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''Thus Spoke Zarathustra: A Book for All and None'' (german: Also sprach Zarathustra: Ein Buch für Alle und Keinen), also translated as ''Thus Spake Zarathustra'', is a work of philosophical fiction written by German philosopher
Friedrich Nietzsche Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche (; or ; 15 October 1844 – 25 August 1900) was a German philosopher, prose poet, cultural critic, philologist, and composer whose work has exerted a profound influence on contemporary philosophy. He began his c ...
between 1883 and 1885. The protagonist is nominally the historical
Zoroaster Zoroaster,; fa, زرتشت, Zartosht, label= Modern Persian; ku, زەردەشت, Zerdeşt also known as Zarathustra,, . Also known as Zarathushtra Spitama, or Ashu Zarathushtra is regarded as the spiritual founder of Zoroastrianism. He is ...
, but, besides a handful of sentences, Nietzsche is not concerned with a specific resemblance. Much of the book consists of discourses by Zarathustra on a wide variety of subjects, most of which end with the refrain, "Thus spoke Zarathustra." The character of Zarathustra first appeared in Nietzsche's earlier book '' The Gay Science'' (at §342, which closely resembles §1 of "Zarathustra's Prologue" in ''Thus Spoke Zarathustra''). The style of ''Zarathustra'' has facilitated varied and often incompatible ideas about what Zarathustra says. Zarathustra's " planations and claims are almost always analogical and figurative."Del Caro and Pippin, "Introduction" in ''Thus Spoke Zarathustra'', Cambridge, 2006. Though there is no consensus with what Zarathustra ''means'' when he speaks, there is some consensus ''about'' that which he speaks. ''Zarathustra'' deals with ideas about the '' Übermensch'', the death of God, the will to power, and eternal recurrence. Nietzsche has suggested that his ''Zarathustra'' is a tragedy, a parody, a polemic, and the culmination of the German language. It was his favorite of his own books. He was aware, however, that readers might not understand it. This is possibly why he subtitled it ''A Book for All and None''. However, as with the content as a whole, the subtitle has baffled many critics, and there is no consensus. ''Zarathustra''s themes and merits are continually disputed. It has nonetheless been hugely influential in various facets of culture.


