Thus Spoke Zarathustra
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{{Infobox Book
| name =Thus Spoke Zarathustra
| title_orig =''Also sprach Zarathustra''
| translator =
| image =[[Image:Also sprach Zarathustra.GIF|200px]]
| image_caption =Title page of the first edition.
| author =[[Friedrich Nietzsche]]
| illustrator =
| cover_artist =
| country =[[Germany]]
| language =[[German language|German]]
| series =
| subject =
| genre =[[philosophy]], [[poetry]]
| publisher =Ernst Schmeitzner
| release_date =1883–1885
| english_release_date =
| media_type =[[Hardback]] [[Paperback]]
| pages =
| isbn =
| preceded_by =[[The Gay Science]] (1882)
| followed_by =[[Beyond Good and Evil]]<br />(1886)
}}{{redirect|Also sprach Zarathustra}}
'''''Thus Spoke Zarathustra''''' (German: ''Also sprach Zarathustra'', sometimes translated ''Thus Spake Zarathustra''), subtitled ''A Book for All and None'' (''Ein Buch für Alle und Keinen''), is a work by German philosopher [[Friedrich Nietzsche]], composed in four parts between 1883 and 1885. Much of the work deals with ideas such as the "eternal recurrence of the same", the parable on the "death of God", and the "prophecy" of the Overman, which were first introduced in ''The Gay Science''.<ref>C. Guignon, D. Pereboom. ''Existentialism: Basic Writings, 2nd ed.'', Hackett, 2001. pp. 101-113</ref>
Described by Nietzsche himself as "the deepest ever written", the book is a dense and esoteric treatise on philosophy and morality, featuring as protagonist a fictionalized [[Zoroaster|Zarathustra]]. A central irony of the text is that the style of the Bible is used by Nietzsche to present ideas of his which fundamentally oppose [[Judaeo-Christian]] morality and tradition.
==Genesis==
''Thus Spoke Zarathustra'' was conceived while Nietzsche was writing ''[[The Gay Science]]''; he made a small note, reading "6,000 feet beyond man and time", as evidence of this.<ref>Gutmann, James. "The "Tremendous Moment" of Nietzsche's Vision". ''The Journal of Philosophy'', Vol. 51, No. 25. American Philosophical Association Eastern Division: Papers to be presented at the Fifty-First Annual Meeting, Goucher College, December 28-30, 1954. pp. 837-842.</ref> More specifically, this note related to the concept of the [[Eternal Return|Eternal Recurrence]], which is, by Nietzsche's admission, the central idea of ''Zarathustra''; this idea occurred to him by a "pyramidal block of stone" on the shores of [[Lake Silvaplana]] in the [[Engadin|Upper Engadine]], a high alpine region whose valley floor is at 6,000 ft. Nietzsche planned to write the book in three parts over several years. He wrote that the ideas for Zarathustra first came to him while walking on two roads surrounding [[Rapallo]], according to [[Elisabeth Förster-Nietzsche]] in the introduction of [[Thomas Common]]'s early translation of the book.
While developing the general outlook of the book, he subsequently decided to write an additional three parts; ultimately, however, he composed only the fourth part, which is viewed to constitute an ''[[intermezzo]]''.
Nietzsche commented in ''[[Ecce Homo (Nietzsche)|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 deal of word-play. An example of this exists in the use of the words "over" or "super" and the words "down" or "abyss/abysmal"; some examples include "superman" or "overman", "overgoing", "downgoing", and "self-overcoming".
==Synopsis==
The book chronicles the fictitious travels and [[pedagogy]] of Zarathustra ([[Avestan language|Avestan]]: ''Zaraθuštra''), usually known in English as [[Zoroaster]], the [[Persian people|Persian]] prophet and founder of [[Zoroastrianism]]. Nietzsche is clearly 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:"
{{Quotation|[F]or what constitutes the tremendous historical uniqueness of that [[Persian people|Persian]] is just the opposite of this. Zarathustra was the first to consider the fight of good and evil the very wheel in the machinery of things: the transposition of morality into the [[metaphysics|metaphysical]] realm, as a force, cause, and end in itself, is ''his'' work. […] Zarathustra created this most calamitous error, morality; consequently, he must also be the first to recognize it. […] His doctrine, and his alone, posits truthfulness as the highest virtue; this means the opposite of the cowardice of the "idealist” who flees from reality […]—Am I understood?—The self-overcoming of morality, out of truthfulness; the self-overcoming of the moralist, into his opposite—into me—that is what the name of Zarathustra means in my mouth.|Nietzsche, ''Ecce Homo'', "Why I Am a Destiny", §3, trans. Walter Kaufmann}}
''Zarathustra'' has a simple characterisation and plot,<ref>Pippin, Robert. "Nietzsche: Thus Spoke Zarathustra". ''Cambridge Texts in the History of Philosophy'', University of Chicago, 2006. ISBN 0-5216-0261-0. p. ix.</ref> narrated sporadically throughout the text. It possesses a unique experimental style, one that is, for instance, evident in newly invented "[[dithyramb]]s" narrated or sung by Zarathustra. Likewise, the separate ''[[Dithyrambs of Dionysus]]'' was written in autumn 1888, and printed with the full volume in 1892, as the corollaries of Zarathustra's "abundance".
