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{{Short description|Philosophical work by Friedrich Nietzsche}}
{{about|the book by Nietzsche|Strauss's tone poem named after this book|Also sprach Zarathustra{{!}}''Also sprach Zarathustra''|the short film also known by the name|TED 2023{{!}}''TED 2023''|other uses|Also sprach Zarathustra (disambiguation)}}
{{refimprove|date=March 2022}}
{{Infobox book
| name              = Thus Spoke Zarathustra: A Book for All and None
| title_orig        = Also sprach Zarathustra: Ein Buch für Alle und Keinen
| orig_lang_code    = de
| translator        = 
| image             = Also sprach Zarathustra. Ein Buch für Alle und Keinen. In drei Theilen.jpg
| caption           = Title page of the first three-book edition
| author            = [[Friedrich Nietzsche]]
| country           = Germany
| language          = German
| series            = 
| subject           = 
| publisher         = Ernst Schmeitzner
| release_date      = 1883–1892
| english_release_date = 
| media_type        = Print ([[Hardcover]] and [[Paperback]])
| preceded_by       = [[The Gay Science]]
| followed_by       = [[Beyond Good and Evil]]
| native_wikisource = 
| wikisource        = Thus Spake Zarathustra
}}
'''''Thus Spoke Zarathustra: A Book for All and None''''' ({{langx|de|Also sprach Zarathustra: Ein Buch für Alle und Keinen}}), also translated as '''''Thus Spake Zarathustra''''', is a [[philosophical novel|work of philosophical fiction]] written by German philosopher [[Friedrich Nietzsche]]; it was published in four volumes between 1883 and 1885. The protagonist is nominally the historical Zarathustra, more commonly called [[Zoroaster]] in the West. 

Much of the book consists of discourses by Zarathustra on a wide variety of subjects, most of which end with the refrain "thus spoke Zarathustra". The character of Zarathustra first appeared in Nietzsche's earlier book ''[[The Gay Science]]'' (at §342, which closely resembles §1 of "Zarathustra's Prologue" in ''Thus Spoke Zarathustra''). 

The style of Nietzsche's ''Zarathustra'' has facilitated varied and often incompatible ideas about what Nietzsche's Zarathustra says. The "[e]xplanations and claims" given by the character of Zarathustra in this work "are almost always [[Analogy|analogical]] and [[Figurative analogy|figurative]]".<ref name="ReferenceD-Intro">Del Caro and Pippin, "Introduction" in ''Thus Spoke Zarathustra'', Cambridge, 2006.</ref> Though there is no consensus about what Zarathustra ''means'' when he speaks, there is some consensus ''about'' that which he speaks. ''Thus Spoke Zarathustra'' deals with ideas about the ''[[Übermensch]]'', the [[God is dead|death of God]], the [[will to power]], and [[Eternal return|eternal recurrence]].

