Nietzsche's Last Laugh
Ecce Homo as Satire

This book demonstrates that Nietzsche's autobiographical and much-maligned Ecce Homo is a sophisticated satire by which the thinker unifies his disparate corpus.

Nicholas D. More (Author)

9781107050815, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 27 March 2014

235 pages
23.5 x 15.7 x 1.8 cm, 0.47 kg

'This book-length study of Nietzsche's final book, his venture into autobiography, mounts a persuasive argument. More demonstrates not only that Ecce Homo, that problematic stepchild of Nietzsche studies (by turns and at once, self-glorifying and self-parodying), is a masterful work of satire, but that all of Nietzsche's corpus after Die Geburt der Tragödie can effectively and profitably be read, following the lead of this final book, as satire …' Daniel T. O'Hara, German Quarterly

Nietzsche's Ecce Homo was published posthumously in 1908, eight years after his death, and has been variously described ever since as useless, mad, or merely inscrutable. Against this backdrop, Nicholas D. More provides the first complete and compelling analysis of the work, and argues that this so-called autobiography is instead a satire. This form enables Nietzsche to belittle bad philosophy by comic means, attempt reconciliation with his painful past, review and unify his disparate works, insulate himself with humor from the danger of 'looking into abysses', and establish wisdom as a special kind of 'good taste'. After showing how to read this much-maligned book, More argues that Ecce Homo presents the best example of Nietzsche making sense of his own intellectual life, and that its unique and complex parody of traditional philosophy makes a powerful case for reading Nietzsche as a philosophical satirist across his corpus.

Prologue
Part I. What is Ecce Homo?: Introduction
1. Nietzsche deigns to read himself
2. A question of genre
Part II. What is the Meaning of Ecce Homo?: 3. Ecce Homo as satire: analysis and commentary
Part III. What is the Significance of Ecce Homo?: Conclusion.

Subject Areas: Western philosophy, from c 1900 - [HPCF], Literary studies: general [DSB]