Thus Spoke Zarathustra

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This article is about the book by Friedrich Nietzsche. For the symphonic poem by Richard Strauss, please see Also sprach Zarathustra (Strauss). For the oil painting cycle by Lena Hades, please see Lena Hades.

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Thus Spoke Zarathustra: A Book for All and None is a book written during the 1880s by the German philosopher, Friedrich Nietzsche. Hard to categorise, the work is a treatise on philosophy, a highly praised work of literature, and in parts a collection of poetry and in others a parody of and amendment to the Bible. Consisting largely of speeches by the book's tragic hero and prophet Zarathustra, the work's content extends across a vast range of styles and subject matter. Nietzsche himself described the work as "the deepest ever written".

1 Background
2 Synopsis
3 Style
4 See also
5 References
6 External links
7 Notes
- 7.1 Other

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Background

The book's English title varies depending on translation; the titles of the Walter Kaufmann and R. J. Hollingdale translations are "Thus Spoke Zarathustra", while it was also translated before as the more archaic Thus Spake Zarathustra, for example, alike to Thomas Common's translation. The German title is Also sprach Zarathustra. Ein Buch für Alle und Keinen.

Thus Spoke Zarathustra was conceived by Nietzsche while he was writing his book, The Gay Science; he made a small note, reading "6,000 feet beyond man and time", as evidence of this. More specifically, this note related to the concept of the Eternal Recurrence, which is, by Nietzsche's admission, the central idea of Zarathustra. Nietzsche planned to write the book in three parts over several years.

While developing the general outlook of the book, he subsequently decided that he would write an extra three parts; ultimately, however, he composed only the fourth part, which is viewed to constitute an intermezzo.

Nietzsche commented in Ecce Homo that for the completion of each part: "Ten days sufficed; in no case, neither for the first nor for the third and last, did I require more" (trans. Kaufmann). The first three parts were first published separately, and were subsequently published in a single volume in 1887. The fourth part remained private after Nietzsche wrote it in 1885; a scant forty copies were all that were printed, apart from seven others that were distributed to Nietzsche's close friends. In March 1892, the four parts were finally reprinted as a single volume. Since then, the version most commonly produced has included all four parts.

The original text contains a great degree of word-play. An example of this exists in the use of the words "over" or "super" and the word "down": for instance, in the terms "superman" or "overman", "overgoing", "downgoing", and "self-overcoming".

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Synopsis

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

The book chronicles the fictitious travels and pedagogy of Zarathustra. "Zarathustra" (/tsaratuʃtra/) is the German version of the name of the Persian prophet Zoroaster, the presumed founder of Zoroastrianism, which had a profound influence on Judaism and subsequently Christianity, or may have himself been influenced by Judaism. It becomes clear in the book that Nietzsche is portraying a "new" or "different" Zarathustra, one who turns traditional morality on its head. He goes on to characterize "what the name of Zarathustra means in my mouth, the mouth of the first immoralist [e.g., himself]:"

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Zarathustra has a simple plot, narrated sporadically throughout the text. It possesses a unique experimental style, one that is, for instance, evident in newly invented "dithyrambs" narrated or sung by Zarathustra. Likewise, the separate Dionysus-Dithyrambs, written in autumn, 1888, were printed with the full volume, in 1892, as the corollaries of Zarathustra's "abundance".

Some have speculated that Nietzsche intended to write about final acts of creation and destruction that Zarathustra would commit. However, the book lacks a finale that would match that description; its actual ending focuses more on Zarathustra recognizing that his legacy is beginning to perpetuate, and consequently choosing to leave the higher men to their own devices in carrying his legacy forth.

Zarathustra also contains the famous dictum "God is dead", which had appeared earlier in The Gay Science. However, in his autobiography Nietzsche states that the book's true underlying concept is discussed within the penultimate section of the fourth [part] (Ecce Homo, Kaufmann) namely, "The Drunken Song". It is Zarathustra's vision of the Eternal Recurrence of the Same Events.

This concept first occurred to Nietzsche while he was walking in Switzerland through the woods along the lake of Silvaplana (close to Surlei); he was inspired by the sight of a gigantic, towering, pyramidal rock (the exact location of which remains unknown). Before Zarathustra, Nietzsche had mentioned the concept in the fourth book of The Gay Science (e.g., sect. 341); this was the first public proclamation of the notion by him. Apart from its salient presence in Zarathustra, it is also echoed throughout Nietzsche's work. At any rate, it is by Zarathustra's transfiguration that he embraces eternity, that he at last ascertains "the supreme will to power"<ref>The Will to Power, sect. 617; trans. Kaufmann</ref>. This inspiration finds its expression with Zarathustra's Roundelay, featured twice in the book, once near the story's close (trans. Thomas Common; Thus Spake Zarathustra): Template:Cquote

Another singular feature of Zarathustra, first presented in the prologue, is the designation of human beings as a transition between apes and the "Übermensch" (in English, either the "overman" or "superman"). The Übermensch is one of the many interconnecting, interdependent themes of the story, and is represented through several different metaphors. Examples include: the lightning that is portended by the silence and raindrops of a travelling storm cloud; or the sun's rise and culmination at its midday zenith; or a man traversing a rope stationed above an abyss, moving away from his uncultivated animality and towards the 'Übermensch.