== Origins ==
[[File:Nietzsche-Stein 01.jpg|thumb|right|Nietzsche wrote in ''[[Ecce Homo (book)|Ecce Homo]]'' that the central idea of ''Zarathustra'' occurred to him by a "pyramidal block of stone" on the shores of [[Lake Silvaplana]].]]
[[File:Nietzsche Ewige Wiederkunft.jpg|thumb|Nietzsche's first note on the "eternal recurrence", written "at the beginning of August 1881 in Sils-Maria, 6000 ft above sea level and much higher above all human regards! -" Nachlass, notebook M III 1, p. 53.]]
Nietzsche was born into, and largely remained within, the [[Bildungsbürgertum]], a sort of highly cultivated middle class.<ref>Blue, D. (2016), "Chapter 2: Half an orphan" in ''The Making of Friedrich Nietzsche'', Cambridge University Press</ref>{{Full citation needed|date=March 2024}} By the time he was a teenager, he had been writing music and poetry.<ref>Blue, D. (2016), "Chapter 3: The Discovery of Writing" in ''The Making of Friedrich Nietzsche'', Cambridge University Press</ref>{{Full citation needed|date=March 2024}}<ref>Blue, D. (2016), "Chapter 4: The Discovery of Self" in ''The Making of Friedrich Nietzsche'', Cambridge University Press</ref>{{Full citation needed|date=March 2024}} His aunt Rosalie gave him a biography of [[Alexander von Humboldt]] for his 15th birthday, and reading this inspired a love of learning "for its own sake".<ref>Blue, D. (2016), "Chapter 5: Soul-building: the theory" in ''The Making of Friedrich Nietzsche'', Cambridge University Press</ref>{{Full citation needed|date=March 2024}} The schools he attended, the books he read, and his general milieu fostered and inculcated his interests in [[Bildung]], a concept at least tangential to many in ''Zarathustra'', and he worked extremely hard. He became an outstanding [[Philology|philologist]] almost accidentally, and he renounced his ideas about being an artist. As a philologist he became particularly sensitive to the transmissions and modifications of ideas,<ref>Blue, D. (2016), "Chapter 13: 'Become what you are'" in ''The Making of Friedrich Nietzsche'', Cambridge University Press</ref>{{Full citation needed|date=March 2024}} which also bears relevance into ''Zarathustra''. Nietzsche's growing distaste toward philology, however, was yoked with his growing taste toward philosophy. As a student, this yoke was his work with [[Diogenes Laertius]]. Even with that work he strongly opposed [[received opinion]]. With subsequent and properly philosophical work he continued to oppose received opinion.<ref name="ReferenceC">Hollingdale, "Introduction" in ''Thus Spoke Zarathustra'', Penguin</ref>{{Full citation needed|date=March 2024}} His books leading up to ''Zarathustra'' have been described as [[nihilistic]] destruction]].<ref name="ReferenceC"/>{{Full citation needed|date=March 2024}} Such nihilistic destruction combined with his increasing isolation and the rejection of his marriage proposals (to [[Lou Andreas-Salomé]]) devastated him.<ref name="ReferenceC"/>{{Full citation needed|date=March 2024}} While he was working on ''Thus Spoke Zarathustra'' he was walking very much.<ref name="ReferenceC"/>{{Full citation needed|date=March 2024}} The imagery of his walks mingled with his physical and emotional and intellectual pains and his prior decades of hard work. What "erupted" was ''Thus Spoke Zarathustra''.<ref name="ReferenceC"/>{{Full citation needed|date=March 2024}}

Nietzsche has said that the central idea of ''Thus Spoke Zarathustra'' is the [[Eternal Return|eternal recurrence]]. He has also said that this central idea first occurred to him in August 1881: he was near a "pyramidal block of stone" while walking through the woods along the shores of [[Lake Silvaplana]] in the [[Engadin|Upper Engadine]], and he made a small note that read "6,000 feet beyond man and time".{{clarify|reason= this is only part of the note and accordingly problematic. It also does nothing to intimate that this was the first idea of Eternal Return| date= June 2021}}<ref>Gutmann, James. 1954. "The 'Tremendous Moment' of Nietzsche's Vision." ''[[The Journal of Philosophy]]'' 51(25):837–42. {{doi|10.2307/2020597}}. {{JSTOR|2020597}}.</ref>

A few weeks after meeting this idea, he paraphrased in a notebook something written by [[Friedrich von Hellwald]] about [[Zarathustra]].<ref name="ReferenceA">Parkes, "Introduction" in ''Thus Spoke Zarathustra'', Oxford</ref>{{Full citation needed|date=March 2024}} This paraphrase was developed into the beginning of ''Thus Spoke Zarathustra''.<ref name="ReferenceA"/>{{Full citation needed|date=March 2024}}

A year and a half after making that paraphrase, Nietzsche was living in [[Rapallo]].<ref name="ReferenceA"/>{{Full citation needed|date=March 2024}} Nietzsche claimed that the entire first part was conceived, and that Zarathustra himself "came over him", while walking. He was regularly walking "the magnificent road to [[Zoagli]]" and "the whole [[Santa Margherita Ligure|Bay of Santa Margherita]]".<ref name="ReferenceB">Nietzsche, cited in Parkes, "Introduction" in ''Thus Spoke Zarathustra'', Oxford</ref>{{Full citation needed|date=March 2024}} He said in a letter that the entire first part "was conceived in the course of strenuous hiking: absolute certainty, as if every sentence were being called out to me".<ref name="ReferenceB"/>{{Full citation needed|date=March 2024}}

Nietzsche returned to "the sacred place" in the summer of 1883 and he "found" the second part.<ref name="ReferenceA"/>{{Full citation needed|date=March 2024}}

