Friedrich Nietzsche 
The Birth of Tragedy 

It was called ‘The Birth of Tragedy from the Spirit of Music.’ In a preface, subsequently published, the author, whose style had in the mean time undergone a complete transformation, bids us observe that ‘behind this questionable book lay a problem of the first rank and enticement, but likewise a deep personal interest.’ Certain is it that in ‘The Birth of Tragedy’ we may discern ’that unbodied figure of the thought, which gave it surmised shape.’… Nietzsche’s grasp of the whole Greek literature is masterly. But even more remarkable is the insight which leads him to deal with it as a symbol and expression of that complex world which we know as the life of the Greeks.—From the Quarterly Review, 1896.