Nietzsche Books

[The Sum of Awe]

So what should I get?

A Nietzsche Compendium

or

Basic Writings of Nietzsche


I have 90-some dollars, so I'm not too worried about "this one costs less" unless they are both pretty much the same thing.

Is there more books in one than the other?

 

[Sunstone]

The Portable Nietzsche, by Walter Kaufman.

 

[The Sum of Awe]

The Portable Nietzsche, by Walter Kaufman.

That has four books, these two have five books.

 

[Sunstone]

That has four books, these two have five books.

Kaufman's translations are authoritative in most circles. Or at least they were the last time I looked.

 

[The Sum of Awe]

So two books are left out and replaced with two more:

The AntiChrist left out of Basic Writings of Nietzsche and replaced by The Case of Wagner.

Twilight of the Idols replaced with The Birth of Tragedy.


Which ones are better in your opinion?

 

[Sunstone]

So two books are left out and replaced with two more:

The AntiChrist left out of Basic Writings of Nietzsche and replaced by The Case of Wagner.

Twilight of the Idols replaced with The Birth of Tragedy.


Which ones are better in your opinion?

Depends on the translator.

 

[doppelganger]

Yes, The Portable Nietzsche to start, which has excerpts from many books spanning N's philosophical career in addition to full texts, and as Phil points out, has the Kaufman translations.

 

[Shadow Wolf]

The Will to Power, The Birth of Tragedy, The Anti-Christ, Beyond Good and Evil and Thus Spoke Zarathustra are five must haves.

 

[angellous_evangellous]

The Portable Nietzsche, by Walter Kaufman.

Yes, that is what I would suggest.

 

[WanderLust]

I have a Barnes and Noble Classic called "The Nietzsche Compendium" that I would recommend. It has five books, but I can't remember them all....

Beyond Good and Evil
On the Genealogy of Morals
Ecce Homo
Twilight of the Idols
The Antichrist

I believe that's the list.

 

[Gjallarhorn]

I have a Barnes and Noble Classic called "The Nietzsche Compendium" that I would recommend. It has five books, but I can't remember them all....

Beyond Good and Evil
On the Genealogy of Morals
Ecce Homo
Twilight of the Idols
The Antichrist

I believe that's the list.

I have this too.

 

[WanderLust]

I have this too.

Did I get the list of books in it right? I feel like "Thus Spake Zarathustra" should be in there...

 

[Gjallarhorn]

Did I get the list of books in it right? I feel like "Thus Spake Zarathustra" should be in there...

It's not, sadly. It also doesn't have The Gay Science.

 

[Shadow Wolf]

Did I get the list of books in it right? I feel like "Thus Spake Zarathustra" should be in there...

I avoid Nietzsche compilations because I feel like all of them are lacking at least one of his more influential books.

 

[doppelganger]

I avoid Nietzsche compilations because I feel like all of them are lacking at least one of his more influential books.

They are fine as a place to start. That's why I like the Portable Nietzsche. It has a wide array of excerpts from across his career that span the whole realm of his thought and gives a great introduction to the development of his philosophy and (with Will to Power and Twilight of the Idols) where he might have been headed with it. In addition to the four complete works in Portable N, it's worth getting full versions (eventually) of Untimely Meditations, Birth of Tragedy, Human All Too Human, Genealogy of Morals, The Gay Science, and Beyond Good and Evil.

 

[Shadow Wolf]

What I think sucks in the Books-A-Two were I live only has two or three Nietzsche books at any given time, usually Beyond Good and Evil, The Birth of Tragedy, and sometimes The Gay Science. So anyone that I want I have to get online and wait, rather than buy it and run home to start reading it.

 

[Kilgore Trout]

So what should I get?

A Nietzsche Compendium

or

Basic Writings of Nietzsche


I have 90-some dollars, so I'm not too worried about "this one costs less" unless they are both pretty much the same thing.

Is there more books in one than the other?

Whichever books you think people will be the most impressed by you owning.

 

[WanderLust]

Whichever books you think people will be the most impressed by you owning.

By this logic, avoid "The Basic Writings", the word "basic" unndersells it.