Ecce Homo: How One Becomes What One Is (1888)

This is Nietzsche's autobiography, in as far as it is an autobiography. In fact, he describes it in the introduction as being very different from other autobiographies, and this much is certainly true. It was written shortly before he went mad, and is as florid as any of his works, even more so than "Thus Spake Zarathustra". It does describe his life, as one would expect from an autobiography, but Nietzsche has undertaken this with more of an artistic intent than an historical one, and many of the details have either been embellished or just made up. He acknowledges this, in a way, and justifies it as being unimportant. As well as the typical autobiographical contents, he also reviews more or less all of his works, giving opinions on them, providing historical context, and saying how they should be understood.
If I hadn't read any Nietzsche before, and this was my introduction to him, then I probably wouldn't have formed a very favourable opinion of him, either as a character, a philosopher, or a writer. Chapter titles such as: "Why I Am So Clever" and "Why I Write Such Good Books", are not likely to impress a reader yet to be convinced of the genius of the author, and on top of this, Ecce Homo is not itself a particularly good book.
One of the main themes of the book is “amor fati”, which means a love of fate, particularly one's own fate. Nietzsche uses this phrase when describing how during his life, he has come to accept all events, and not want anything to have been different from how it actually was.
Like in Thus Spake Zarathustra, Nietzsche presents himself here as a Dionysus, and actually describes himself using this word in at least one place. This is partly the basis of his amorality of sorts, his concept of being “Beyond Good and Evil”. The state of bodily good health is linked to his Dionysus concept, and yet there also seem to be contradictions: he warns the reader off alcohol - what could be less Dionysian? He also shows contempt for coffee, and says he only likes tea in the morning, and it that it must be very strong. It is the little details such as these preferences of his that form the saner parts of the book; much of it suffers from the wild hyperbole that will be familiar to readers of his other late works.
No doubt Nietzsche thought that he was writing profound things, when penning this book, but for me, and most readers I would have thought, more of his thoughts can be understood in his earlier works. For this reason I would not recommend this book as an introduction to Nietzsche, and would be doubtful if any proper appreciation of this book could be made without having read at least a handful of his other works.
There is a thin line between genius and madness; this work is nearer the latter. ( )

Revolting, not for the superficial arrogance of this book, but for his rejection of sympathy and his adoration of brutal aristocracy. ( )

de man is compleet gestoord als hij dit schrijft, nergens een argument enkel grootheidswaanzin, desalnietemin, zeer originele scherpe ideeen op een pakkende manier verwoord, wel de moeite van het lezen waard ( )

Nietzsche: God is dead!
God: Nietzsche is dead.