Nietzsche, Friedrich - Beyond Good and Evil [trans. Kaufmann] (Vintage, 1989)

Nietzsche was controversial to the marrow. He sought contr􀅉

versy and is still controversial. But the area of agreement about I

him is growing. What the Germans and the French. have known

for some time is gradually being recognized in the English-speaking

world as well: Nietzsche was one of the greatest German writers

and philosophers of all time and one of the most interesting and

influential Europeans of the nineteenth century. Beyond Good and

Evil is one of his most important books, and its nine parts with

their descriptive subtitles are designed to give the reader a compre­

hensive idea of Nietzsche's thought and style.

For all that, the book, like all of Nietzsche's best volumes, is

easily misunderstood. For readers who come to it with no previous

knowledge of Nietzsche or with erroneous preconceptions about

him, I have ventured to offer something of a commentary in the

form of copious footnotes. All of the footnotes are mine; none are

Nietzsche's.

I have chosen to use notes for elucidation of major and minor

points in the text rather than a long introduction or interlarded

commentaries because such notes can provide immediate clarification

or interpretation for the reader who requires such assistance.

On the other hand, the reader can skip the notes if he wishes, and

read Nietzsche straight through without the intrusion of the editor􀂿s

commentaries.

Another possibility would have been to offer the commentary

on facing pages, as I myself have done in the case of Hegel's long

Preface to the Phenomenology. But Nietzsche's book is not that difficult:

one can read it like an ordinary book, and many pages require

no elucidation. Everything considered, then, it seemed best

to offer the commentary in the form of notes-none on some pages.

several on others.