---
product_id: 221333
title: "The Gay Science: With a Prelude in Rhymes and an Appendix of Songs (COLLECTIBLE)"
price: "S/.120"
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reviews_count: 10
url: https://www.desertcart.pe/products/221333-the-gay-science-with-a-prelude-in-rhymes-and-appendix
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region: Peru
---

# The Gay Science: With a Prelude in Rhymes and an Appendix of Songs (COLLECTIBLE)

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- **What is this?** The Gay Science: With a Prelude in Rhymes and an Appendix of Songs (COLLECTIBLE)
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The Gay Science: With a Prelude in Rhymes and an Appendix of Songs (COLLECTIBLE) [Nietzsche, Friedrich, Kaufmann, Walter] on desertcart.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. The Gay Science: With a Prelude in Rhymes and an Appendix of Songs (COLLECTIBLE)

Review: Alive, Electric—Crackling With Energy! - The structure of the book is this: • 63 poems (this is the “Prelude in Rhymes”) • 5 books with 383 sections in total (this is “The Gay Science” proper) • 14 songs (this is the “Appendix of Songs”) In this book, Nietzsche makes many perceptive observations about history, religion, morality, women, art, music, culture, Christianity, Jews, Germans, Europeans, suffering, joy, and much more. This is also where he first declares that “God is dead,” and where Zarathustra is first mentioned in his writings. In fact, he wrote Thus Spoke Zarathustra right after finishing book four. Book five was written a few years later, after he finished Beyond Good and Evil. Something vital to keep in mind: As Kaufmann notes, this book (these “books,” really) is not meant to be read willy-nilly; it is to be read in order and bearing the context in mind; this point cannot be stressed enough. Now to speak of the general spirit of the book: Nietzsche wrote elsewhere (Twilight of the Idols, Raids of an Untimely Man, 51), “The aphorism, the apothegm, in which I am the first among the Germans to be a master, are the forms of ‘eternity’; it is my ambition to say in ten sentences what everyone else says in a book—what everyone else does NOT say in a book” (“NOT” is italicized in the original, not capitalized; but since I can’t italicize here, I capitalized the letters for emphasis). If you want philosophical writing that’s dense, layered, and packed with meaning, all in a single breath, look no further! It’s not just about economy of language but a kind of compression that forces you to slow down and unpack every word. Agree or disagree with his ideas, you’re sure to be taken for a ride! I personally don’t “agree” or “disagree” but rather “relate” or “don’t relate”—and it’s usually the former! I’ve found this to be an excellent entry into Nietzsche’s writing. I’ll probably go with either Thus Spoke Zarathustra or Beyond Good and Evil next, depending on my mood. All in all, this isn’t just a book; it’s an experience, a diary of sorts. He himself calls it “the most personal of all my books.” I highly recommend it for the right person at the right time.
Review: Kindle Edition of Nietzsche's Most Engaging Work - This review addresses the Kindle edition of Kaufmann's translation of what I have come to believe is Nietzsche's most engaging work, the one which gives some of his most interesting psychological insights, done in his period of greatest productivity, just before and during the writing of Also Sprach Zarathustra. (Beyond Good and Evil and A Geneology of Morals are also very important.) Unlike "Beyond Good and Evil", there are some excellently even-handed comments about women in this book. This may be the first book I am reading 'from cover to cover' on a Kindle, and the experience is rewarding. There are several things which are annoying about Kindle, but one of the very best aspects is the way it handles footnotes. Click on a footnote number, and it immediately takes you not only to the page where that note appears, but it puts the note at the top of the page. This is something no hard copy can do. The other side of the coin is that it suffers from Kindle's difficulty in handling bilingual texts. It takes a whole lot of jiggery pokery to have the German and English versions of the poems to come out side by side. I'm not even sure it's possible. Fortunately, the poems are numbered, for those who don't know German. Note that some of Kaufmann's Nietzsche books are protected from copying, which is hugely annoying when you are writing papers, and you want an accurate quote. This one has no such prohibition. I am fond of Kaufmann's translations, and the Cambridge University Press edition is not available on Kindle, so this is the one to get. Avoid the cheap or free versions. What is listed under the Cambridge Kindle is NOT the translation published by Cambridge. One general comment about Kindle on the PC. It would be really nice if one could open multiple Kindle windows. That way, you could have the English translation and the original German of Nietzsche's works open, side by side. Of course, you can always open the German in you Kindle device and prop it up alongsize your monitor.

