Nietzsche and the Freedom of Self-Overcoming

Abstract

With the publication of The Birth of Tragedy from the Spirit of Music in 1872, Friedrich Nietzsche put aside the caution expected of a classical philologist to embark on a bold new course in his professional career. This first book, which established his importance as a profoundly original thinker and a trenchant critic of contemporary culture, abandoned the narrow focus typical of classical scholarship in favor of a wide-ranging attempt to understand the origins of Greek creativity and use that understanding to foster a creative rebirth in his own time. The image Nietzsche chose to adorn the title page of his new book expressed his conviction that he and his time had reached a decisive moment of change. It depicted the Titan Prometheus in the act of regaining his freedom—his arms still bearing the broken chains, his right foot resting on the slain eagle that had tormented him, his angry gaze directed upward toward the god who had unjustly imprisoned him. The image provides an emblem of freedom and defiance for the cultural revolution Nietzsche hoped to inspire, while also conveying his personal declaration of independence from established professional constraints.