Origins

Nietzsche was born into, and largely remained within, the Bildungsbürgertum, a sort of highly cultivated middleclass. By the time he was a teenager, he had been writing music and poetry. His aunt Rosalie gave him a biography of
Alexander von Humboldt Friedrich Wilhelm Heinrich Alexander von Humboldt (14 September 17696 May 1859) was a German polymath, geographer, naturalist, explorer, and proponent of Romantic philosophy and science. He was the younger brother of the Prussian minister, ...
for his 15th birthday, and reading this inspired a love of learning "for its own sake". The schools he attended, the books he read, and his general milieu fostered and inculcated his interests in Bildung, or self-development, a concept at least tangential to many in ''Zarathustra'', and he worked extremely hard. He became an outstanding
philologist Philology () is the study of language in oral and written historical sources; it is the intersection of textual criticism, literary criticism, history, and linguistics (with especially strong ties to etymology). Philology is also defined as ...
almost accidentally, and he renounced his ideas about being an artist. As a philologist he became particularly sensitive to the transmissions and modifications of ideas, which also bears relevance into ''Zarathustra''. Nietzsche's growing distaste toward philology, however, was yoked with his growing taste toward philosophy. As a student, this yoke was his work with Diogenes Laertius. Even with that work he strongly opposed received opinion. With subsequent and properly philosophical work he continued to oppose received opinion.Hollingdale, "Introduction" in ''Thus Spoke Zarathustra'', Penguin His books leading up to ''Zarathustra'' have been described as nihilistic destruction. Such nihilistic destruction combined with his increasing isolation and the rejection of his marriage proposals (to Lou Andreas-Salomé) devastated him. While he was working on ''Zarathustra'' he was walking very much. The imagery of his walks mingled with his physical and emotional and intellectual pains and his prior decades of hard work. What "erupted" was ''Thus Spoke Zarathustra''. Nietzsche has said that the central idea of ''Zarathustra'' is the eternal recurrence. He has also said that this central idea first occurred to him in August 1881: he was near a "pyramidal block of stone" while walking through the woods along the shores of Lake Silvaplana in the Upper Engadine, and he made a small note that read "6,000 feet beyond man and time." A few weeks after meeting this idea, he paraphrased in a notebook something written by Friedrich von Hellwald about Zarathustra.Parkes, "Introduction" in ''Thus Spoke Zarathustra'', Oxford This paraphrase was developed into the beginning of ''Thus Spoke Zarathustra''. A year and a half after making that paraphrase, Nietzsche was living in
Rapallo Rapallo ( , , ) is a municipality in the Metropolitan City of Genoa, located in the Liguria region of northern Italy. As of 2017 it had 29,778 inhabitants. It lies on the Ligurian Sea coast, on the Tigullio Gulf, between Portofino and Chiav ...
. Nietzsche claimed that the entire first part was conceived, and that Zarathustra himself "came over him", while walking. He was regularly walking "the magnificent road to Zoagli" and "the whole Bay of Santa Margherita".Nietzsche, cited in Parkes, "Introduction" in ''Thus Spoke Zarathustra'', Oxford He said in a letter that the entire first part "was conceived in the course of strenuous hiking: absolute certainty, as if every sentence were being called out to me". Nietzsche returned to "the sacred place" in the summer of 1883 and he "found" the second part". Nietzsche was in
Nice Nice ( , ; Niçard: , classical norm, or , nonstandard, ; it, Nizza ; lij, Nissa; grc, Νίκαια; la, Nicaea) is the prefecture of the Alpes-Maritimes department in France. The Nice agglomeration extends far beyond the administrative c ...
the following winter and he "found" the third part. According to Nietzsche in ''Ecce Homo'' it was "scarcely one year for the entire work", and ten days each part. More broadly, however, he said in a letter: "The ''whole'' of ''Zarathustra'' is an explosion of forces that have been accumulating for decades". In January 1884 Nietzsche had finished the third part and thought the book finished. But by November he expected a fourth part to be finished by January. He also mentioned a fifth and sixth part leading to Zarathustra's death, "or else he will give me no peace". But after the fourth part was finished he called it "a fourth (and last) part of ''Zarathustra'', a kind of sublime finale, which is not at all meant for the public". The first three parts were initially published individually and were first published together in a single volume in 1887. The fourth part was written in 1885 and kept private. While Nietzsche retained mental capacity and was involved in the publication of his works, forty-five copies of the fourth part were printed at his own expense and distributed to his closest friends, to whom he expressed "a vehement desire never to have the Fourth Part made public". In 1889, however, Nietzsche became significantly incapacitated. In March 1892 the four parts were published in a single volume.


Synopsis


First part

The book begins with a prologue which sets up many of the themes that will be explored throughout the work. Zarathustra is introduced as a hermit who has lived ten years on a mountain with his two companions, an eagle and a serpent. One morning – inspired by the sun, which is happy only when it shines upon others – Zarathustra decides to return to the world and share his wisdom. Upon descending the mountain, he encounters a saint living in a forest, who spends his days praising God. Zarathustra marvels that the saint has not yet heard that " God is dead". Arriving at the nearest town, Zarathustra addresses a crowd which has gathered to watch a tightrope walker. He tells them that mankind's goal must be to create something superior to itself – a new type of human, the '' Übermensch''. All men, he says, must be prepared to will their own destruction in order to bring the ''Übermensch'' into being. The crowd greets this speech with scorn and mockery, and meanwhile the tightrope show begins. When the rope-dancer is halfway across, a clown comes up behind him, urging him to get out of the way. The clown then leaps over the rope-dancer, causing the latter to fall to his death. The crowd scatters; Zarathustra takes the corpse of the rope-dancer on his shoulders, carries it into the forest, and lays it in a hollow tree. He decides that from this point on, he will no longer attempt to speak to the masses, but only to a few chosen disciples. There follows a series of discourses in which Zarathustra overturns many of the precepts of Christian morality. He gathers a group of disciples, but ultimately abandons them, saying that he will not return until they have disowned him.


Second part

Zarathustra retires to his mountain cave, and several years pass by. One night, he dreams that he looks into a mirror and sees the face of a devil instead of his own; he takes this as a sign that his doctrines are being distorted by his enemies, and joyfully descends the mountain to recover his lost disciples. More discourses follow, which continue to develop the themes of the death of God and the rise of the ''Übermensch'', and also introduce the concept of the will to power. There are hints, however, that Zarathustra is holding something back. A series of dreams and visions prompt him to reveal this secret teaching, but he cannot bring himself to do so. He withdraws from his disciples once more, in order to perfect himself.


