Nietzsche, Art, and Philosophy: 150 Years of Tragedy

• Vincent Lê
• Paris Lettau

For some, Nietzsche is the prophet of hierarchy and heroism, a rallying cry against the modern herd. For others, he is the forefather of AI-driven transcendence, an oracle of posthuman futures. His thought has been twisted, worshipped, and weaponised across generations—from avant-garde artists to political extremists, from revolutionary philosophers to Silicon Valley disruptors.
In this book of essays, leading scholars dive into Nietzsche’s early vision, following the tangled, often contradictory paths of his influence: the poets he scorned, the radicals who claimed him, the scholars who tried (and failed) to pin him down. From Australian modernism to French poststructuralism, from political battlegrounds to the shifting tensions between art and philosophy, this book captures Nietzsche’s restless afterlife—revealing how, more than 150 years after the publication of his first book, The Birth of Tragedy Out of the Spirit of Music, Nietzsche’s thought still provokes, unsettles, and refuses to be tamed.

“What makes this collection of essays so compelling is that it takes appearances seriously. Nietzsche’s thought, his legacy, and the various appropriations of his work appear riddled with contradictions—and indeed, they are. Instead of attempting to resolve them, the essays follow these contradictory threads in a way that comes much closer to the truth than any attempt to uncover a hidden truth behind appearances. In this sense, this is a genuinely Nietzschean book.”
— Alenka Zupančič, author of The Shortest Shadow: Nietzsche’s Philosophy of the Two