Some speculate that Nietzsche intended to write about final acts of creation and destruction brought about by Zarathustra. However, the book lacks a ''[[finale]]'' to match that description; its actual ending focuses more on Zarathustra recognizing 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]]''.<ref>Nietzsche, Friedrich Wilhelm. "The Gay Science: With a Prelude in German Rhymes and an Appendix of Songs". (Edition) Random House, 1974. p. xii.</ref> In his autobiographical work ''Ecce Homo'', [[Nietzsche]] states that the book's underlying concept is discussed within "the penultimate section of the fourth book" of The Gay Science (''[[Ecce Homo]]'', Kaufmann). It is the [[Eternal return|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. 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:
{{cquote|O man, take care!<br>What does the deep midnight declare?<br>"I was asleep—<br>From a deep dream I woke and swear:—<br>The world is deep,<br>Deeper than day had been aware.<br>Deep is its woe—<br>Joy—deeper yet than agony:<br>Woe implores: Go!<br>But all joy wants eternity—<br>Wants deep, wants deep eternity."}}
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"; or, ''superhuman'' or ''overhuman''. English translators Thomas Common and R. J. Hollingdale use ''superman'', while Kaufmann uses ''overman'', and Parkes uses ''overhuman''). 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:
{{Quotation|"''I teach you the overman''. Man is something that shall be overcome. What have you done to overcome him?<p>"All beings so far have created something beyond themselves; and do you want to be the ebb of this great flood and even go back to the beasts rather than overcome man? What is the ape to man? A laughingstock or a painful embarrassment. And man shall be just that for the overman: a laughingstock or a painful embarrassment. You have made your way from worm to man, and much in you is still worm. Once you were apes, and even now, too, man is more ape than any ape.<p>"Whoever is the wisest among you is also a mere conflict and cross between plant and ghost. But do I bid you become ghosts or plants?<p>"Behold, I teach you the overman! The overman is the meaning of the earth. Let your will say: the overman ''shall be'' the meaning of the earth! I beseech you, my brothers, ''remain faithful to the earth'', and do not believe those who speak to you of otherworldly hopes! Poison-mixers are they, whether they know it or not. Despisers of life are they, decaying and poisoned themselves, of whom the earth is weary: so let them go!"|''Thus Spoke Zarathustra'', Prologue, §3, trans. Walter Kaufmann}}
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:
{{Quotation|With [''Thus Spoke Zarathustra''] I have given mankind the greatest present that has ever been made to it so far. This book, with a voice bridging centuries, is not only the highest book there is, the book that is truly characterized by the air of the heights—the whole fact of man lies ''beneath'' it at a tremendous distance—it is also the ''deepest'', born out of the innermost wealth of truth, an inexhaustible well to which no pail descends without coming up again filled with gold and goodness.|''Ecce Homo'', Preface, §4, trans. Walter Kaufmann}}
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 Spake Zarathustra'' pertain to Nietzsche's proposed "Transvaluation of All Values". This incomplete project began with ''[[The Antichrist (book)|The Antichrist]]''.
== Themes ==
Nietzsche injects myriad ideas into the book, but there are a few recurring themes. The overman (Übermensch), a self-mastered individual who has achieved his full power, is an almost omnipresent idea in Thus Spoke Zarathustra. Man as a race is merely a bridge between animals and the overman. Nietzsche also makes a point that the overman is not an end result for a person, but more the journey toward self-mastery.
The [[eternal recurrence]], found elsewhere in Nietzsche's writing, is also mentioned. The eternal recurrence is the idea that all events that have happened will happen again, infinitely many times. Such a reality can serve as the litmus test for an overman. Faced with the knowledge that he would repeat every action that he has taken, an overman would be elated as he has no regrets and loves life.
[[The will to power]] is the fundamental component of human nature. Everything we do is an expression of the will to power. The will to power is a psychological analysis of all human action and is accentuated by self-overcoming and self-enhancement. Contrasted with living for procreation, pleasure, or happiness, the will to power is the summary of all man's struggle against his surrounding environment as well as his reason for living in it.
Copious criticisms of [[Christianity]] can be found in Thus Spoke Zarathustra, in particular Christian values of good and evil and its purported lie of an afterlife. Nietzsche sees the complacency of Christian values as fetters to the achievement of overman as well as on the human spirit. Contrasting sharply with Christianity, Nietzsche praises lust, selfishness, while reproaching the rewarded concepts of pity and love for neighbors.
== Style ==
Nietzsche is considered unique among philosophers by some scholars for what is widely regarded as the power and effectiveness of his [[rhetoric]]al style — particularly as manifested in ''Zarathustra''. The indigestible "heaviness" long associated with German-language philosophy is eschewed, with [[pun]]s and [[paradox]]es abounding, and aphoristic brevity characteristic of [[parable]] and even [[poetry]]. 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>
A vulnerability of Nietzsche's style is that his nuances and shades of meaning are very easily lost — and all too easily gained — in translation. The ''[[Übermensch]]'' is particularly problematic: 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 simultaneously detracting from Nietzsche's repeated play on "über" as well as losing the gender-neutrality of the German.
