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Thus Spoke Zarathustra (1885)

by Friedrich Nietzsche

Other authors: See the other authors section.

MembersReviewsPopularityAverage ratingMentions
7,12550453 (3.88)78
  1. 50
    The Anti-Christ by Friedrich Nietzsche (YagamiLight)
  2. 20
    The elements of metaphysics : being a guide for lectures and private use by Paul Deussen (revisetheessay)
    revisetheessay: Deussen was a lifelong friend of Nietzsche. They were students at Gymnasium; both earned Philology degrees; both became professors; but more importantly, both were students of Schopenhauer.
  3. 10
    Sartor Resartus And On Heroes And Hero-worship (everyman's Library, 278) by Thomas Carlyle (slickdpdx)
    slickdpdx: It is as if Carlyle willed Nietzsche into being.
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Showing 1-5 of 36 (next | show all)
How do you overcome your life? Perhaps by reading Schopenhauer or better yet by reading Friedrich Nietzsche. Thus Spoke Zarathustra is Nietzsche as poet philosopher. The titular character and protagonist of the book, Zarathustra, is portrayed in the chapter "Thousand and One Goals" as "the creator" (p 58). Through his travels and speeches and especially his introspective monologues we experience discourse on the nature of knowledge (gnosis), spirit, language, judgement and consciousness. This is a work that expounds some of Nietzsche's key ideas such as "eternal recurrence" and the "death of god". The latter represents a shift in the grounding of morality as Nietzsche rejects the traditional view the morality comes from God above. Instead replacing this view with a morality based in the existence of the individual, thus making Nietzsche a precursor if not one of the founders of existentialist philosophy.
The mythic poetical style of this work mark its literary quality and make it read like a spiritual work. It also has an aphoristic quality that permeates Nietzsche's writing. While it is a difficult book to read the questions it raises make it worth the effort of those interested in a more literary approach to philosophy. ( )
1 vote jwhenderson | May 25, 2013 |
It will excite any teenager, but highly recommended to anyone. ( )
  PaolaM | Mar 31, 2013 |
This is a book I will probably never finish. I look at it from time to time. I doubt I will ever read it front to back. ( )
  MSarki | Mar 29, 2013 |
Im Vier Teil. Fur Alle und Keinen!