Third part

While journeying home, Zarathustra is waylaid by the spirit of gravity, a dwarf-like creature which clings to his back and whispers taunts into his ear. Zarathustra at first becomes despondent, but then takes courage; he challenges the spirit to hear the "abysmal thought" which he has so far refrained from speaking. This is the doctrine of eternal recurrence. Time, says Zarathustra, is infinite, stretching both forward and backward into eternity. This means that everything that happens now must have happened before, and that every moment must continue to repeat itself eternally. As he speaks, Zarathustra hears a dog howl in terror, and then he sees a new vision – a shepherd choking on a black serpent which has crept into his throat. At Zarathustra's urging, the shepherd bites the serpent's head off and spits it out. In that moment, the shepherd is transformed into a laughing, radiant being, something greater than human. Zarathustra continues his journey, delivering more discourses inspired by his observations. Arriving at his mountain cave, he remains there for some time, reflecting on his mission. He is disgusted at humanity's pettiness, and despairs at the thought of the eternal recurrence of such an insignificant race. Eventually, however, he discovers his own longing for eternity, and sings a song in celebration of eternal return.


Fourth part

Zarathustra begins to grow old as he remains secluded in his cave. One day, he is visited by a soothsayer, who says that he has come to tempt Zarathustra to his final sin – compassion (''mitleiden'', which can also be translated "pity"). A loud cry of distress is heard, and the soothsayer tells Zarathustra that "the higher man" is calling to him. Zarathustra is alarmed, and rushes to the aid of the higher man. Searching through his domain for the person who uttered the cry for help, Zarathustra encounters a series of characters representative of various aspects of humanity. He engages each of them in conversation, and ends by inviting each one to await his return in his cave. After a day's search, however, he is unable to find the higher man. Returning home, he hears the cry of distress once more, now coming from inside his own cave. He realises that all the people he has spoken to that day are collectively the higher man. Welcoming them to his home, he nevertheless tells them that they are not the men he has been waiting for; they are only the precursors of the ''Übermensch''. Zarathustra hosts a supper for his guests, which is enlivened by songs and arguments, and ends in the facetious worship of a donkey. The higher men thank Zarathustra for relieving them of their distress and teaching them to be content with life. The following morning, outside his cave, Zarathustra encounters a lion and a flock of doves, which he interprets as a sign that those whom he calls his children are near. As the higher men emerge from the cave, the lion roars at them, causing them to cry out and flee. Their cry reminds Zarathustra of the soothsayer's prediction that he would be tempted into feeling compassion for the higher man. He declares that this is over, and that from this time forward he will think of nothing but his work.


Themes

Scholars have argued that "the worst possible way to understand Zarathustra is as a teacher of doctrines". Nonetheless ''Thus Spoke Zarathustra'' "has contributed most to the public perception of Nietzsche as philosophernamely, as the teacher of the 'doctrines' of the will to power, the overman and the
eternal return Eternal return (german: Ewige Wiederkunft; also known as eternal recurrence) is a concept that the universe and all existence and energy has been recurring, and will continue to recur in a self similar form an infinite number of times across i ...
".


Will to power

Nietzsche's thinking was significantly influenced by the thinking of
Arthur Schopenhauer Arthur Schopenhauer ( , ; 22 February 1788 – 21 September 1860) was a German philosopher. He is best known for his 1818 work '' The World as Will and Representation'' (expanded in 1844), which characterizes the phenomenal world as the pr ...
. Schopenhauer emphasised will, and particularly will to live. Nietzsche emphasised ''Wille zur Macht'', or will to power. Nietzsche was not a systematic philosopher and left much of what he wrote open to interpretation. Receptive fascists are said to have misinterpreted the will to power, having overlooked Nietzsche's distinction between ''Kraft'' ("force" or "strength") and ''Macht'' ("power" or "might"). Scholars have often had recourse to Nietzsche's notebooks, where will to power is described in ways such as "willing-to-become-stronger 'Stärker-werden-wollen'' willing growth".


