GREEK CULTURE AND PESSIMISM IN THE BIRTH OF TRAGEDY

This paper is an interpretation of Nietzsche's "The Birth of Tragedy" focusing primarily on Nietzsche's personal reasons for writing the book. The interpretation is based on some of the instructions Nietzsche gives us in his later works ("Ecce Homo", "The Twilight of the Idols" and "Attempt at a Self-Criticism"). The author argues that the main reason for writing the book was Friedrich's deeply personal need to exceed (or to heal) his own pessimism. Because of that, the thesis about tragedy as a way of healing pessimism must be considered as the main idea of "The Birth of Tragedy".