Friedrich Nietzsche, composed this parable of the Persian Prophet in four parts between 1883 and 1885. ["In Fer Tile"] The idea of Time --"eternal recurrence" -- the parable on the "death of God", and the "prophecy" of the Übermensch, are refined from their introduction in "Die fröhliche Wissenschaft". ( )
  keylawk | Dec 27, 2012 |
Thus Spake Zarathustra differs from most of Nietzsche's other works in that it has as much in common with a novel as a philosophical work. This makes it more difficult to interpret than his more traditionally academic works, as he tries to convey his philosophy not only in words, but in narration of actions, moods, and tone, more so than elsewhere. Sometimes the message is too loud, or the writing too exuberant for it to possess the clarity found in his more restrained works. It would be more difficult to attempt a summary of what this book says than to describe what it variously is: bombastic, profound, lyrical, sentimental, ruthless, tender, and hearty in several senses of the word.
Though the book appears to be full of meaning, some of Nietzsche's thoughts come across less ambiguously than others. One of these being the exaltation of the strong and despising of the weak; this he justifies on a moral level, which is in itself worth discussing. How can someone be truly good, unless he has the power to do evil and refrains? How can someone be truly virtuous who is weak and lacks the strength for proper wickedness? This mirrors the other aspect of the question of morality: who can be evil who knows not what wickedness is? Can only the wise, who has an intellectual understanding of moral questions be truly virtuous, as they can knowingly choose between good and evil? This elevation of power and knowledge as necessary for virtue is at least partly why he places the superman, or ubermensch, as the goal of humanity – as they alone are capable of true virtue, a state which Nietzsche describes as being beyond good and evil.
There is also the recurring theme of the mountain, which he implies to be where the Ubermensch belongs, at least some of the time. This is surely metaphorical for, amongst other things, surpassing oneself and others, solitude, and elevation. This, I feel, is partly just him justifying post hoc what he feels instinctively; Nietzsche was very athletic in his youth, and undoubtedly an intellect, and he could be accused of praising the qualities that he feels that he himself possesses. Whether this was a conscious undertaking, or something driven from the subconscious, it would be difficult to say, but I think that it is mainly the latter. I don't think Nietzsche was dishonest or vain, I think he is was driven to write in support of what he thought was the truth. Even if the delivery of his message might be objectionable to some, which I cannot doubt, I think his thoughts deserve an open-minded scrutiny. To react emotionally to a question inhibits one from making a fair answer, yet this plays both ways for Nietzsche, much of what he writes is written in a way that makes it palatable and attractive by way of the lifefulness of it.
The final third of the book then goes onto what seems like a partly separate track, and I don't think it was quite obvious what Nietzsche meant by it all. He talks about the "Higher Man" a lot (which is not the same as the Ubermensch or superman), but this idea is then broken down into a multiplicity of things which do not seem higher at all, and it is doubtful at the end whether this can either be reassembled, or if it ever existed in the first place. Night, and then Day, also replace the mountain in importance in the final section. There is also the recurring theme of "God is dead", and while this seems to mean something in some places, it doesn't in others, yet the meaning does seem clear in Nietzsche's Joyful Wisdom. In addition to this there are numerous other Biblical allusions and quotation.
Something I found curious was a parallel between events and moods in the book and stages in Carl Jung's description of individuation, which would probably be worth closer examination. Nietzsche had psychological problems, and went mad, and that his writing has parallels with stages of psychological development is intriguing.
The questions and thoughts mentioned above are all to be found in the book, though more often than not they must be read from between the lines. Sometimes a sentence in itself will contain an hours worth of thought, but much of the philosophy in this book runs below the surface, and must be extracted by the thinking reader.
This book is not a good introduction to the philosophy of Nietzsche as it is more challenging than most of his other works. His Joyful Wisdom has many of the same themes as this and a somewhat similar tone; much of what he says here in a roundabout way he says there clearly. ( )
3 vote P_S_Patrick | Jun 20, 2012 |
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» Add other authors (179 possible)

Author nameRoleType of authorWork?Status
Nietzsche, Friedrichprimary authorall editionsconfirmed
Nietzsche, FriedrichAuthormain authorsome editionsconfirmed
Nietzsche, FriedrichAuthormain authorsome editionsconfirmed
Carbonell, ManuelTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Mir, EnricCover designersecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Nikanor TeratologenTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
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Epigraph
If there are any persons who contest a received opinion...let us thank them for it, open our minds to listen to them, and rejoice that there is someone to do for us what we otherwise ought, if we have any regard for either the certainty or the vitality of our convictions, to do with much greater labor for ourselves. - John Stuart Mill, On Liberty
Dedication
First words
When Zarathustra was thirty years old he left his home and the lake and went into the mountains.
Quotations
But thus do I counsel you, my friends: distrust all in whom the impulse to punish is powerful!
"When the truth has triumphed for once, he has asked what great lie has fought for it."
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Book description
Nietzsche's most overtly lyrical work, in which ideas including the death of God and the eternal recurrence of the same events (both seen in their earlier stages in The Gay Science) are placed in the mouth of a wandering anti-prophet. Technically incomplete; the fourth book was originally intended as an intermezzo.
Haiku summary
Man's a bridge between
Animal and superman.
I've a big moustache.

(Carnophile)
God is dead. Now what?
Check out related volumes.
Like this one, and this.

(Carnophile)

Amazon.com Product Description (ISBN 0140441182, Paperback)

Nietzsche was one of the most revolutionary and subversive thinkers in Western philosophy, and "Thus Spoke Zarathustra" remains his most famous and influential work. It describes how the ancient Persian prophet Zarathustra descends from his solitude in the mountains to tell the world that God is dead and that the Superman, the human embodiment of divinity, is his successor. With blazing intensity and poetic brilliance, Nietzsche argues that the meaning of existence is not to be found in religious pieties or meek submission, but in an all-powerful life force: passionate, chaotic & free.

(retrieved from Amazon Thu, 14 Feb 2013 13:45:42 -0500)

(see all 8 descriptions)

Translated from the German by R.J. Hollingdale.

» see all 6 descriptions

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Two editions of this book were published by Penguin Australia.

Editions: 0140441182, 0140047484

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