The Birth of Tragedy: Out of the Spirit of Music

by Friedrich Nietzsche

As we shall see, when he came to write his ‘Attempt at a Self-Criticism’ in 1886, Nietzsche was far harsher on the book than any of his academic critics had been, their grounds for disapproval being only one element in the many-pronged critique he directs against the work. So what we now have is a bewildering whole, if we see it as that: the main body of the book is angrily denounced in the ‘Attempt’, at the same time as he tries to perform a rescue operation, claiming that in certain respects ‘this impossible book’ contains insights which he muddied by introducing jarring and incongruous elements, but which show that in certain crucial respects he was already on the main path of his life’s work. It is, of course, a familiar tactic with authors looking with mixed feelings on their earliest productions, but in this case, more than usually, it presents questions about the nature of self-interpretation and development. What I shall do, in the first place, is to concentrate on the first edition, since that presents quite enough problems in itself, and then go on to deal with aspects of the ‘Attempt’ which are genuinely enlightening about what Nietzsche originally said, as opposed to what he later wished that he had said.