Publisher Description

Now published in English, this work takes a structuralist approach to the relation between Nietzsche's thought and his life. The author emphasizes the centrality of the notion of "eternal return" for understanding Nietzsche's propensities for self-denial, self-reputation and self-consumption. Nietzsche's ideas did not stem from personal pathology, according to Klossowski. Rather, he made a pathological use of his best ideas, anchoring them in his own fluctuating bodily and mental conditions. Thus Nietzsche's belief that questions of truth and morality are basically questions of power and fitness, resonates dynamically and intellectually with his alternating lucidity and delirium.

Author Biography

Klossowski, brother of the painter Balthus, is widely rcognized as a central figure in the contemporary French avant-garde.

Table of Contents

Translator's Preface Introduction 1: The Combat against Culture 2: The Valetudinary States at the Origin of a Serniotic of Impulses 3: The Experience of the Eternal Return 4: The Valetudinary States at the Origin of Four Criteria: Decadence, Vigour, Gregariousness, the Singular Case 5: Attempt at a Scientific Explanation of the Eternal Return 6: The Vicious Circle as a Selective Doctrine 7: The Consultation of the Paternal Shadow 8: The Most Beautiful Invention of the Sick 9: The Euphoria of Turin 10: Additional Note on Nietzsche's Semiotic Notes Index

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