Understanding Nietzsche, Understanding Modernism: (Understanding Philosophy, Understanding Modernism)

Friedrich Nietzsche believed his own work represented the dawning of a new historical era, and, despite the fact that he lived most of his sane life suffering in obscurity, it is not an exaggeration to say that his vision helped lay the foundations for modernism in style, substance and attitude. Nietzsche was himself devoted to the modern, for he reinterpreted every philosophy, every historical figure and event, every movement that came before him. This reconceptualization of the past through new, modern eyes opened up Nietzsche’s thinking to exploring daring possibilities for the future. This prophetic boldness, which is so unique to his style, seduced the modernist generation across the spectrum. He was read by early Zionists as well as by Nazi racial theorists; by Thomas Mann and as well as by Salvador Dali. His influence stretched from psychoanalysis to anarchist politics. Understanding Nietzsche, Understanding Modernism traces the effect of Nietzsche’s thinking upon a diverse set of problems: from ontology, to politics, to musical and literary aesthetics. The first section of the volume is a series of essays, each exploring a major work of Nietzsche’s, explaining its significance while contributing new interpretations of the text. The middle portion connects Nietzsche’s thought to the various strands of modernism in which it reveals itself. The final section is a glossary of key terms that Nietzsche uses throughout his works. An excellent resource for any scholar attempting to conceptualize the foundations of modernism or the historical importance of Nietzsche, this volume seeks to outline the philosopher’s works and their reception amongst the generations that immediately followed his passing.

Table of Contents:
Series Preface Notes on Contributors Acknowledgments List of Abbreviations Introduction: The Heroism of Friedrich Nietzsche Brian Pines (Independent Researcher, USA) Part 1 Conceptualizing Nietzsche 1. Nonhuman Transcendence: Art and Non-Anthropocentrism in The Birth of Tragedy Patricia Valderrama (Independent Researcher, USA) 2. Nietzsche’s Dawn of Morality: Daybreak and the Modernist Impulse Siobhan Lyons (Macquarie University, Australia) 3. Ticklish Truths: Poetry, Chance, and Laughter in The Gay Science Scott J Cowan (University of California, Berkeley, USA) 4. "What do you matter?": Nietzsche’s Zarathustra, Individualism and Modernism Douglas Burnham (Staffordshire University, UK) 5. Der Antichrist: A Book for Barbarians, Slaves, and Cave Dwellers Brian Pines (Independent Researcher, USA) 6. The Twilight of the Idols and the Dawn of Modernity Karl Laderoute (University of Lethbridge, Canada) Part 2 Nietzsche and Modernist Culture 7. Peacocks and Buffalos: Nietzsche and the Problems of Modern Spectacle Yunus Tuncel (The New School, USA) 8. Not another Image of Torment: Nietzsche Eternal Recurrence and Theatricality Jeremy Killian (Coastal Carolina University, USA) 9. The Birth of Dada, Out of the Spirit of Nihilism Kaitlyn Creasy (Butler University, USA) 10. Nietzsche’s Decadent Modernism Adrian Switzer (University of Missouri-Kansas City, USA) 11. Nietzsche’s Relation with Psychoanalysis: from Freud to Surrealist Modernism, Bataille, and Lacan Tim Themi (University of Melbourne, Australia) 12. Nietzsche, Jung and Modern Militancy Ritske Rensma (University of Utrecht, the Netherlands) 13. Streams of Becoming: Nietzsche, Physiology and Literary Modernism Jill Marsden (University of Bolton, UK) 14. Death shall have no Dominion: Dylan Thomas, Friedrich Nietzsche and Tragic Joy James Luchte (Independent Researcher, UK) 15. The Crisis of Philosophy in Modernity: From Perspectivism to Essayism Sebastian Hüsch (Aix-Marseille Université, France) 16. Mann >Modernism< Nietzsche Bill Mcdonald (University of Redlands, USA) Part 3 Glossary 17. Dionysiac Douglas Burnham (Staffordshire University, UK) 18. Decadence Jack Brookes (Independent Researcher, USA) 19. From Zoroaster to Zarathustra Matthew John Grabowski (Independent Researcher, USA) 20. Figuration and Imagery Gill Zimmerman (Zeppelin University, Germany) 21. Danger Scott J Cowan (University of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA) and Brian Pines (Independent Researcher, USA) 22. The Eternal Recurrence Karl Laderoute (University of Lethbridge, Canada) 23. The Will to Power Karl Laderoute (University of Lethbridge, Canada) 24. The Revaluation of all Values Brian Pines (Independent Researcher, USA) Index

About the Author :
Brian Pines teaches courses in the Philosophy of Religion at Monterey Peninsula College in California, USA. Douglas Burnham is Professor of Philosophy and Head of the University Graduate School at Staffordshire University, UK. He has written extensively on Nietzsche, including Nietzsche's The Birth of Tragedy: A Reader's Guide (2010) and The Nietzsche Dictionary (2014), both published by Bloomsbury.

Review :
Perhaps no other intellectual figure has exerted such a powerful influence on philosophical, literary, and cultural modernism as Friedrich Nietzsche. This volume, edited by Brian Pines and Douglas Burnham, showcases essays that illuminate well the character of this influence and in all its audacious and dazzling glory. Approaching the massive profile of Nietzsche’s work from a plethora of new, partly text-specific, and partly overarching angles, Brian Pines and Douglas Burnham have put together a volume that both suggests and initiates a complex conversation with our twenty-first-century present, an environment still far from being captured in a conceptually transparent and consensual way. They thus decisively leave behind a state of discussion that was locked in the sterile question of whether Nietzsche’s thought had a place within ‘modernity’ as a straight line of progress.