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".
== Translations ==
The English translations of ''Zarathustra'' differ according to the sentiments of the translators. The [[Thomas Common]] translation favors a classic English approach, in the style of Shakespeare or the [[King James bible]]. Common's poetic interpretation of the text, which renders the title ''Thus Spake Zarathustra'', received wide acclaim for its lambent portrayal.
The Common translation, which improved on Alexander Tille's earlier attempt,<ref name=wk>Nietzsche, Friedrich. Trans. Kaufmann, Walter. ''The Portable Nietzsche''. 1976, page 108-9.</ref> remained widely accepted until the more critical translations, titled ''Thus Spoke Zarathustra'', separately by [[R.J. Hollingdale]] and [[Walter Kaufmann (philosopher)|Walter Kaufmann]], which are considered to convey more accurately the German text than the Common version. 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".<ref name=wk /> This and other errors led Kaufmann to wondering if Common "had little German and less English".<ref name=wk /> These successor translations to Common, of Kaufmann and Hollingdale, render the text in a far more familiar, less archaic, style of language.
Clancy Martin's 2005 translation opens with criticism and praise for these three seminal translators, Common, Hollingdale, and Kaufmann. He notes that the German text available to Common was considerably flawed, and that the German text from which Hollingdale and Kaufmann worked was itself 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.<ref name=cm>Nietzsche, Friedrich. Trans. Martin, Clancy. ''Thus Spoke Zarathustra''. 2005, page xxxiii.</ref> 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 his editor".<ref name=cm />
==Musical adaptation==
The book inspired [[Richard Strauss]] to compose the [[tone poem]] ''[[Also sprach Zarathustra (Richard Strauss)|Also sprach Zarathustra]]'', which he designated "freely based on Friedrich Nietzsche." <ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.americansymphony.org/dialogues_extensions/99_2000season/2000_03_08/strauss.cfm|author=Bernard Jacobson|work=American Symphony Orchestra: Dialogues and Extensions|title=Richard Strauss, Also Sprach Zarathustra, Op. 30 (1896)|accessdate=2007-12-11}}</ref> ''[[Zarathustra's Roundelay]]'' is set as part of [[Gustav Mahler]]'s [[Symphony No. 3 (Mahler)|Third Symphony]] originally under the title ''What Man Tells Me''.
==Editions of ''Thus Spoke Zarathustra''==
* ''Also sprach Zarathustra'', edited by [[Giorgio Colli]] and [[Mazzino Montinari]], Munich: Deutscher Taschenbuch Verlag (study edition of the standard German Nietzsche edition)
* ''Thus Spoke Zarathustra'', translated by [[Walter Kaufmann]], New York: Random House; reprinted in ''The Portable Nietzsche'', New York: The Viking Press, 1954 and Harmondsworth: Penguin Books, 1976
* ''Thus Spoke Zarathustra'', translated by [[R. J. Hollingdale]], Harmondsworth: Penguin Books, 1961
* ''Thus Spoke Zarathustra'', translated by Graham Parkes, Oxford: Oxford World's Classics, 2005
* ''Thus Spoke Zarathustra'', translated by Adrian del Caro and edited by Robert Pippin, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2006
==Essay Collections on ''Thus Spoke Zarathustra''==
*''Essays on Thus Spoke Zarathustra: Before Sunrise'', edited by James Luchte, London: Continuum International Publishing, 2008. ISBN 1847062210
==References==
{{reflist}}
==External links==
{{wikisourcepar|Thus Spake Zarathustra}}
{{wikisourcelang|de|Also sprach Zarathustra|Also sprach Zarathustra}}
{{wikiquotepar|Thus Spake Zarathustra}}
*[http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/1998 Project Gutenberg's etext of Thus Spake Zarathustra, translated by Thomas Common]
*[http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/7205 Project Gutenberg's etext of Also Sprach Zarathustra (the German original)]
{{Nietzsche}}
[[Category:1885 books]]
[[Category:Books by Friedrich Nietzsche]]
[[Category:Existentialist works]]
[[Category:Philosophy_books]]
[[bs:Tako je govorio Zaratustra]]
[[cs:Tak pravil Zarathustra]]
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[[et:Nõnda kõneles Zarathustra]]
[[es:Así habló Zaratustra]]
[[fa:چنین گفت زرتشت]]
[[fr:Ainsi parlait Zarathoustra]]
[[ko:차라투스트라는 이렇게 말했다]]
[[hr:Tako je govorio Zaratustra]]
[[id:Also sprach Zarathustra]]
[[it:Così parlò Zarathustra]]
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[[ja:ツァラトゥストラはこう語った]]
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[[pt:Assim Falou Zaratustra]]
[[ru:Так говорил Заратустра]]
[[sq:Kështu foli Zarathustra]]
[[fi:Näin puhui Zarathustra]]
[[sv:Så talade Zarathustra]]
[[tr:Böyle Buyurdu Zerdüşt]]
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