''Übermensch''

It is allegedly "well-known that as a term, Nietzsche’s Übermensch derives from Lucian of Samosata's hyperanthropos".Babich, Babette, "Nietzsche’s Zarathustra and Parodic Style: On Lucian’s Hyperanthropos and Nietzsche’s Übermensch" (2013). Articles and Chapters in Academic Book Collections. 56. https://research.library.fordham.edu/phil_babich/56 This hyperanthropos, or overhuman, appears in Lucian's Menippean satire ''Κατάπλους ἢ Τύραννος'', usually translated ''Downward Journey or The Tyrant''. This hyperanthropos is "imagined to be superior to others of 'lesser' station in this-worldly life and the same tyrant after his (comically unwilling) transport into the underworld". Nietzsche celebrated
Goethe Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (28 August 1749 – 22 March 1832) was a German poet, playwright, novelist, scientist, statesman, theatre director, and critic. His works include plays, poetry, literature, and aesthetic criticism, as well as t ...
as an actualisation of the Übermensch.


Eternal recurrence

Nietzsche included some brief writings on eternal recurrence in his earlier book ''The Gay Science''. Zarathustra also appeared in that book. In ''Thus Spoke Zarathustra'', the eternal recurrence is, according to Nietzsche, the "fundamental idea of the work". Interpretations of the eternal recurrence have mostly revolved around cosmological and attitudinal and normative principles.Sinhababu, N., & Teng, K.U. (2019). Loving the Eternal Recurrence. The Journal of Nietzsche Studies 50(1), 106-124. https://www.muse.jhu.edu/article/721006. As a cosmological principle, it has been supposed to mean that time is circular, that all things recur eternally. A weak attempt at proof has been noted in Nietzsche's notebooks, and it is not clear to what extent, if at all, Nietzsche believed in the truth of it. Critics have mostly dealt with the cosmological principle as a puzzle of ''why'' Nietzsche might have touted the idea. As an attitudinal principle it has often been dealt with as a thought experiment, to see how one would react, or as a sort of ultimate expression of life-affirmation, as if one should ''desire'' eternal recurrence. As a normative principle, it has been thought of as a measure or standard, akin to a "moral rule".


Criticism of religion

Nietzsche studied extensively and was very familiar with
Schopenhauer Arthur Schopenhauer ( , ; 22 February 1788 – 21 September 1860) was a German philosopher. He is best known for his 1818 work '' The World as Will and Representation'' (expanded in 1844), which characterizes the phenomenal world as the p ...
and Christianity and Buddhism, each of which he considered nihilistic and "enemies to a healthy culture".Elman, B. A. (1983) ''Nietzsche and Buddhism'', https://doi.org/10.2307/2709223 ''Thus Spoke Zarathustra'' can be understood as a "polemic" against these influences. Though Nietzsche "probably learned
Sanskrit Sanskrit (; attributively , ; nominalization, nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had Trans-cul ...
while at
Leipzig Leipzig ( , ; Upper Saxon: ) is the most populous city in the German state of Saxony. Leipzig's population of 605,407 inhabitants (1.1 million in the larger urban zone) as of 2021 places the city as Germany's eighth most populous, as ...
from 1865 to 1868", and "was probably one of the best read and most solidly grounded in Buddhism for his time among Europeans", Nietzsche was writing when Eastern thought was only beginning to be acknowledged in the West, and Eastern thought was easily misconstrued. Nietzsche's interpretations of Buddhism were coloured by his study of Schopenhauer, and it is "clear that Nietzsche, as well as Schopenhauer, entertained inaccurate views of Buddhism". An egregious example has been the idea of ''
śūnyatā ''Śūnyatā'' ( sa, शून्यता, śūnyatā; pi, suññatā; ), translated most often as ''emptiness'', ''vacuity'', and sometimes ''voidness'', is an Indian philosophical concept. Within Hinduism, Jainism, Buddhism and other p ...
'' as "nothingness" rather than "emptiness". "Perhaps the most serious misreading we find in Nietzsche's account of Buddhism was his inability to recognize that the Buddhist doctrine of emptiness was an initiatory stage leading to a reawakening". Nietzsche dismissed Schopenhauer and Christianity and Buddhism as pessimistic and nihilistic, but, according to Benjamin A. Elman, " en understood on its own terms, Buddhism cannot be dismissed as pessimistic or nihilistic". Moreover, answers which Nietzsche assembled to the questions he was asking, not only generally but also in ''Zarathustra'', put him "very close to some basic doctrines found in Buddhism". An example is when Zarathustra says that "the soul is only a word for something about the body".


