Georges Bataille wrote On Nietzsche in the final months of the Nazi occupation of France in order to cleanse the German philosopher of the "stain of Nazism." More than merely a treatise on Nietzsche, the book is as much a work of ethics in which thought is put to the test of experience and experience pushed to its limits. At once personal and political, it was written as an act of war, its publication contingent upon the German retreat. The result is a poetic and philosophical--and occasionally harrowing--record of life during wartime.

FollowingInner ExperienceandGuilty,On Nietzscheis the third volume of Bataille'sSumma Atheologica. Haunted by the recognition that "existence cannot be at once autonomous and viable," herein the author yearns for community from the depths of personal isolation and transforms Nietzsche'swill to powerinto his ownwill to chance.

This new translation includesMemorandum, a selection of 280 passages from Nietzsche's works edited and introduced by Bataille. Originally published separately, Bataille planned to include the text in future editions ofOn Nietzsche. This edition also features the full notes and annotations from the French edition of Bataille'sOeuvres Complètes, as well as an incisive introductory essay by Stuart Kendall that situates the work historically, biographically, and philosophically.