Product Description

In this commentary on chapter one, "Why I am So Wise," of Nietzsche's "Ecce Homo", the author dispels the long-standing impression that "Ecce Homo" is an irrational book in which the madness that claimed Nietzsche only months after he began writing it had already begun its work. "Ecce Homo", it is alleged, is not egotistical, or narcissistic, or megalomaniacal. It is not a work of madness. In his linear exposition of this first chapter, the author presents Nietzsche's revelation of the tragic fact that his very aliveness was in a state of being overwhelmed, consumed, by powerful unconscious emotion, the condition he called "decadence". Nietzsche's madness may have caused him to lose perspective on the meaning of having dwelt in "a world of exalted and delicate things," as he writes of himself in "Ecce", but the original experience of elevation that comes of an abundance of life, of a "surplus" of life, certainly was not pathological.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #5579449 in Books
• Published on: 1994-09-06
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 118 pages

Customer Reviews

Too much Wit to be Crazy!
Ecce Homo was Nietzsche’s last book he ever wrote about two months before his mental collapse. This has lead some scholars to believe he was crazy when he wrote it and in light of his chapter headings: “Why I am so Wise,” “Why I am so Clever,” etc. Against the assumption that Nietzsche was not crazy when he wrote Ecce Homo Steinbuch's book serves as a critical textual analysis on Nietzsche's first chapter heading "Why I am so Wise." It is well written and researched and claims the key to understanding Nietzsche is in this first chapter heading, "Why I am so Wise" in his Ecce Homo. Steinbuch provides an excellent and detailed commentary for a better understanding of Nietzsche. He also does justice to the thesis of his book, as well as to Nietzsche himself. Nietzsche was far from being crazy when he wrote his last will and testament - Ecce Homo - that he offered to the world.