The Gay Science (Barnes & Noble Library of Essential Reading)
“God is dead,” Friedrich Nietzsche
unflinchingly declared in this famous work of philosophy. It is one of the boldest statements ever made, and garnered far-reaching, strong reactions. In addition to being the book containing the words that shook the world, The Gay Science includes Nietzsche’s arguments on ethics and knowledge. It is no wonder The Gay Science is known in some circles by the title The Joyful Wisdom.
Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche was born in the village of Röcken in Saxony on October 15, 1844. Nietzsche, whose father was a Lutheran pastor, spent a year as a theology student at the University of Bonn, before studying classical philology at the University of Leipzig. Despite poor health and desperate loneliness, Nietzsche managed to produce a book (or a book-length supplement to an earlier publication) every year from 1878 to 1887. In early January 1889, he collapsed in the street in Turin, Italy, confused and incoherent. He spent the last eleven years of his life institutionalized or under the care of his family.
