Thus Spake Zarathustra: A Book for All and None

by Friedrich Nietzsche, Michael Hulse (Translator), Joanna Kavenna (Introduction)

Overview

A tremendously influential philosophical work of the late nineteenth century, Thus Spake Zarathustra is also a literary masterpiece by one of the most important thinkers of modern times. In it, the ancient Persian religious leader Zarathustra (or Zoroaster) serves as the voice for Friedrich Nietzsche's views, which include the introduction of the controversial doctrine of the Ubermensch, or "superman."

Although later perverted by Nazi propagandists, the Ubermensch was conceived by Nietzsche to designate the ultimate goal of human existence as the achievement of greatness of will and being. He was convinced that the individual, instead of resigning himself to the weakness of being human and worshipping perfection only possible in the next world (at least in the Christian view), should try to perfect himself during his earthly existence, and transcend the limitations of conventional morality. By doing so, the Ubermensch would emerge victorious, standing in stark contrast to "the last man"--an uncreative conformist and complacent hedonist who embodies Nietzsche's critique of modern civilization, morality, and the Christian religion.

Written in a passionate, quasi-biblical style, Thus Spake Zarathustra is daring in form and filled with provocative, thought-provoking concepts. Today, the work is regarded as a forerunner of modern existentialist thought, a book that has provoked and stimulated students of philosophy and literature for more than 100 years.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781910749265
Publisher:	New York Review Books
Publication date:	09/06/2022
Sold by:	Penguin Random House Publisher Services
Format:	eBook
Pages:	500
File size:	349 KB

About the Author

Friedrich Nietzsche was born in 1844 in Röcken (Saxony), Germany. He studied classical philology at the universities of Bonn and Leipzig and in 1869 was appointed to the chair of classical philology at the University of Basel, Switzerland. Ill health led him to resign his professorship ten years later. His works include The Birth of Tragedy, Beyond Good and Evil, On the Genealogy of Morals, The Case of Wagner, Twilight of the Idols, The Antichrist, Nietzsche contra Wagner and Ecce Homo. Thus Spake Zarathustra, a work of philosophical fiction, was written in four parts and published in German between 1883 and 1885 as Also sprach Zarathustra. The work is incomplete, according to Nietzsche's original plan, but it is the first thorough statement of Nietzsche's mature philosophy and the masterpiece of his career. It received little attention during his lifetime, but its influence since his death has been considerable in the arts as well as philosophy. Nietzsche died in 1900.
Friedrich Nietzsche was born in 1844 in Röcken (Saxony), Germany. He studied classical philology at the universities of Bonn and Leipzig and in 1869 was appointed to the chair of classical philology at the University of Basel, Switzerland. Ill health led him to resign his professorship ten years later. His works include The Birth of Tragedy, Beyond Good and Evil, On the Genealogy of Morals, The Case of Wagner, Twilight of the Idols, The Antichrist, Nietzsche contra Wagner and Ecce Homo. Thus Spake Zarathustra, a work of philosophical fiction, was written in four parts and published in German between 1883 and 1885 as Also sprach Zarathustra. The work is incomplete, according to Nietzsche’s original plan, but it is the first thorough statement of Nietzsche’s mature philosophy and the masterpiece of his career. It received little attention during his lifetime, but its influence since his death has been considerable in the arts as well as philosophy. Nietzsche died in 1900.
Michael Hulse is a poet, translator and critic. He has won numerous awards for his poetry and his 2013 collection, Half-Life, was chosen as a Book of the Year in the Australian Book Review. He has translated many works from the German, including titles by Goethe, Rilke and W G Sebald. His translations have been shortlisted for every major translation award, including the PEN Translation Prize (US), the Aristeion Translation Prize and the Schlegel-Tieck Prize. A professor emeritus of Warwick University, he taught poetry and comparative literature there from 2002 until his retirement in 2020.
Joanna Kavenna is the author of several works of fiction and non-fiction including The Ice Museum, Inglorious, The Birth of Love, A Field Guide to Reality and Zed. Her short stories and essays have appeared in the New Yorker, the LRB, the New Scientist, the Guardian and the New York Times, amongst other publications. In 2008 she won the Orange Prize for New Writing, and in 2013 she was named as one of Granta’s Best of Young British Novelists.

