TECHNICALLY SPEAKING, NIETZSCHE'S NACHLASS or literary remains is comprised of all of his work, excluding his letters, that remained unpublished when his mental collapse ended his productive life in January 1889. This would include: (1) texts that he had prepared for publication but which he was unable to see through to publication, namely The Anti-Christ (Der Antichrist), Nietzsche Contra Wagner, Dithyrambs of Dionysos (Dionysos-Dithyramben), and Ecce Homo; (2) his early, unpublished essays and lectures, many of which could be considered complete, albeit never published, works; and (3) his notes, as well as drafts and variants of his published works. The size of Nietzsche's Nachlass is considerable: in the thirteen volumes of Nietzsche's writings that comprise the Kritische Studienausgabe, edited by Giorgio Colli and Mazzino Montinari, Nietzsche's unpublished notes and notebooks make up 4,869 of the total 7,945 pages.

Beyond the sheer quantity of material that comprises Nietzsche's Nachlass, there are also interesting questions to be asked concerning its philological and philosophical significance, its status as part of Nietzsche's philosophy, and its reception and influence. These questions become particularly important with respect to the unpublished notebooks that followed the completion of Thus Spoke Zarathustra (Also sprach Zarathustra). For these notes from 1885 to 1888 occupy a special place in Nietzsche's Nachlass, insofar as they have been associated, whether rightly or wrongly, with Nietzsche's supposed intention to produce a magnum opus under the title The Will to Power (Der Wille zur Macht).