Nihilism

It has been often repeated in some way that Nietzsche takes with one hand what he gives with the other. Accordingly, interpreting what he wrote has been notoriously slippery. One of the most vexed points in discussions of Nietzsche has been whether or not he was a nihilist. Though arguments have been made for either side, what is clear is that Nietzsche was at least ''interested'' in nihilism. As far as nihilism touched other people, at least, metaphysical understandings of the world were progressively undermined until people could contend that "God is dead". Without God, humanity was greatly devalued. Without metaphysical or supernatural lenses, humans could be seen as animals with primitive drives which were or could be sublimated. According to Hollingdale, this led to Nietzsche's ideas about the will to power. Likewise, "''Sublimated will to power'' was now the
Ariadne Ariadne (; grc-gre, Ἀριάδνη; la, Ariadne) was a Cretan princess in Greek mythology. She was mostly associated with mazes and labyrinths because of her involvement in the myths of the Minotaur and Theseus. She is best known for havin ...
's thread tracing the way out of the labyrinth of nihilism".


Style

The nature of the text is musical and operatic. While working on it Nietzsche wrote "of his aim 'to become Wagner's heir'". Nietzsche thought of it as akin to a symphony or opera. "No lesser a symphonist than Gustav Mahler corroborates: 'His ''Zarathustra'' was born completely from the spirit of music, and is even "symphonically constructed"'". Nietzsche The length of paragraphs and the punctuation and the repetitions all enhance the musicality.

The title is ''Thus Spoke Zarathustra''. Much of the book is what Zarathustra said. What Zarathustra says Nietzsche would often appropriate masks and models to develop himself and his thoughts and ideas, and to find voices and names through which to communicate. While writing ''Zarathustra'', Nietzsche was particularly influenced by "the language of Luther and the poetic form of the Bible". But ''Zarathustra'' also frequently alludes to or appropriates from Hölderlin's ''
Hyperion Hyperion may refer to: Greek mythology * Hyperion (Titan), one of the twelve Titans * ''Hyperion'', a byname of the Sun, Helios * Hyperion of Troy or Yperion, son of King Priam Science * Hyperion (moon), a moon of the planet Saturn * ''Hyp ...
'' and
Goethe Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (28 August 1749 – 22 March 1832) was a German poet, playwright, novelist, scientist, statesman, theatre director, and critic. His works include plays, poetry, literature, and aesthetic criticism, as well as t ...
's ''Faust'' and Emerson's ''Essays'', among other things. It is generally agreed that the sorcerer is based on
Wagner Wilhelm Richard Wagner ( ; ; 22 May 181313 February 1883) was a German composer, theatre director, polemicist, and conductor who is chiefly known for his operas (or, as some of his mature works were later known, "music dramas"). Unlike most op ...
and the soothsayer is based on Schopenhauer. The original text contains a great deal of
word-play Word play or wordplay (also: play-on-words) is a literary technique and a form of wit in which words used become the main subject of the work, primarily for the purpose of intended effect or amusement. Examples of word play include puns, phon ...
. For instance, words beginning with '' über'' ('over, above') and ('down, below') are often paired to emphasise the contrast, which is not always possible to bring out in translation, except by coinages. An example is ''untergang'' ( lit. 'down-going'), which is used in German to mean 'setting' (as in, of the sun), but also 'sinking', 'demise', 'downfall', or 'doom'. Nietzsche pairs this word with its opposite ''übergang'' ('over-going'), used to mean 'transition'. Another example is ''
übermensch The (; "Overhuman") is a concept in the philosophy of Friedrich Nietzsche. In his 1883 book ''Thus Spoke Zarathustra'' (german: Also sprach Zarathustra), Nietzsche has his character Zarathustra posit the as a goal for humanity to set for itse ...
'' ('overman' or 'superman').


