Reading Nietzsche (International Nietzsche Studies)

"An important figure in the development of Nietzsche scholarship, Mazzino Montinari (1928-86) dedicated himself to the detailed study of the philosopher's writings. This lifetime of scholarship crystallized in Montinari's work as coeditor of the critical edition of Nietzsche's collected writings. Reading Nietzsche, now available in English for the first time, is a group of essays that grew out of this monumental task.". "In contrast to the strictly theoretical approaches of present-day postmodernist and poststructuralist Nietzsche scholars, Montinari's emphasis was on a historical and philological approach. Aside from discussing his own work on the critical edition, in Reading Nietzsche Montinari tackles such subjects as the relationship between Nietzsche and Wagner, early drafts of Thus Spoke Zarathustra, Nietzsche's own passion for knowledge, and the philosopher's reputation among the Nazis and Marxists of the 1930s and 1940s. He also deals authoritatively with a number of figures who have had an unfortunate influence on the way Nietzsche has been understood, from the chief Nazi interpreter of Nietzsche, Alfred Baumler, to the chief Marxists interpreter, Georg Lukacs, to Nietzsche's sister, Elizabeth."--BOOK JACKET.

Beyond its central premise, the book can be read through the connected lenses of Philosophy, Nonfiction. Those themes offer useful points of attention as the characters, ideas, or world develop, especially where the book complicates the expectations of its primary category.