Hackett's On the Genealogy of Morality (we now have even the correct title!) may very well change the entire climate for reading Nietzsche in English
especially if read in conjunction with their equally splendid Twilight of the Idols. . . . Competing translations of Nietzsche's late, utterly influential masterpieces have often made them a chore, rather than a delight, ... Read moreto read; and their introductions generally obscure, rather than illuminate, the texts' situations. Clark and Swensen (and Polt and Strong) have made the Genealogy and Twilight accessible and exhilarating
while leaving them, as they are, enigmatic and problematic. Finally, readers of Nietzsche in English can
begin!
William Arctander O'Brien, University of California, San Diego This unique collaboration of an internationally renowned Nietzsche commentator and a scholar of German language and literature has yielded the finest existing edition of Nietzsche's book in English. The translation itself strikes an intelligent balance between fidelity to the German and readability in English. It is especially welcome for bringing an historically and philosophically sensitive appreciation of Nietzsche to bear on translation issues. (The decision to translate Mitleid consistently as 'compassion,' instead of 'pity'
thus emphasizing for the English-language reader Nietzsche's opposition to Schopenhauer's moral philosophy
is but one of many examples.) The Introduction is the most philosophically substantial guide to the Genealogy in any edition, and will be of value to both student and specialist. Most remarkable of all are the notes on the text: the wealth of biographical, historical, philosophical, and literary detail makes the volume the most informative and reader-friendly edition of Nietzsche's work to date. The notes will also prove fascinating for the scholar, as the editors have tracked down the numerous contemporary scholarly sources on which Nietzsche relied in writing the Genealogy.
Brian Leiter, University of Texas at Austin This is an excellent translation. The copious and detailed endnotes will make it easy for a beginner to grasp Nietzsche's thought
Fred Clark, Colorado State University Show Less