Audiobook Sample
Listen to the sample to experience the story.
Please wait while we verify your browser...
- Title: Beyond Good and Evil
- Author: Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche
- Narrator: Various
- Length: 08:04:00
- Version: Abridged
- Release Date: 01/01/2011
- Publisher: LibriVox
- Genre: Politics, Philosophy, History
- ISBN13: SABFAB9780625
As I pressed play on this LibriVox recording of “Beyond Good and Evil”, I was immediately transported back to my graduate seminar at Berkeley where we debated Nietzsche’s perspectivism through the lens of contemporary digital culture. The crackling audio quality – reminiscent of old lecture hall recordings – somehow added to the authenticity of engaging with this foundational text.
What fascinates me most about experiencing Nietzsche in audio format is how the multiple narrators (a hallmark of LibriVox productions) create a polyphonic interpretation of the text. Each voice brings different cadences to Nietzsche’s aphorisms – some readers emphasize his biting sarcasm, others his prophetic intensity. This reminded me of my research into Murakami’s multilingual narratives, where language itself becomes a philosophical medium.
Through a cultural lens, Nietzsche’s critique of ‘slave morality’ takes on new dimensions in our era of social media moralizing. Listening to Section 228’s examination of ‘the will to power’ while walking through Tokyo’s Shibuya crossing last year, I was struck by how contemporary his 19th century observations feel when divorced from their problematic historical interpretations.
The audiobook’s structure brilliantly preserves Nietzsche’s intended progression – from his demolition of traditional philosophy to his visionary call for ‘new philosophers.’ The various narrators handle this arc with varying success. Some struggle with Nietzsche’s dense German syntax in translation, while others (particularly the reader of Chapter 6, ‘We Scholars’) capture his ironic tone perfectly.
Comparing this to my classroom experiences teaching “The Genealogy of Morals”, I find the audio format particularly effective for Nietzsche’s aphoristic style. The pauses between thoughts allow for reflection in ways silent reading doesn’t. However, newcomers should be warned: Nietzsche’s deliberate contradictions and provocations require careful attention best achieved through repeated listening.
From my perspective as both a literature professor and podcast creator, this free audiobook makes Nietzsche’s challenging text remarkably accessible. The lack of a single authoritative narrator voice actually enhances the text’s inherent perspectivism – a brilliant unintentional metaphor for Nietzsche’s core philosophy.
In philosophical solidarity,
Prof. Emily Chen
