sounded themes developed in the twentieth century by classicists, existentialists, psychoanalysts, and others.
The Case of Wagner (1888) was one Nietzsche's last books, and his wittiest. In attitude and style it is diametrically opposed to The Birth of Tragedy. Both works transcend their ostensible subjects and deal with art and culture, as well as the problems of the modern age generally.
Each book in itself gives us an inadequate idea of its author; together, they furnish a striking image of Nietzsche's thought. The distinguished new translations by Walter Kaufmann superbly reflect in English Nietzsche's idiom and the vitality of his style. Professor Kaufmann has also furnished running footnote commentaries, relevant passages from Nietzsche's correspondence, a bibliography, and, for the first time in any edition, an extensive index to each book.

From the Back Cover:

Among the most influential philosophers of modern times, Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900) declared in this classic study that Greek tragedy achieved greatness through a fusion of elements of Apollonian restraint and control with Dionysian components of passion and the irrational. In Nietzsche's eyes, however, Greek tragedy had been destroyed by the rationalism and optimism of thinkers like Socrates.
Nevertheless, he found in these ancient works the life-affirming concept that existence is still beautiful, however grim and depressing it may sometimes be. These and many other ideas are argued with passionate conviction in this challenging book, called by British classicist F. M. Cornford "a work of profound imaginative insight, which left the scholarship of a generation toiling in the rear."

About this edition

• Publisher: Barnes & Noble
• Publication date: 2006
• ISBN 10: 0760780862
• ISBN 13: 9780760780862
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 160