Born in 1844, Friedrich Nietzsche died in Weimar on 25 August 1900. Arguably the most important philosopher of the 19th century, his earliest reputation was as much for his poetry as for his philosophical writings. He began writing poetry as a boy and continued, in a wide range of styles, throughout his life. In its completed form, Dithyrambs of Dionysus' was his last book. The nine poems of this cycle were composed during 1883-8 and assembled for publication shortly before his breakdown in 1889. They represent the ultimate visionary poetic style which he developed in the years after Thus Spake Zarathustra' and form a coda to his life's work. RJ Hollingdale has translated eleven of Nietzsche's books and works by, among others, Schopenhauer, Goethe, ETA Hoffman and Theodor Fontane. Among his recent publications are a revised version of Nietzsche: The Man and His Philosophy' and a new edition of Lichtenberg's Waste-Books'.

This book explores the possibility that Friedrich Nietzsche simulated his madness as a form of "voluntary death," and thus that his madness functioned as the symbolic culmination of his philosophy. The book weaves together scholarly, mytho-poetic, literary critical, biographical, and dramatic genres not only to explore specifics of Nietzsche's "madness," but to question the "reason/madness" opposition in nineteenth and twentieth century thinking. A rational and scholarly study of this period of Nietzsche's "breakdown"--presented through his writings, letters, and poetry in combination with relevant historical documents and other critics' writings--is simultaneously disrupted and questioned by several non-traditional discourses or voices that break in on it. Thus, Ariadne's voice frames and unframes the research context and plays alongside it. Ariadne's voice is poetic, revelatory, rhapsodic, and prophetic, sounding much like Nietzsche's own voice during his "breakdown." Ariadne's discourse attempts to seduce through a non-rational, mytho-poetic love story which culminates in the wedding of Dionysus and Ariadne. Other non-rational discourses, critically developed and based upon the work of Nietzsche, Jean Baudrillard, and Gilles Deleuze, are given voice and work together with Ariadne to counter the usual interpretations of Nietzsche's "madness" and of what "mad" discourse is. These discourses are given the names "catastrophe," "phantasm," and "seduction." The experiment of the book is not only to offer an entirely different perspective on Nietzche's "madness" but to offer and perform new and challenging forms of affirmative discourse.

Examining every aspect of the culture from antiquity to the founding of Constantinople in the early Byzantine era, this thoroughly cross-referenced and fully indexed work is written by an international group of scholars. This Encyclopedia is derived from the more broadly focused Encyclopedia of Greece and the Hellenic Tradition, the highly praised two-volume work. Newly edited by Nigel Wilson, this single-volume reference provides a comprehensive and authoritative guide to the political, cultural, and social life of the people and to the places, ideas, periods, and events that defined ancient Greece.

Genre in Archaic and Classical Greek Poetry foregrounds innovative approaches to the question of genre, what it means, and how to think about it for ancient Greek poetry and performance. Embracing multiple definitions of genre and lyric, the volume pushes beyond current dominant trends within the field of Classics to engage with a variety of other disciplines, theories, and models. Eleven papers by leading scholars of ancient Greek culture cover a wide range of media, from Sappho’s songs to elegiac inscriptions to classical tragedy. Collectively, they develop a more holistic understanding of the concept of lyric genre, its relevance to the study of ancient texts, and its relation to subsequent ideas about lyric.