THE PLACE AND ROLE OF DER ANTICHRIST IN NIETZSCHE'S FOUR VOLUME PROJECT UMWERTHUNG ALLER WERTHE.

Nietzsche planned and worked hard on writing a Hauptwerk at least between 1884 and November 1888. I will show that there are good reasons to assume that this intention continued until at least just days before his collapse. Nietzsche's changing and alternating references to Der Antichrist as either "the first book of the Umwerthung aller Werthe" or as "the Umwerthung aller Werthe" is likely merely to be a reflection of an uncertainty of, or changed view of, how to entitle that work, not to that he had given up on the project. If Nietzsche changed his mind about writing the further three volumes at the end of November or the end of December 1888, this would be a major change of his intentions and relevant for his biography. But in regard to the books and notes we possess it is really a question of little consequence since they were already written before this. However, his continued plans for and work on a major four volume Hauptwerk is a question of major importance for the interpretation of both his late books and his late notes. This is a question that has received far too little attention since the publication of the critical edition of Nietzsche's work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]