The Birth of Tragedy / Unpublished Basel Writings (Winter 1869/70-Fall 1873): Volume 1 (The Complete Works of Friedrich Nietzsche)

During his early years in Basel, as professor of classical philology, Nietzsche develops an original understanding of ancient Greek poetry, philosophy, and culture, alongside a biting critique of contemporary German society and a call for its reform.These years see him publish his first book, The Birth of Tragedy, where tragic drama is understood as the harmonizing of Apollonian and Dionysian drives.In it, Nietzsche traces the rise of tragedy as an art form, diagnoses its demise at the hands of Socratic rationalism, and champions its revival in Wagnerian music drama, as part of a larger project of German national renewal.The unpublished texts gathered here allow us to see tThe Birth of Tragedy within the larger context of Nietzsche's concerns at this time and chart the compositional and interpretive development of that first book while revealing some roads not taken.Included also are three book-length projects: On the Future of Our Educational Institutions, a literary presentation of a