Nietzsche: The Gay Science - With a Prelude in German Rhymes and an Appendix of Songs

Nietzsche wrote The Gay Science, which he later described as perhaps my most personal book, when he was at the height of his intellectual powers, and the reader will find in it an extensive and sophisticated treatment of the philosophical themes and views which were most central to Nietzsches own thought and which have been most influential on later thinkers. These include the death of God, the problem of nihilism, the role of truth, falsity and the will-to-truth in human life, the doctrine of the eternal recurrence, and the question of the proper attitude to adopt toward human suffering and toward human achievement. This volume presents the work in a new translation by Josefine Nauckhoff, with an introduction by Bernard Williams that elucidates the works main themes and discusses their continuing philosophical importance. Contents
Joke, cunning and revenge: prelude in German rhymes
Book one
Book two
Book three
Book four: St Januarius
Book five: we fearless ones
Appendix: songs of Prince Vogelfrei.


Edited by: Bernard Williams, University of Oxford
TranslatorJosefine Nauckhoff, Wake Forest University, North Carolina