120,000+ Books, Games & Puzzles in-stock πŸ‡³πŸ‡Ώ

Enjoy overnight NZ-wide delivery from our NZ-owned independent bookstore! πŸŽ‰

Ecce Homo

How One Becomes What One is
By Friedrich Nietzsche and Dambudzo Marechera
Penguin Classics
Series: Penguin Archive
0.0 (0 reviews)
3.81 goodreads logo

Ratings/reviews counts are updated frequently.

Check link for latest rating. ( 19,436 ratings, 1,557 reviews)
Brief Description
90 classic titles celebrating 90 years of Penguin Books Ecce Homo No, I don't hate being black. I'm just tired of saying it's beautiful. No, I don't hate myself. I'm just tired of people bruising their knuckles on my jaw. A novella with the force of... Read More
Format: Paperback / softback
$1700
Elsewhere:
$1799
Backorder
STOCK ARRIVING MID SEPTEMBER Order now to secure your copy from our next shipment

Found a better price? Request a price match

Book Hero Magic formatted this description to make it easier to read. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Description

90 classic titles celebrating 90 years of Penguin Books

Ecce Homo

No, I don't hate being black. I'm just tired of saying it's beautiful. No, I don't hate myself. I'm just tired of people bruising their knuckles on my jaw.

A novella with the force of a screaming trumpet flare, Dambudzo Marechera's seminal literary debut explores a body and spirit exiled from the land and the self. An inimitable and internationally admired writer, his profound ambivalence and wry, existential sensibility were forged in this iconic book.

