Reading the New Nietzsche

Book excerpt: In this long-awaited volume, David B. Allison argues for a 'generous' approach to Nietzsche's writings, and then provides comprehensive analyses of Nietzsche's The Birth of Tragedy, The Gay Science, On the Genealogy of Morals, and Thus Spoke Zarathustra. Unique among other books on Nietzsche, Allison's text includes individual chapters devoted to Nietzsche's principal works. Historically-oriented and continentally-informed, Allison's readings draw on French and German thinkers, such as Heidegger, Battaille, Derrida, Birault, and Deleuze, while the author explicitly resists the use of jargon that frequently characterizes those approaches. Reading the New Nietzsche is an outstanding resource for those reading Nietzsche for the first time as well as for those who wish to know him better.