Nietzsche: The Anti-Christ, Ecce Homo, Twilight of the Idols

Abstract

The Anti-Christ is Friedrich Nietzsche's longest sustained discussion of a single topic since the mid 1870s, when he wrote the four Untimely Meditations. In Ecce Homo, Nietzsche presents his life as a species of artistry, in several senses. In each of these senses, Nietzsche portrays himself as the poet of his life, and hence as one who has become who he is. The chapter discusses two of the circumstances of Nietzsche's life that make it most distinctively his, namely Christianity and Richard Wagner. Twilight of the Idols is devoted to the uncovering and diagnosis of decadence, both as cause (suffering) and as effect (idealism). The chapter shows how the idea of becoming 'who one is' runs through all of Nietzsche's final works, and shows how it rounds off a line of thought that characterizes his maturity as a whole.