Introduction

This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book shows how developments that become apparent only in the Nachlass fragments contemporaneous or even earlier to the text of BT are crucial to a reading of Nietzsche's philosophical development subsequent to the publication of BT and therefore to Nietzsche's thought in general. It explores the will to power and its relation to art and the work of art. The book analyses in greater depth Nietzsche's polemic against Kant, attempting in outlining the history of this relationship to uncover certain key themes in Nietzsche's philosophical development. It concerns the texts of the final year of Nietzsche's productive life – 1888 – in which first in The Case of Wagner the question arises as to whether Nietzsche's critique of Wagner is a critique of all art produced in the age of decadence, or rather whether Nietzsche is here merely denouncing 'pseudo-culture' or 'histrionic'.