Why I Am So Wise

Nietzsche on Nietzsche

In the autumn of 1888, Friedrich Nietzsche sat down to write his autobiography. He was forty-four years old and had approximately three months of sanity remaining. The result was Ecce Homo, a book in which Nietzsche reviews his own life and works with a combination of grandiosity, humor, and self-awareness that has baffled readers ever since. Why I Am So Wise extracts the autobiographical core of that book and presents it as a standalone Penguin Little Black Classic.

What You Get

The chapters included here are Nietzsche's reflections on his own character, health, intellectual development, and tastes. He explains why he is "so wise" (because he has been sick enough to understand health), "so clever" (because he has good instincts about food, climate, and recreation), and "why I write such good books" (because nobody else was going to say it). The tone oscillates between genuine insight and what appears to be either megalomania or comedy, depending on how you read it.

The biographical details are real and revealing. Nietzsche discusses his father's early death, his own chronic illness, his break with Wagner, his dislike of German nationalism, and his conviction that his books would not be understood for decades. Written on the edge of collapse, the text has an urgency that his more composed works lack.

About This Edition

• Author: Friedrich Nietzsche
• Publisher: Penguin Books (Little Black Classics)
• Format: Paperback
• ISBN: 9780143036340
• Note: This is an excerpt from Ecce Homo, not the complete text