Reception

Nietzsche considered ''Thus Spoke Zarathustra'' his ''
magnum opus A masterpiece, ''magnum opus'' (), or ''chef-d’œuvre'' (; ; ) in modern use is a creation that has been given much critical praise, especially one that is considered the greatest work of a person's career or a work of outstanding creativity, ...
'', writing: In a letter of February 1884, he wrote: To this, Parkes has said: "Many scholars believe that Nietzsche managed to make that step". But critical opinion varies extremely. The book is "a masterpiece of literature as well as philosophy" and "in large part a failure". The style of the book, along with its
ambiguity Ambiguity is the type of meaning in which a phrase, statement or resolution is not explicitly defined, making several interpretations plausible. A common aspect of ambiguity is uncertainty. It is thus an attribute of any idea or statement w ...
and
paradox A paradox is a logically self-contradictory statement or a statement that runs contrary to one's expectation. It is a statement that, despite apparently valid reasoning from true premises, leads to a seemingly self-contradictory or a logically u ...
ical nature, has helped its eventual enthusiastic reception by the reading public, but has frustrated academic attempts at analysis (as Nietzsche may have intended). ''Thus Spoke Zarathustra'' remained unpopular as a topic for scholars (especially those in the Anglo-American analytic tradition) until the latter half of the 20th century brought widespread interest in Nietzsche and his unconventional style. Behler, Ernst. 1996. "Nietzsche in the Twentieth Century." Pp. 281–319 in ''The Cambridge Companion to Nietzsche'', edited by Magnus and Higgins. Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press Cambridge University Press is the university press of the University of Cambridge. Granted letters patent by Henry VIII of England, King Henry VIII in 1534, it is the oldest university press in the world. It is also the King's Printer. Cambr ...
.
The critic
Harold Bloom Harold Bloom (July 11, 1930 – October 14, 2019) was an American literary critic and the Sterling Professor of Humanities at Yale University. In 2017, Bloom was described as "probably the most famous literary critic in the English-speaking worl ...
criticized ''Thus Spoke Zarathustra'' in '' The Western Canon'' (1994), calling the book "a gorgeous disaster" and "unreadable." Other commentators have suggested that Nietzsche's style is intentionally ironic for much of the book.


Influence


Literary


Memorial

* Text from ''Thus Spoke Zarathustra'' (
Zarathustra's roundelay Zarathustra's roundelay (), also called the ''Midnight Song'' or ''Once More'' (), is a poem in the book ''Thus Spoke Zarathustra'' (1883–1885) by Friedrich Nietzsche. The poem first appears in ''Thus Spoke Zarathustras chapter "The Secon ...
) constitutes the Nietzsche memorial stone that was erected at Lake Sils in 1900, the year Nietzsche died.


Musical


19th century

* "
Zarathustra's Roundelay Zarathustra's roundelay (), also called the ''Midnight Song'' or ''Once More'' (), is a poem in the book ''Thus Spoke Zarathustra'' (1883–1885) by Friedrich Nietzsche. The poem first appears in ''Thus Spoke Zarathustras chapter "The Secon ...
" was set as part of Gustav Mahler's Third Symphony, originally under the title ''What Man Tells Me'', or alternatively ''What the Night Tells Me (Of Man)''. *
Richard Strauss Richard Georg Strauss (; 11 June 1864 – 8 September 1949) was a German composer, conductor, pianist, and violinist. Considered a leading composer of the late Romantic music, Romantic and early Modernism (music), modern eras, he has been descr ...
composed the tone poem '' Also sprach Zarathustra'', which he designated "freely based on Friedrich Nietzsche."


20th century

*
Frederick Delius file:Fritz Delius (1907).jpg, Delius, photographed in 1907 Frederick Theodore Albert Delius ( 29 January 1862 – 10 June 1934), originally Fritz Delius, was an English composer. Born in Bradford in the north of England to a prosperous mercan ...
based his major choral-orchestral work '' A Mass of Life'' (1904–5) on texts from ''Thus Spoke Zarathustra''. The work ends with a setting of "Zarathustra's Roundelay" which Delius had composed earlier, in 1898, as a separate work.


Philosophical


Political

In 1893, Elisabeth Förster-Nietzsche returned to Germany from administrating a failed colony in Paraguay and took charge of Nietzsche's manuscripts. Nietzsche was by this point incapacitated. Förster-Nietzsche edited the manuscripts and fostered affiliations with the Nazis. The Nazis issued durable military editions of ''Zarathustra'' to soldiers.


Visual/film

*Between 1995 and 1997 Lena Hades created a series of oil paintings, or "visual metaphors", based on and named after the book.


English translations

The first English translation of ''Zarathustra'' was published in 1896 by Alexander Tille.