## Technical Specifications

| Specification | Value |
|---------------|-------|
| Best Sellers Rank | #23,738 in Books ( See Top 100 in Books ) #4 in Philosophy Aesthetics #12 in Free Will & Determinism Philosophy #27 in Modern Western Philosophy |
| Customer Reviews | 4.6 4.6 out of 5 stars (570) |
| Dimensions  | 4.09 x 0.85 x 6.78 inches |
| Edition  | 1st |
| ISBN-10  | 0394719859 |
| ISBN-13  | 978-0394719856 |
| Item Weight  | 7.2 ounces |
| Language  | English |
| Print length  | 396 pages |
| Publication date  | January 12, 1974 |
| Publisher  | Vintage |

## Images

![The Gay Science: With a Prelude in Rhymes and an Appendix of Songs (COLLECTIBLE) - Image 1](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/71ydqOPCqeL.jpg)

## Customer Reviews

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Alive, Electric—Crackling With Energy!
*by R***N on November 19, 2024*

The structure of the book is this: • 63 poems (this is the “Prelude in Rhymes”) • 5 books with 383 sections in total (this is “The Gay Science” proper) • 14 songs (this is the “Appendix of Songs”) In this book, Nietzsche makes many perceptive observations about history, religion, morality, women, art, music, culture, Christianity, Jews, Germans, Europeans, suffering, joy, and much more. This is also where he first declares that “God is dead,” and where Zarathustra is first mentioned in his writings. In fact, he wrote Thus Spoke Zarathustra right after finishing book four. Book five was written a few years later, after he finished Beyond Good and Evil. Something vital to keep in mind: As Kaufmann notes, this book (these “books,” really) is not meant to be read willy-nilly; it is to be read in order and bearing the context in mind; this point cannot be stressed enough. Now to speak of the general spirit of the book: Nietzsche wrote elsewhere (Twilight of the Idols, Raids of an Untimely Man, 51), “The aphorism, the apothegm, in which I am the first among the Germans to be a master, are the forms of ‘eternity’; it is my ambition to say in ten sentences what everyone else says in a book—what everyone else does NOT say in a book” (“NOT” is italicized in the original, not capitalized; but since I can’t italicize here, I capitalized the letters for emphasis). If you want philosophical writing that’s dense, layered, and packed with meaning, all in a single breath, look no further! It’s not just about economy of language but a kind of compression that forces you to slow down and unpack every word. Agree or disagree with his ideas, you’re sure to be taken for a ride! I personally don’t “agree” or “disagree” but rather “relate” or “don’t relate”—and it’s usually the former! I’ve found this to be an excellent entry into Nietzsche’s writing. I’ll probably go with either Thus Spoke Zarathustra or Beyond Good and Evil next, depending on my mood. All in all, this isn’t just a book; it’s an experience, a diary of sorts. He himself calls it “the most personal of all my books.” I highly recommend it for the right person at the right time.

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Kindle Edition of Nietzsche's Most Engaging Work
*by B***D on January 1, 2012*

This review addresses the Kindle edition of Kaufmann's translation of what I have come to believe is Nietzsche's most engaging work, the one which gives some of his most interesting psychological insights, done in his period of greatest productivity, just before and during the writing of Also Sprach Zarathustra. (Beyond Good and Evil and A Geneology of Morals are also very important.) Unlike "Beyond Good and Evil", there are some excellently even-handed comments about women in this book. This may be the first book I am reading 'from cover to cover' on a Kindle, and the experience is rewarding. There are several things which are annoying about Kindle, but one of the very best aspects is the way it handles footnotes. Click on a footnote number, and it immediately takes you not only to the page where that note appears, but it puts the note at the top of the page. This is something no hard copy can do. The other side of the coin is that it suffers from Kindle's difficulty in handling bilingual texts. It takes a whole lot of jiggery pokery to have the German and English versions of the poems to come out side by side. I'm not even sure it's possible. Fortunately, the poems are numbered, for those who don't know German. Note that some of Kaufmann's Nietzsche books are protected from copying, which is hugely annoying when you are writing papers, and you want an accurate quote. This one has no such prohibition. I am fond of Kaufmann's translations, and the Cambridge University Press edition is not available on Kindle, so this is the one to get. Avoid the cheap or free versions. What is listed under the Cambridge Kindle is NOT the translation published by Cambridge. One general comment about Kindle on the PC. It would be really nice if one could open multiple Kindle windows. That way, you could have the English translation and the original German of Nietzsche's works open, side by side. Of course, you can always open the German in you Kindle device and prop it up alongsize your monitor.

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ An excellent starting point in modern thought.
*by R***L on August 11, 2025*

This book is a masterpiece in my estimate, and I wanted it with its original English title. I got it, and it came on time and in perfect shape !!!

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*Last updated: 2026-03-17*