The symbol of the Übermensch also alludes to Nietzsche's notions of "self-mastery", "self-cultivation", "self-direction", and "self-overcoming". Expostulating these concepts, Zarathustra declares:

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The book embodies a number of innovative poetical and rhetorical methods of expression. It serves as a parallel and supplement to the various philosophical ideas present in Nietzsche's body of work. He has, however, said that among my writings my Zarathustra stands to my mind by itself (Ecce Homo, Preface, sec. 4, Kaufmann). Emphasizing its centrality and its status as his magnum opus, it is stated by Nietzsche that:

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Since, as stated, many of the book's ideas are also present in his other works, Zarathustra is seen to have served as a precursor to his later philosophical thought. With the book, Nietzsche embraced a distinct aesthetic assiduity. He later reformulated many of his ideas, in his book Beyond Good and Evil and various other writings that he composed thereafter. He continued to emphasize his philosophical concerns; generally, his intention was to show an alternative to repressive moral codes and to avert "nihilism" in all of its varied forms.

Other aspects of Thus Spoke Zarathustra pertain to Nietzsche's proposed "Revaluation of All Values". This incomplete project began with The Antichrist.

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Style

Nietzsche is unique among philosophers for what is widely regarded as the remarkable power and effectiveness of his rhetorical style — particularly as manifested in Zarathustra. The indigestible "heaviness" long associated with German-language philosophy is eschewed, with puns and paradoxes abounding, and aphoristic brevity symptomatic of parable and even poesy are in his rhetoric. The end result is a manner of writing which, being "pitched half-way between metaphor and literal statement", is "something quite extraordinary".<ref>J.P. Stern</ref>

His work has been described as "half philosophic, half poetic"Template:Citation needed; the fact that it can thus manage to convince the reader emotionally as well as intellectually is one reason for its appeal among many — but it also means that the theory behind the metaphors is never fully or clearly written out, inviting the reader alone to interpret the text.

One problem inevitably caused by this is that the boundaries of his thinking are not easily discerned: for example, many people not only feel that Nietzsche's term "Übermensch" conjures up the "pure Aryan" of Hitlerian mythology, but further assume that it must have been accompanied by the complementary lesser human or sub-human "Untermensch" — whereas the latter term is in fact a creation of Nazi racial ideology.

Another vulnerability entailed by Nietzsche's style is that nuances and shades of meaning are very easily lost — and all too easily gained — in translation. Here the Übermensch is a case in point: the equivalent "Superman" found in dictionaries and in the translations by Thomas Common and R.J. Hollingdale may create an unfortunate association with the heroic comic-character "Superman" — while other logical alternatives which one might propose ("Over-human", "Above-human", "Super-human", or "Beyond-human"Template:Citation needed) are either uselessly clumsy or are evidence of a "political correctness" foreign to Nietzsche's outlook. Walter Kaufmann's "Overman" would perhaps be more serviceable — were it not for the overtone of hierarchical authoritarianism it introducesTemplate:Citation needed. A little used alternative is "Hyperman"Template:Citation needed. It is as precise as "Superman" without the pop-political connotations. (The Greek prefix hyper, pronounced more like "hüper", is from the same root and has the same meaning as the Latin prefix super: cf. hüper/super.)

The translations of Zarathustra dissent according to the sentiments of the translators for the English language. For instance, the Thomas Common translation, widely available, favors a more biblical approach. As a partial consequence, that is, these claims are not limited to its biblical features, some have claimed it to be inaccurate and/or to possess Nazi distortions by Nietzsche's sister; however, on comparison between it and the translations claimed to be superior, there is little discrepancy between the meaning of the original and translationTemplate:Citation needed. By contrast, the current and much more critical translations, titled Thus Spoke Zarathustra, seperately by R.J. Hollingdale and Walter Kaufmann, who also contested the inaccuracies of Common's translation, are considered, in various circles, to convey more accurately the minutiae of the German text than Thus Spake ZarathustraTemplate:Citation needed. In these translations the work is rendered in a far more modern and mundane style of language.

Regardless of the translations, it is illuminating to think of "Über" in relationship to the development of the individual subject. The "Übermensch" is the being that overcomes the "great nausea" associated with nihilism; that overcomes that most "abysmal" realization of the eternal return. He is the being that "sails over morality", and that dances over gravity (the "spirit of gravity" is Zarathustra's devil and archenemy). He is a "harvester" and a "celebrant" who endlessly affirms his existence, thereby becoming the transfigurer of his consciousness and life, aesthetically. He is initially a destructive force, excising and annihilating the insidious "truths" of the herd, and consequently reclaiming the chaos from which pure creativity is born. It is this creative force exemplified by the Übermensch that justifies suffering without displacing it in some "afterworld".

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References

Thus Spoke Zarathustra: A Book for All and None by Friedrich Nietzsche; translated and with a preface by Walter Kaufmann (New York, Modern Library, 1995, ISBN 067960175)
Ecce Homo: How One Becomes What One Is by Friedrich Nietzsche; translated and with a preface by Walter Kaufmann
Nietzsche: Philosopher, Psychologist, Antichrist by Walter Kaufmann, Princeton University Press, New Jersey, 1974, ISBN 0-691-01983-5

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