The concept of eternal return (the idea that everything that is happening has happened exactly the same way an infinite number of times in the past and will happen exactly the same way an infinite number of times in the future) plays a double role in Nietzsche's philosophy. He suffers it as his most abysmal thought and affirms it as the fullest expression of his will to power. In this essay I explore the relationship between eternal return and the conceptions of temporality we find in “On the Uses and Disadvantages of History for Life”; interpret the evolution and meaning of eternal from the perspective of Nietzsche's biography; and use eternal return as a vehicle for investigating the gendering of temporality within masculine phantasy or, as it is sometimes called, the male imaginary.