Nietzsche was in [[Nice]] the following winter and he "found" the third part.<ref name="ReferenceA"/>{{Full citation needed|date=March 2024}}

According to Nietzsche in ''Ecce Homo'' it was "scarcely one year for the entire work", and ten days each part.<ref name="ReferenceA"/>{{Full citation needed|date=March 2024}} More broadly, however, he said in a letter: "The ''whole'' of ''Zarathustra'' is an explosion of forces that have been accumulating for decades".<ref name="ReferenceB"/>{{Full citation needed|date=March 2024}}

In January 1884, Nietzsche finished the third part and thought the book finished.<ref name="ReferenceA"/>{{Full citation needed|date=March 2024}} But by November he expected a fourth part to be finished by January.<ref name="ReferenceA"/>{{Full citation needed|date=March 2024}} He also mentioned a fifth and sixth part leading to Zarathustra's death, "or else he will give me no peace".<ref name="ReferenceB"/>{{Full citation needed|date=March 2024}} But after the fourth part was finished he called it "a fourth (and last) part of ''Zarathustra'', a kind of sublime finale, which is not at all meant for the public".<ref name="ReferenceB"/>{{Full citation needed|date=March 2024}}

The first three parts were initially published individually and were first published together in a single volume in 1887.{{citation needed|date=June 2021}} The fourth part was written in 1885.<ref name="ReferenceA"/>{{Full citation needed|date=March 2024}} While Nietzsche retained mental capacity and was involved in the publication of his works, forty copies of the fourth part were printed at his own expense and distributed to his closest friends, to whom he expressed "a vehement desire never to have the Fourth Part made public".<ref name="ReferenceA"/>{{Full citation needed|date=March 2024}} In 1889, however, [[Nietzsche#Insanity and death (1889–1900)|Nietzsche became significantly incapacitated]]. In March 1892 part four was published separately, and the following July the four parts were published in a single volume.<ref name="ReferenceA"/>{{Full citation needed|date=March 2024}}

== Character of Zarathustra ==
In the 1888 [[Ecce Homo (book)|''Ecce '']], Nietzsche explains what he meant by making the [[Persians|Persian]] figure of [[Zoroaster]] the protagonist of his book:<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |last= |first= |title=NIETZSCHE AND PERSIA |url=https://iranicaonline.org/articles/nietzsche-and-persia |access-date=2023-02-18 |website=[[Encyclopaedia Iranica]] |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=The Project Gutenberg eBook of Ecce Homo, by Friedrich Nietzsche. |url=https://www.gutenberg.org/files/52190/52190-h/52190-h.htm#WHY_I_AM_A_FATALITY |access-date=2023-02-18 |website=www.gutenberg.org}}</ref>
{{Quote|text=People have never asked me as they should have done, what the name of Zarathustra precisely meant in my mouth, in the mouth of the first [[immoralist]]; for that which distinguishes this Persian from all others in the past is the very fact that he was the exact reverse of an immoralist. Zarathustra was the first to [[Dualism in cosmology|see in the struggle between good and evil the essential wheel in the working of things]]. The translation of morality into the realm of [[metaphysics]], as force, cause, end-in-itself, is his work. But the very question suggests its own answer. Zarathustra created this most portentous of all errors,—[[morality]]; therefore he must be the first to expose it. Not only because he has had longer and greater experience of the subject than any other thinker,—all history is indeed the experimental refutation of the theory of the so-called moral order of things,—but because of the more important fact that Zarathustra was the most truthful of thinkers. [[Asha|In his teaching alone is truthfulness upheld as the highest virtue]]—that is to say, as the reverse of the cowardice of the "[[idealist]]" who takes to his heels at the sight of reality. Zarathustra has more pluck in his body than all other thinkers put together. To tell the truth and to aim straight: that is the first Persian virtue. Have I made myself clear? ... The overcoming of morality by itself, through truthfulness, the moralist's overcoming of himself in his opposite—in me—that is what the name Zarathustra means in my mouth.|title=''Ecce Homo''|source="Why I Am a Fatality"}}Thus, "[a]s Nietzsche admits himself, by choosing the name of Zarathustra as the prophet of his philosophy in a poetical idiom, he wanted to pay homage to the original [[Arya (Iran)|Aryan]] prophet as a prominent founding figure of the spiritual-moral phase in human history, and reverse his teachings at the same time, according to [[Philosophy of Friedrich Nietzsche|his fundamental critical views on morality]]. The [[Zoroastrian cosmology|original Zoroastrian world-view]] interpreted [[Ontology|being]] on the basis of the [[Moral universalism|universality of the moral values]] and saw the whole world as an arena of the struggle between two fundamental moral elements, Good and Evil, depicted in two antagonistic divine figures [<nowiki/>[[Ahura Mazda]] and [[Ahriman]]]. Nietzsche’s Zarathustra, in contrast, puts forward his [[ontological]] immoralism and tries to prove and reestablish the primordial innocence of beings by destroying philosophically all moralistic interpretations and evaluations of being".<ref name=":0" />