Common (1909)

Thomas Common published a translation in 1909 which was based on Alexander Tille's earlier attempt.Nietzsche, Friedrich. Trans. Kaufmann, Walter. ''The Portable Nietzsche''. 1976, pp. 108–09. Kaufmann's introduction to his own translation included a blistering critique of Common's version; he notes that in one instance, Common has taken the German "most evil" and rendered it "baddest", a particularly unfortunate error not merely for his having coined the term "baddest", but also because Nietzsche dedicated a third of '' The Genealogy of Morals'' to the difference between "bad" and "evil." This and other errors led Kaufmann to wonder whether Common "had little German and less English." The German text available to Common was considerably flawed.Nietzsche, Friedrich. Trans. Martin, Clancy. ''Thus Spoke Zarathustra''. 2005, p. xxxiii. From ''Zarathustra's Prologue'':


Kaufmann (1954) and Hollingdale (1961)

The Common translation remained widely accepted until more critical translations, titled ''Thus Spoke Zarathustra'', were published by Walter Kaufmann in 1954, and R.J. Hollingdale in 1961, which are considered to convey the German text more accurately than the Common version. The translations of Kaufmann and Hollingdale render the text in a far more familiar, less archaic, style of language, than that of Common. However, "deficiencies" have been noted. The German text from which Hollingdale and Kaufmann worked was untrue to Nietzsche's own work in some ways. Martin criticizes Kaufmann for changing punctuation, altering literal and philosophical meanings, and dampening some of Nietzsche's more controversial metaphors. Kaufmann's version, which has become the most widely available, features a translator's note suggesting that Nietzsche's text would have benefited from an editor; Martin suggests that Kaufmann "took it upon himself to become ietzsche'seditor." Kaufmann, from ''Zarathustra's Prologue'': Hollingdale, from ''Zarathustra's Prologue'':


Wayne (2003)

Thomas Wayne, an English Professor at Edison State College in
Fort Myers, Florida Fort Myers (or Ft. Myers) is a city in southwestern Florida and the county seat and commercial center of Lee County, Florida, United States. The Census Bureau's Population Estimates Program calculated that the city's population was 92,245 in 2 ...
, published a translation in 2003. The introduction by Roger W. Phillips, Ph.D., says "Wayne's close reading of the original text has exposed the deficiencies of earlier translations, preeminent among them that of the highly esteemed Walter Kaufmann", and gives several reasons.


Martin (2005)


Parkes (2005) and Del Caro (2006)

Graham Parkes describes his own 2005 translation as trying "above all to convey the musicality of the text."Parkes, Graham. 2005. "Prologue." In ''Thus spoke Zarathustra''. p. xxxv. In 2006, Cambridge University Press published a translation by Adrian Del Caro, edited by Robert Pippin. Parkes, from ''Zarathustra's Prologue'': Del Caro, from ''Zarathustra's Prologue'':


Mastroniani (2022)

Mastroniani's critical analysis of the various English translations/interpretations of Nietzsche's works & words and their shortcomings. In his abstract "This paper will examine German and “Also sprach Zarathustra,” also referred to as “Thus Spoke Zarathustra” later on, and argue that “Beyond-Human” is the best translation of übermensch."


Further reading


Selected editions


English

*''Thus Spake Zarathustra'', translated by Alexander Tille. New York: Macmillan. 1896. *''Thus Spake Zarathustra'', trans. Thomas Common. Edinburgh:
T. N. Foulis T. N. Foulis was a British publisher founded in Edinburgh in 1903. During its first ten years, the firm became well known for producing "highly original, beautifully illustrated books",
. 1909. *''Thus Spoke Zarathustra'', trans. Walter Kaufmann. New York:
Random House Random House is an American book publisher and the largest general-interest paperback publisher in the world. The company has several independently managed subsidiaries around the world. It is part of Penguin Random House, which is owned by Ger ...
. 1954. ** Reprints: In ''The Portable Nietzsche'', New York:
Viking Press Viking Press (formally Viking Penguin, also listed as Viking Books) is an American publishing company owned by Penguin Random House. It was founded in New York City on March 1, 1925, by Harold K. Guinzburg and George S. Oppenheim and then acquir ...
. 1954; Harmondsworth:
Penguin Books Penguin Books is a British publishing house. It was co-founded in 1935 by Allen Lane with his brothers Richard and John, as a line of the publishers The Bodley Head, only becoming a separate company the following year.R. J. Hollingdale Reginald John "R. J." Hollingdale (20 October 1930 – 28 September 2001) was a British biographer and translator of German philosophy and literature, especially the works of Friedrich Nietzsche, Goethe, E. T. A. Hoffmann, G. C. Lichtenberg, and ...
. Harmondsworth: Penguin Books. 1961. *''Thus Spoke Zarathustra'', trans. Graham Parkes. Oxford: Oxford World's Classics. 2005. * ''Thus Spoke Zarathustra'', trans. Clancy Martin. Barnes & Noble Books. 2005. *''Thus Spoke Zarathustra'', trans. Adrian del Caro and edited by Robert Pippin. Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press Cambridge University Press is the university press of the University of Cambridge. Granted letters patent by Henry VIII of England, King Henry VIII in 1534, it is the oldest university press in the world. It is also the King's Printer. Cambr ...
. 2006. *''Thus Spake Zarathustra'', trans. Michael Hulse. New York Review Books. 2022.


