In its completed form, Dithyrambs of Dionysus was Nietzsche’s last book. The nine poems of this cycle were composed during 1883–8 and assembled for publication shortly before his breakdown in 1889. They represent the ultimate visionary poetic style which he developed in the years after Thus Spake Zarathustra and form a coda to his life’s work.

The late Reg Hollingdale, a Nietzsche expert who translated much of the philosopher’s writing, provides a fascinating and authoritative introduction to his facing-text translations.