Series: Penguin Archive

View all
  • An Episode in the Life of a Landscape Painter
    An Episode in the Life of a Landscape Painter by CΓ©sar Aira is part of 90 classic titles celebrating 90 years of Penguin Books. It is 1837 and a brilliant German artist sets out to cross the mountains between Chile and Argentina. Perhaps nobody before him has been able to paint the sights that unfoldβ€”vast chasms, surreal plants and animals......
    By CΓ©sar Aira
    Paperback
    $1700
    Elsewhere:
    $1799
    Available
    Ships in 4-6 weeks
  • Ecce Homo
    90 classic titles celebrating 90 years of Penguin Books Ecce Homo No, I don't hate being black. I'm just tired of saying it's beautiful. No, I don't hate myself. I'm just tired of people bruising their knuckles on my jaw. A novella with the force of a screaming trumpet flare, Dambudzo Marechera's seminal literary debut explores a body and spirit...
    By Friedrich Nietzsche and Dambudzo Marechera
    Paperback
    $1700
    Elsewhere:
    $1799
    Backorder
    Ships mid September
  • How I Came to Know Fish
    90 classic titles celebrating 90 years of Penguin Books Of all the sleep a man can have, the fisherman's sleep is the sweetest. It is the greatest of luxuries - sleep and fishing. Through tender, vivid, and often humorous recollections - from magical fishing trips to the rivers and ponds of Bustehrad to his charismatic father's eccentric business ventures -...
    By Ota Pavel
    Paperback
    $1700
    Elsewhere:
    $1799
    Available
    Ships in 4-6 weeks
  • Reflections in a Golden Eye
    90 classic titles celebrating 90 years of Penguin Books On a military base in 1930s Georgia, Private Ellgee Williams catches sight of his captain's wife in the nude and becomes obsessed with her. But Captain Pendertonβ€”unhappily married to the unfaithful Leonoraβ€”in turn erotically fixates on Williams. Spare, muscular and sensual, with the dramatic vision of a Greek myth, Carson McCullers'...
    By Carson McCullers
    Paperback
    $1700
    Elsewhere:
    $1799
    Available
    Ships in 4-6 weeks
  • Requiem
    90 classic titles celebrating 90 years of Penguin Books My dear friend, he said, life is strange and strange things happen in life It is a hot July Sunday in Lisbon and our narrator has an appointment to meet someone by the quayside. But when his guest does not arrive, he spends the day wandering the deserted city, encountering some...
    By Antonio Tabucchi
    Paperback
    $1700
    Elsewhere:
    $1799
    Available
    Ships in 4-6 weeks
  • The Dreaming Child
    90 classic titles celebrating 90 years of Penguin Books As for me I have one ambition only- to invent stories, very beautiful stories Gothic, expansive and truly spellbinding, Karen Blixen's short stories offer incisive psychological portraits and imaginative visions of war, longing and tender love. Here, an orphan boy creates an elaborate fantasy of a life of grandeur, a feudal...
    By Isak Dinesen and Karen Blixen
    Paperback
    $1700
    Elsewhere:
    $1799
    Available
    Ships in 4-6 weeks
  • The Driver's Seat
    90 classic titles celebrating 90 years of Penguin Books Muriel Spark claimed The Driver's Seat to be her best and creepiest novel. Once you have met her heroine Liseβ€”heading for the holiday of a lifetime in an extraordinarily garish dress and with violence on her mindβ€”you will understand why.
    By Muriel Spark
    Paperback
    $1700
    Elsewhere:
    $1799
    Available
    Ships in 4-6 weeks
  • The Umbrella
