This classic biography of Nietzsche, first published in the 1960s, was enthusiastically reviewed at the time. The biography is now reissued with its text updated in the light of recent research. Hollingdale's biography remains the single best account of the life and works for the student or non-specialist. The biography chronicles Nietzsche's intellectual evolution and discusses his friendship and breach with Wagner, his attitude towards Schopenhauer, and his indebtedness to Darwin and the Greeks. It follows the years of his maturity and his mental collapse in 1889. The final part of the book considers the development of the Nietzsche legend during his years of madness. R. J. Hollingdale, one of the preeminent translators of Nietzsche, allows Nietzsche to speak for himself in a translation that transmits the vividness and virtuosity of Nietzsche's many styles. This is the ideal book for anyone interested in Nietzsche's life and work to learn why he is such a significant figure for the development of modern thought.

‘Hollingdale’s reliable, learned, reasonable, and above all deeply humane biography of Nietzsche has provided students with a trustworthy guide to the life of one of the most important thinkers of modern times and a helpful introduction to the development of his thought. This new edition, revised in style and corrected and updated in context throughout, and furnished with an important appendix supplying an overview of recent developments in scholarship in Nietzsche, should equip new generations of students with the orientation, understanding and critical sympathy they will need to face the challenges posed to the contemporary world by Nietzsche, and by those who claim to represent him.’

Glenn W. Most - University of Chicago

‘ … a judicious and stimulating introduction to a man whose ideas have been more revered and more perverted than those of any modern thinker’.

Source: Financial Times