Table of Contents

	Zarathustra's Prologue	1
Part 1
I	The Three Metamorphoses	13
II	The Academic Chairs of Virtue	14
III	Backworldsmen	16
IV	The Despisers of the Body	19
V	Joys and Passions	20
VI	The Pale Criminal	22
VII	Reading and Writing	23
VIII	The Tree on the Hill	25
IX	The Preachers of Death	27
X	War and Warriors	28
XI	The New Idol	29
XII	The Flies in the Market-place	31
XIII	Chastity	34
XIV	The Friend	35
XV	The Thousand and One Goals	36
XVI	Neighbour-Love	38
XVII	The Way of the Creating One	39
XVIII	Old and Young Women	41
XIX	The Bite of the Adder	43
XX	Child and Marriage	44
XXI	Voluntary Death	46
XXII	The Bestowing Virtue	48
Part 2
XXIII	The Child with the Mirror	53
XXIV	In the Happy Isles	55
XXV	The Pitiful	57
XXVI	The Priests	59
XXVII	The Virtuous	61
XXVIII	The Rabble	63
XXIX	The Tarantulas	65
XXX	The Famous Wise Ones	68
XXXI	The Night-Song	70
XXXII	The Dance-Song	71
XXXIII	The Grave-Song	73
XXXIV	Self-Surpassing	76
XXXV	The Sublime Ones	78
XXXVI	The Land of Culture	80
XXXVII	Immaculate Perception	82
XXXVIII	Scholars	84
XXXIX	Poets	86
XL	Great Events	88
XLI	The Soothsayer	91
XLII	Redemption	93
XLIII	Manly Prudence	97
XLIV	The Stillest Hour	99
Part 3
XLV	The Wanderer	103
XLVI	The Vision and the Enigma	106
XLVII	Involuntary Bliss	110
XLVIII	Before Sunrise	112
XLIX	The Bedwarfing Virtue	115
L	On the Olive-Mount	119
LI	On Passing-by	121
LII	The Apostates	124
LIII	The Return Home	127
LIV	The Three Evil Things	130
LV	The Spirit of Gravity	133
LVI	Old and New Tables	136
LVII	The Convalescent	152
LVIII	The Great Longing	156
LIX	The Second Dance Song	159
LX	The Seven Seals	162
Part 4 and Last
LXI	The Honey Sacrifice	166
LXII	The Cry of Distress	169
LXIII	Talk with the Kings	172
LXIV	The Leech	175
LXV	The Magician	177
LXVI	Out of Service	183
LXVII	The Ugliest Man	186
LXVIII	The Voluntary Beggar	190
LXIX	The Shadow	193
LXX	Noontide	195
LXXI	The Greeting	198
LXXII	The Supper	202
LXXIII	The Higher Man	203
LXXIV	The Song of Melancholy	212
LXXV	Science	215
LXXVI	Among Daughters of the Desert	218
LXXVII	The Awakening	222
LXXVIII	The Ass-Festival	225
LXXIX	The Drunken Song	228
LXXX	The Sign	234
Appendix	Notes on Thus Spake Zarathustra	237

What People are Saying About This

Thomas Mann

Nietzche wrote stylistically dazzling books - works sparkling with audacious insults to his age, venturing into more and more radical psychology, radiating a more and more glaring white light... [He was] a thinker, psychologist, and master of language who revolutionized the whole atmosphere of his era.

Editorial Reviews

Michael Hulse’s translation of this extraordinary work feels absolutely fresh and true. As in his poetry, all the words feel new-minted and authentic, full of energy and understanding. As Zarathustra says, ‘The self is always listening and seeking’: reading this version of his story is like seeing the colours of an Old Master for the first time.” —Ruth Padel, Professor of Poetry, King’s College London

“It is often said that poetry is what is lost in translation. Given that Michael Hulse is both a major poet and one of the great translators of German literature, it is not surprising that he has done full justice to Thus Spake Zarathustra. English-speaking readers are indebted to him for a sparkling, transparent rendering of Nietzsche’s poetic philosophical masterpiece.” —Raymond Tallis

“A crystalline translation of a work that many regard as Nietzsche’s greatest, yet whose elusively extravagant style has often baffled, indeed repelled, Anglophones. The poet Michael Hulse renders the complexity of Nietzsche’s prose-poem—its dramatic claims, its mystical power, and its philosophical richness—in spellbinding language.” —Simon May

From the Publisher