Also sprach 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.
Also sprach Zarathustra (English: Thus Spake Zarathustra) is a book started in 1885 by German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche; it is arguably one of the most famous books in philosophy. The book was originally written as three separate volumes over a period of several years. Later, Nietzsche decided to write another three volumes but only managed to write a fourth (although it is said by his sister, Elisabeth Förster-Nietzsche, that the notes to the fifth and sixth parts exist in her introduction of the text and were in her possession at that time). After Nietzsche's death, it was printed as a single volume.
The book chronicles the wanderings and teachings of a philosopher, Zarathustra, who has named himself for Zarathustra (Zoroaster), the ancient Persian prophet who founded Zoroastrianism. The book uses a poetic, fictional form, often satirizing the New Testament, to explore many of Nietzsche's ideas.
Central to Zarathustra is the notion that human beings are a transitional form between apes and what Nietzsche called the Übermensch, literally "upper-man" or usually translated as "superman" or more literally "overman". The name is one of the many puns in the book and refers most clearly to the image of the sun coming over the horizon at dawn as well as the basic notion of overcoming.
Largely episodic, the stories in Zarathustra can be read in any order. Zarathustra contains the famous statement, "God is dead," although this also appeared in Nietzsche's earlier book Die fröhliche Wissenschaft (The Happy Science).
The final two unwritten volumes of the book were planned to depict Zarathustra's missionary work and his eventual death.
See also: Übermensch.
External links
Please note: the Thomas Common translation (the one Project Gutenberg uses) is known to be incorrect, and at times to be very distorted compared to more modern translations, such as the one that Walter Kaufmann has done. The Thomas Common translation is to be used for historical purposes only.
- Template:Gutenberg — German
- AlsoSprachZaratustra in c2.com wiki (http://c2.com/cgi/wiki?AlsoSprachZaratustra)
- Thus spake Zarathustra - an article. (http://www.centrebouddhisteparis.org/En_Anglais/Sangharakshita_en_anglais/Nietzsche_and_Superman/Zarathustra/zarathustra.html)
- Visual metaphors to the book Thus spake Zarathustra created by the artist Lena Hades (http://www.art-tusa.com/)
- MIDI version of Sprach Zarathustra (http://www.sunncity.com/music/mv/2001SprachZarathustra-RichardStrauss.mid) (MIDI Audio file)
- An ongoing adaptation of the Walter Kaufmann translation created as a theological exercise that helps illuminate the interrelationship between Nietzsche and Jesus. (http://thusspeaksjesus.blogspot.com/)de:Also sprach Zarathustra
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