Author Description

Friedrich Nietzsche was arguably the most important and influential thinker of the nineteenth century. The Gay Science is one of his greatest works, a series of scintillating, beautifully wrought aphorisms containing some his most famous and important themes and images: the death of God, the ideal of self-fashioning and the enigmatic doctrine of the eternal recurrence. Here he elaborates one of the most compelling and important philosophical accounts of the modern crisis of values that he calls nihilism. Nietzsche's 'The Gay Science': A Reader's Guide offers a concise and accessible introduction to this hugely important and yet challenging work. Written specifically to meet the needs of students coming to Nietzsche for the first time, the book offers guidance on: - Philosophical and historical context - Key themes - Reading the text - Reception and influence - Further reading