Ecce Homo

Ecce Homo is an autobiography like no other. Deliberately provocative, Nietzsche subverts the conventions of the genre and pushes his philosophical positions to combative extremes, constructing a genius-hero whose life is a chronicle of the incessant struggle to overcome himself. Written in 1888, a few weeks before his descent into madness, the book sub-titled “How One Becomes What One Is” reviews all of Nietzsche’s previous works so that we, his “posthumous” readers, can finally understand him on his own terms. He reaches final criticism of his many enemies–Richard Wagner, German nationalism, “modern men” in general–and above all Christianity, proclaiming himself the Antichrist. Ecce Homo is the summation of an extraordinary philosophical career, a last great testament to Nietzsche’s will.