    90 classic titles celebrating 90 years of Penguin Books The Umbrella evokes the delicate interplay of emotion and subtle storytelling. In the words of the author: "Then she would feel exposed and cry, as if her life and happiness were ruined for all time, even though she could still hide it from those she only came in contact with by...
    By Tove Ditlevsen
    Paperback
    $1700
    Elsewhere:
    $1799
    Available
    Ships in 4-6 weeks
  • Tristessa
    Tristessa is a strange fever-dream of morphine sickness and belly-deep sadness. Or, in the words of Allen Ginsberg: 'a narrative meditation studying a hen, a rooster, a dove, a cat, a chihuahua dog, family meat, and a ravishing, ravished junky lady, first in their crowded bedroom, then out to drunken streets, taco stands, and pads at dawn in Mexico City...
    By Jack Kerouac
    Paperback
    $1700
    Elsewhere:
    $1799
    Available
    Ships in 4-6 weeks
  • The Daemon Lover
    90 classic titles celebrating 90 years of Penguin Books It's terribly important that I get in touch with a gentleman who may have stopped in here to buy flowers this morning. Terribly important. Sometimes, the person you think you love isn't who they seem. And sometimes, you can be your own deception. Spanning Shirley Jackson's entire career, these devilish tales...
    By Shirley Jackson
    Paperback
    $1799
    Available
    Ships in 4-6 weeks
  • Hop-Frog
    90 classic titles celebrating 90 years of Penguin Books Edgar Allan Poe's short stories have lost none of their power to horrify. He remains a destabilisingly terse sketcher of ideas, a writer who allows the reader to fill in the many ghastly blanks in his narratives of violence, retribution and animalism. It is hard to recommend Hop-Frog wholeheartedly (its original...
    By Edgar Allan Poe
    Paperback
    $1799
    Available
    Ships in 4-6 weeks
  • Monkey King Makes Havoc in Heaven
    90 classic titles celebrating 90 years of Penguin Books Wu Cheng'en's 16th-century novel Journey to the West is widely regarded as one of the most important Chinese novels ever written. Here, in Julia Lovell's witty and charismatic translation, we meet one of its heroes - Sun Wukong, or Monkey King, whose powers include shape-shifting, immortality, and being incredibly rude. Though...
    By Wu Cheng’en
    Paperback
    $1799
    Available
    Ships in 4-6 weeks

Book Details

INFORMATION

ISBN: 9780241752227

Publisher: Penguin Books Ltd

Format: Paperback / softback

Date Published: 17 April 2025

Country: United Kingdom

Imprint: Penguin Classics

Contributors:

  • Introduction by Michael Tanner
  • Translated by R. J. Hollingdale

Audience: General / adult, Tertiary education, Professional and scholarly

DIMENSIONS

Spine width: 8.0mm

Width: 110.0mm

Height: 180.0mm

Weight: 90g

Pages: 144

Collections

Biography & Memoir Dambudzo Marechera Education & Reference Friedrich Nietzsche Non-Fiction Penguin Books Penguin Classics Penguin Classics: Biography & Memoir Philosophy & Psychology Philosophy & Stoicism Series: Penguin Archive

About the Author

Dambudzo Marechera was born in 1952 in Vengere, the township of Rusape, in the east of what was then Rhodesia. He was the third of nine children in a family which became destitute once his father was killed in a road accident in 1966. he gained a scholarship to study at New College, Oxford, where he was sent down in 1976 to live out his exile in Britain in a succession of squats for another six years. He hammered out the first draft of The House of Hunger on his portable typewriter in a matter of weeks. It won the Guardian First Novel Prize and was translated into six languages. Marechera died in 1987 after being diagnosed with AIDS.

