Thus Spake Zarathustra
Friedrich Nietzsche, 1883-85
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Zarathustra spends ten years alone on a mountain with an eagle and a serpent, then comes down to share what he has learned. In the town below he announces the Superman, teaches that God is dead and has the crowd mock him while a tightrope walker falls. He keeps speaking: about the will to power and the return of all things. In the fourth part, a group of higher men gather at his cave, and he tells them they are only the forerunners of what he waits for.
Where it happens
Through time
- 1881The idea of eternal recurrence comes to Nietzsche near Lake Silvaplana.1
- 1883The first parts begin to appear; Nietzsche is in Rapallo.1
- 1885Part four is written; forty copies are privately printed.1
- 1887Parts one to three appear together in a single volume.1
- 1888In Ecce Homo Nietzsche explains why he chose Zarathustra as his speaker.1
- 1892Part four is published, and all four parts are issued in one volume.1
Who is in it, and behind it
Friedrich Nietzsche author
German philosopher who wrote and published the work between 1883 and 1885.1
Zarathustra character
The prophet of the book, modelled loosely on the Persian Zoroaster.1
Thomas Common translator
Translator of the English text this site carries.2
Lou Andreas-Salomé subject
Rejected Nietzsche's proposals of marriage, a blow he suffered while writing.1
The tightrope walker character
Falls during Zarathustra's first public speech and is comforted by him.1
Richard Strauss subject
Composed a tone poem inspired by the book.1
Frederick Delius subject
Composer of A Mass of Life, a cantata drawing on the work.1
What it is about
The Superman
Zarathustra says humankind's aim is to create something higher than itself, the Übermensch.1
God is dead
A hermit has not yet heard that God is dead; the theme runs through the speeches.1
Will to power
The concept is introduced in the first part's later discourses.1
Eternal recurrence
Nietzsche called it the central idea of the work.1
In its own words
And Zarathustra spake thus unto the people: I teach you the Superman.
Is not pity the cross on which he is nailed who loveth man?
That is your entire will, ye wisest ones, as a Will to Power; and even when ye speak of good and evil, and of estimates of value.
“Everything goeth, everything returneth; eternally rolleth the wheel of existence.
—Hearest thou not how it mysteriously, frightfully, and cordially speaketh unto thee , the old deep, deep midnight?
The shape of the book
85 chapters, 90,112 words. Point at a bar.
How it came to be here
Nietzsche wrote the book in four parts between 1883 and 1885, much of it during long walks. He said the central idea, eternal recurrence, first came to him in August 1881 by a stone near Lake Silvaplana, and he worked in Rapallo and Nice. The first three parts were issued separately and appeared together in 1887. A small private printing of part four followed in 1885. It was published openly in 1892. This site carries Thomas Common's English version.
Free to read elsewhere
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Sources
- Thus Spoke Zarathustra (Wikipedia)
- Thus Spake Zarathustra, Thomas Common translation (Standard Ebooks)
Text: PG 1998 | translator: Thomas Common. CC0 (Standard Ebooks).