Welcome to the LitCharts study guide on Friedrich Nietzsche's Beyond Good and Evil. Created by the original team behind SparkNotes, LitCharts are the world's best literature guides.
Beyond Good and Evil: Introduction
Beyond Good and Evil: Plot Summary
Beyond Good and Evil: Detailed Summary & Analysis
Beyond Good and Evil: Themes
Beyond Good and Evil: Quotes
Beyond Good and Evil: Characters
Beyond Good and Evil: Terms
Beyond Good and Evil: Symbols
Beyond Good and Evil: Theme Wheel
Brief Biography of Friedrich Nietzsche
Historical Context of Beyond Good and Evil
Other Books Related to Beyond Good and Evil
- Full Title: Beyond Good and Evil: Prelude to a Philosophy of the Future
- When Written: 1886
- Where Written: Sils Maria, Switzerland
- When Published: 1886
- Literary Period: Existentialism
- Genre: Philosophy
- Point of View: First Person
Extra Credit for Beyond Good and Evil
Equestrian. In 1867 Nietzsche volunteered for the Prussian military, and despite his poor health and academic inclinations, proved to be one of the most gifted riders. Though his fellow soldiers expected him to go far, perhaps even reaching the rank of Captain, he severely injured himself in 1868 when he hit his chest on the pommel while leaping into the saddle of his horse, tearing several muscles and leaving him unable to walk for months. This led him to redirect his energies to his studies; perhaps luckily for Nietzsche, however, his injury allowed him to avoid the fate of many other Prussian soldiers who would die in the Franco-Prussian War only two years later.
Artists and Critics. Though Nietzsche is renowned for both his praise and criticism of the music of Richard Wagner, among other composers, his own attempts at composition were far less successful. While he was studying at the Schulpforta school outside of Naumburg, Nietzsche wrote several amateur compositions for piano, violin, and voice. Both Wagner and the Romantic composer Hans von Bülow harshly criticized these pieces, the latter calling one of them “the most undelightful and the most antimusical draft on musical paper that I have faced in a long time.”