Also by Dambudzo Marechera

View all
  • The House of Hunger
    90 classic titles celebrating 90 years of Penguin Books The disenchanted, the disadvantaged and the disinherited seem, at times of deep crisis, to summon up some sort of genius that enables them to perceive and capture the appropriate weapons to carve out their destiny. Wielding his galvanising and idiosyncratic voice, this collection of electrifying and, at times, consoling speeches and...
    By Martin Luther King, Jr. and Dambudzo Marechera
    Paperback
    $1799
    Available
    Ships in 4-6 weeks

Also by Friedrich Nietzsche

View all
  • Beyond Good and Evil
    Beyond Good and Evil by Friedrich Nietzsche is a profound exploration of morality, truth, and the essence of human existence. Departing radically from traditional Western philosophy, Nietzsche embarks on a daring critique of centuries-old beliefs. He challenges the moral foundations and metaphysical assumptions that have shaped Western thought. In this pivotal work, Nietzsche dismantles the dichotomous concepts of "good" and...
    By Friedrich Nietzsche
    Paperback
    $2000
    Elsewhere:
    $2300
    In Stock
    Ships today
  • On the Genealogy of Morals
    On the Genealogy of Morals is an essential work for understanding the philosophical revolution brought about by Friedrich Nietzsche. This profound and intellectually stimulating text is a companion to his earlier work Beyond Good and Evil, and it delves deeply into Nietzsche's radical ideas on human psychology and ethics. In a series of three essays, Nietzsche embarks on an incisive...
    By Friedrich Nietzsche
    Paperback
    $2100
    Elsewhere:
    $2300
    In Stock
    Ships today
  • Thus Spoke Zarathustra
    Thus Spoke Zarathustra by Friedrich Nietzsche is a profound exploration of philosophical thoughts, conveyed through the allegorical journey of its protagonist, Zarathustra. It follows Zarathustra's descent from his mountain hermitage to share his wisdom with humanity, articulating revolutionary ideas about the human condition, morality, and the potential for human greatness. Through a series of discourses and parables, Zarathustra encounters various...
    By Friedrich Nietzsche
    Paperback
    $2600
    In Stock
    Ships today
  • Twilight of Idols and Anti-Christ
    In Twilight of Idols and Anti-Christ, Friedrich Nietzsche presents two of his most provocative and critical works. These texts offer a penetrating analysis of the philosophical and religious ideas that dominated his era. Twilight of Idols serves as an incisive critique of the cultural and intellectual norms of Nietzsche's time. Subtitled "How to Philosophize with a Hammer," the book delivers...
    By Friedrich Nietzsche
    Paperback
    $2600
    In Stock
    Ships today
  • The Joyous Science
    Friedrich Nietzsche’s The Joyous Science is an intellectual journey that invites readers to explore themes of life, art, ethics, and individuality. This philosophical masterwork is celebrated for its candid and fervent engagement with the essence of human existence. Nietzsche beckons readers into a world where traditional values and beliefs are dismantled, culminating in the radical declaration that β€˜God is dead’....
    By Friedrich Nietzsche
    Paperback
    $2600
    Backorder
    Ships mid September
  • Why I Am so Clever
    46 new books in the bestselling Little Black Classics series, to celebrate the first ever Penguin Classic in 1946. Why I Am so Clever Why do I know a few more things? Why am I so clever altogether?
    By Friedrich Nietzsche
    Paperback
    $900
    Elsewhere:
    $999
    In Stock
    Ships today
  • Human, All Too Human
    Human, All Too Human by Friedrich Nietzsche marks a pivotal moment in the oeuvre of one of philosophy's most provocative thinkers. Written during a period of personal crisis after the end of his friendship with Richard Wagner and his departure from academic life due to ill health, this work illuminates Nietzsche's transition into his mature philosophical phase. Far from merely...
    By Friedrich Nietzsche
    Paperback
    $2600
    In Stock
    Ships today
  • The Will to Power
    The Will to Power is a profound and influential collection of Friedrich Nietzsche's thoughts, detailing some of his most crucial and radical reflections on philosophy. The text delves deep into the recesses of nihilism, metaphysics, the philosophy of morality, and the future of Europe, alongside Nietzsche’s enduring concept of the 'will to power'. The idea proposes that the main driving...
    By Friedrich Nietzsche
    Paperback
    $3000
    Backorder
    Ships mid September
  • God is Dead. God Remains Dead. And We Have Killed Him.
    In God is Dead. God Remains Dead. And We Have Killed Him., renowned philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche explores profound and controversial themes central to the existential movement. The work is a searing critique of religion, morality, and the profound shift in human consciousness that ensues with the death of God. Nietzsche posits a world where traditional beliefs are no longer tenable,...
    By Friedrich Nietzsche
    Paperback
    $2100
    In Stock
    Ships today
  • Beyond Good and Evil
    A deluxe, high-quality edition of Friedrich Nietzsche’s seminal work Beyond Good and Evil is one of the final books by German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche. This landmark work continues to be one of the most well-known and influential explorations of moral and ethical philosophy ever conceived. Expanding on the concepts from his previous work Thus Spoke Zarathustra, Nietzsche adopts a polemic...
    By Friedrich Nietzsche
    Hardback
    $2499
    Elsewhere:
    $2899
    In Stock
    Ships today
  • The Gay Science
    The book Nietzsche called β€œthe most personal of all my books.” It was here that he first proclaimed the death of Godβ€”to which a large part of the book is devotedβ€”and his doctrine of the eternal recurrence. Walter Kaufmann's commentary, with its many quotations from previously untranslated letters, brings to life Nietzsche as a human being and illuminates his philosophy....
    By Friedrich Nietzsche
    Paperback
    $2400
    Elsewhere:
    $2600
    In Stock
    Ships today
  • Thus Spoke Zarathustra
    Thus Spoke Zarathustra, penned by the enigmatic Friedrich Nietzsche, is a profound narrative that melds philosophy with literature, encapsulating the existential musings of a prophetic figure named Zarathustra. Emerging from a life of solitude and reflection in the mountains, Zarathustra descends to impart his philosophical revelations to humanity. He seeks to challenge the norms and offers transformative insights that explore...
    By Friedrich Nietzsche
    Hardback
    $2700
    Elsewhere:
    $2899
    Backorder
    Ships mid September

