Friedrich W. Nietzsche (1844–1900) was born in Röcken, Prussia, on October 15. He attended the prestigious boarding school at Pforta, where he was educated in the classics, literature, poetry, and the arts. He went on to study classical philology, first at the University of Bonn, and later at the University of Leipzig. His scholarly promise was so great that he was appointed in 1869 as professor extraordinarius of classical philology at the University of Basel (Switzerland). Following a brief and debilitating tour of duty in the Franco-Prussian War, he returned to Basel and produced his first major work, The Birth of Tragedy out of the Spirit of Music (1872). The book was so poorly received that its publication effectively signaled the end of his academic career. He finally resigned from the university in 1879 and lived on a small pension awarded him by the Swiss government.

Nietzsche's most...