For the title of his autobiography, Friedrich Nietzsche chose Pilate's words upon discharging Christ to the mob: Ecce Homo, or "Behold the man." The original subtitle, How One Becomes What One Is, suggests a psychologically intriguing exploration of the philosopher's personal history. Nietzsche fulfills that promise with a dramatic summation of his life and career that turns conventional notions of autobiography inside out.
Published posthumously in 1908, Ecce Homo was written in 1888 and completed just a few weeks before Nietzsche's complete mental collapse. Its...