More from Biography & Memoir

View all
  • This Angry Pen of Mine
    This Angry Pen of Mine by Layne Staley invites you to dive into the untold creative world of Layne Staley, the legendary voice behind Alice in Chains. This extraordinary collection showcases his handwritten lyrics, deeply personal poetry, stunning original artwork, rare photos, fan tributes, and so much more. Step into the world of Layne Staley like never before. For the...
    By Layne Staley
    Hardback
    $7299
    Elsewhere:
    $8999
    In Stock
    Ships today
  • Lizzy's Pick Lizzy's Pick
    Famesick
    Chronicling the tumultuous decade between the premiere of Girls to her 2021 shotgunΒ wedding (minus the baby, because she has no uterus), Lena Dunham takes us through herΒ journey with her trademark mix of humor, unsparing honesty, and keen eye for detail. We peek behind the scenes - of her work, her family, her relationships, and her battle to reclaim her body...
    By Lena Dunham
    Paperback
    $3299
    Elsewhere:
    $3500
    In Stock
    Ships today
  • Book cover for 'Swan Song: Diana, my sister' by Charles Spencer, featuring a black-and-white portrait of Diana with white and gold text on a gray background.
    Pre-order
    Swan Song
    Beautiful. Beloved. Hunted. The extraordinary life and death of Diana, as told by her brother, Charles – available to pre-order now. β€˜When asked, β€˜What was it like, growing up with Diana?’, my first thought is always, But I don’t know what it was like not to grow up with her…’ In September 1997, Charles Spencer stood in Westminster Abbey before...
    By Charles Spencer
    Hardback
    $5499
    Elsewhere:
    $6500
    Pre-order
    Out 23 Sep 2026
  • Dogs, Boys and Other Things I've Cried About
    From the social media superstar behind @SimonSits, Isabel Klee--known for her heartwarming tales of dog rescue--comes an utterly winning memoir about a twentysomething woman's search for true love in New York City and the dogs who helped her find it. A Jersey girl by birth, Isabel Klee had always wanted to live in New York City. At age 20, she...
    By Isabel Klee
    Paperback
    $3299
    Elsewhere:
    $3999
    In Stock
    Ships today
  • Signed Copy
    Shirl's Pick Shirl's Pick
    Stakes
    Read our interview with author Noelle McCarthy! A darkly funny, sparkling follow-up to the author’s bestselling memoirΒ Grand. You have to invite him in. You have to want the vampire’s badness in the house with you. Growing up in Catholic Ireland, Noelle McCarthy is captivated by Bram Stoker’sΒ Dracula. The vampire is a risk-free fantasy, a suave alternative to the fraught realities...
    By Noelle McCarthy
    Paperback
    $3199
    Elsewhere:
    $4000
    In Stock
    Ships today
  • Built for This
    Raised among strong women, butcher's benches, and hard ideas about what men are meant to be, Brad Poulter grows up knowing he's different long before he has the words for it. But in late '90s small-town New Zealand, 'different' isn't discussed, it's managed. Joining the Royal New Zealand Navy offers escape, certainty, and belonging. The rules are clear, the uniform...
    By Brad Poulter
    Paperback
    $3199
    Elsewhere:
    $3799
    In Stock
    Ships today
  • Even the Good Girls Will Cry
    Thanks to a thrown beer bottle and a fan letter to a P.O. box, Melissa Auf der Maur's first band scored an opening slot for the Smashing Pumpkins in her bohemian home town, Montreal. Sensing Melissa's talent, Billy Corgan recommended her to Courtney Love. Whisked from her local scene, Melissa joined Hole just after the deaths of Kurt Cobain and...
    By Melissa Auf der Maur
    Paperback
    $3199
    Elsewhere:
    $3999
    (1)
    In Stock
    Ships today
  • New Release
    An Ocean and a Day
    An utterly riveting, moving and poignant memoir of grief and loss that will speak to anyone who's ever lost someone they love. An Ocean and a Day is Hannah Richell's personal account of losing her husband, Matt, in a surfing accident on Tamarama beach in 2014. It is the story of the grief journey she travelled over the first two...
    By Hannah Richell
    Paperback
    $3199
    Elsewhere:
    $3799
    In Stock
    Ships today
  • New Release
    A Place to Stand
    A Place to Stand by Clare Ward is a profound memoir that delves into the life of a country doctor living and working in the Hokianga Harbour area in the far north of Aotearoa New Zealand. This region is sparsely populated and poses numerous health challenges. This thoughtful account details Clare’s thirty-year career, highlighting the people she works with and...
    By Clare Ward
    Hardback
    $3199
    Elsewhere:
    $3799
    (1)
    In Stock
    Ships today
  • Rule of Lies
    Written with all the pace and energy of a John Grisham novel … An incredible true story and a great read! BILL BROWDER, author of Red Notice and Freezing Order An American lawyer’s brilliant, propulsive story of witnessing and playing a part in the transformation of Russia under Yeltsin and Putin. A true tale of fascinating personalities, criminal intrigue, harrowing...
    By Jamison R. Firestone
    Paperback
    $2999
    Elsewhere:
    $3799
    (1)
    In Stock
    Ships today
  • Rory
    TheΒ New York TimesΒ bestseller The #1Β Irish TimesΒ bestseller The definitive biography of Rory McIlroy, the most important, popular and confounding player of the post-Tiger era. Rory McIlroy contains multitudes. The child of a working-class family from a small town in a war-torn homeland now commutes to work in his own private jet and counts billionaires as confidants. He can overwhelm a golf...
    By Alan Shipnuck
    Paperback
    $3699
    Elsewhere:
    $4199
    In Stock
    Ships today
  • Te Kaikaukau | The Swimmer
    Novelist, memoirist and playwright Witi Ihimaera – author of Pounamu, Pounamu and The Whale Rider – decided, at the age of eighty, to dive back into the water and spend a year full-time at Te Wānanga Takiura, immersing himself in his own language, in te reo Māori. This book tells the story of this kaikaukau, this swimmer, and his year...
    By Witi Ihimaera Smiler
    Paperback
    $3500
    Elsewhere:
    $4500
    In Stock
    Ships today

Why buy from us?

Book Hero is not a chain store or big box retailer. We're an independent 100% NZ-owned business on a mission to help more Kiwis rediscover a love of books and reading!

Service & Delivery

Service & Delivery

Our warehouse in Auckland holds over 100,000 books, toys, board games and puzzles in-stock so you're not waiting for your order to arrive from overseas.

Auckland Bookstore

Auckland Bookstore

We're primarily an online store, but for your convenience you can pick up your order for free from our bookstore, which is right next door to our warehouse in Hobsonville.

Our Gifting Service

Our Gifting Service

Books make wonderful thoughtful gifts and we're here to help with gift-wrapping and cards. We can even send your gift directly to your loved one.

Biography & Memoir lists from the team

Explore our curated lists from our heroes to find your next read!

The Latest at Book Hero

View all