German

*''Also sprach Zarathustra'', edited by Giorgio Colli and Mazzino Montinari. Munich: Deutscher Taschenbuch Verlag (study edition of the standard German Nietzsche edition). * ''Also sprach Zarathustra'' (bilingual ed.) (in German and Russian), with 20
oil painting Oil painting is the process of painting with pigments with a medium of drying oil as the binder. It has been the most common technique for artistic painting on wood panel or canvas for several centuries, spreading from Europe to the rest ...
s by Lena Hades. Moscow: Institute of Philosophy, Russian Academy of Sciences. 2004. .


Commentaries and introductions


English

* ''Nietzsche's 'Thus Spoke Zarathustra': Before Sunrise'' (essay collection), edited by James Luchte. London:
Bloomsbury Publishing Bloomsbury Publishing plc is a British worldwide publishing house of fiction and non-fiction. It is a constituent of the FTSE SmallCap Index. Bloomsbury's head office is located in Bloomsbury, an area of the London Borough of Camden. It has ...
. 2008. . * Higgins, Kathleen.
987 Year 987 ( CMLXXXVII) was a common year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. Events By place Byzantine Empire * February 7 – Bardas Phokas (the Younger) and Bardas Skleros, two membe ...
2010. ''Nietzsche's Zarathustra'' (rev. ed.). Philadelphia:
Temple University Press Temple University Press is a university press founded in 1969 that is part of Temple University (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania). It is one of thirteen publishers to participate in the Knowledge Unlatched pilot, a global library consortium approach ...
. * OSHO. 1987. "Zarathustra: A God That Can Dance." Pune, India: OSHO Commune International. *OSHO. 1987. "Zarathustra: The Laughing Prophet." Pune, India: OSHO Commune International. * Lampert, Laurence. 1989. ''Nietzsche's Teaching: An Interpretation of Thus Spoke Zarathustra''. New Haven:
Yale University Press Yale University Press is the university press of Yale University. It was founded in 1908 by George Parmly Day, and became an official department of Yale University in 1961, but it remains financially and operationally autonomous. , Yale Univer ...
. * Rosen, Stanley. 1995. ''The Mask of Enlightenment: Nietzsche's Zarathustra''. Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press Cambridge University Press is the university press of the University of Cambridge. Granted letters patent by Henry VIII of England, King Henry VIII in 1534, it is the oldest university press in the world. It is also the King's Printer. Cambr ...
. ** 2nd ed. New Haven: Yale University Press. 2004. * Seung, T. K. 2005. ''Nietzsche's Epic of the Soul: Thus Spoke Zarathustra''. Lanham, Maryland:
Lexington Books Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group is an independent publishing house founded in 1949. Under several imprints, the company offers scholarly books for the academic market, as well as trade books. The company also owns the book distributing compa ...
.


German

* Naumann, Gustav. 1899–1901.
Zarathustra-Commentar
' (in German), 4 vols. Leipzig: Haessel. * Zittel, Claus. 2011. ''Das ästhetische Kalkül von Friedrich Nietzsches 'Also sprach Zarathustra. Würzburg: Königshausen & Neumann. . * Schmidt, Rüdiger. "Introduction" (in German). In ''Nietzsche für Anfänger: Also sprach Zarathustra – Eine Lese-Einführung''. * Zittel, Claus: Wer also erzählt Nietzsches Zarathustra?, in: Deutsche Vierteljahrsschrift für Literaturwissenschaft und Geistesgeschichte 95, (2021), 327–351.


See also

*
Faith in the Earth "Faith in the Earth" is a concept referred to in the German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche's mytho-poetic formulation of divinity, ''Thus Spoke Zarathustra''."... remain true to the earth, and do not believe those who speak to you of superterrest ...
*''