The Twilight of the Idols

Twilight of the Idols was written in just over a week between 26 August and 3 September 1888 while Nietzsche was on holiday in Sils Maria. As Nietzsche''s fame and popularity was spreading both inside and outside Germany he felt that he needed a text that would serve as a short introduction to his work. Originally titled A Psychologist''s Idleness it was renamed Twilight of the Idols or How to Philosophize with a Hammer.The former title Götzen-Dämmerung in German is a pun on the title of Richard Wagner''s opera Götterdämmerung or ''Twilight of the Gods''. Götze is a German word for idol or false god. Walter Kaufmann has suggested that in his use of the word Nietzsche might be indebted to Francis Bacon.