==Synopsis==
===First part===
The book begins with a prologue that sets up many of the themes that will be explored throughout the work. Zarathustra is introduced as a hermit who has lived ten years on a mountain with his two companions, an eagle and a serpent. One morning – inspired by the sun, which is happy only when it shines upon others – Zarathustra decides to return to the world and share his wisdom. Upon descending the mountain, he encounters a saint living in a forest, who spends his days praising God. Zarathustra marvels that the saint has not yet heard that "[[God is dead]]".

Arriving at the nearest town, Zarathustra addresses a crowd which has gathered to watch a [[tightrope walker]]. He tells them that mankind's goal must be to create something superior to itself – a new type of human, the ''[[Übermensch]]''. All men, he says, must be prepared to will their own destruction in order to bring the ''Übermensch'' into being. The crowd greets this speech with scorn and mockery, and meanwhile the tightrope show begins. When the rope-dancer is halfway across, a clown comes up behind him, urging him to get out of the way. The clown then leaps over the rope-dancer, causing the latter to fall to his death. The crowd scatters; Zarathustra takes the corpse of the rope-dancer on his shoulders, carries it into the forest, and lays it in a hollow tree. He decides that from this point on, he will no longer attempt to speak to the masses, but only to a few chosen disciples.

There follows a series of discourses in which Zarathustra overturns many of the precepts of Christian morality. He gathers a group of disciples, but ultimately abandons them, saying that he will not return until they have disowned him.

===Second part===
Zarathustra retires to his mountain cave, and several years pass by. One night, he dreams that he looks into a mirror and sees the face of a devil instead of his own; he takes this as a sign that his doctrines are being distorted by his enemies, and joyfully descends the mountain to recover his lost disciples.

More discourses follow, which continue to develop the themes of the death of God and the rise of the ''Übermensch'', and also introduce the concept of the [[will to power]]. There are hints, however, that Zarathustra is holding something back. A series of dreams and visions prompt him to reveal this secret teaching, but he cannot bring himself to do so. He withdraws from his disciples once more, in order to perfect himself.

===Third part===
While journeying home, Zarathustra is waylaid by the spirit of gravity, a dwarf-like creature which clings to his back and whispers taunts into his ear. Zarathustra at first becomes despondent, but then takes courage; he challenges the spirit to hear the "abysmal thought" which he has so far refrained from speaking. This is the doctrine of [[eternal recurrence]]. Time, says Zarathustra, is infinite, stretching both forward and backward into eternity. This means that everything that happens now must have happened before, and that every moment must continue to repeat itself eternally.

As he speaks, Zarathustra hears a dog howl in terror, and then he sees a new vision – a shepherd choking on a black serpent which has crept into his throat. At Zarathustra's urging, the shepherd bites the serpent's head off and spits it out. In that moment, the shepherd is transformed into a laughing, radiant being, something greater than human.

Zarathustra continues his journey, delivering more discourses inspired by his observations. Arriving at his mountain cave, he remains there for some time, reflecting on his mission. He is disgusted at humanity's pettiness, and despairs at the thought of the eternal recurrence of such an insignificant race. Eventually, however, he discovers his own longing for eternity, and sings [[Zarathustra's roundelay|a song in celebration of eternal return]].

===Fourth part===
Zarathustra begins to grow old as he remains secluded in his cave. One day, he is visited by a soothsayer, who says that he has come to tempt Zarathustra to his final sin – compassion (''mitleiden'', which can also be translated as "pity"). A loud cry of distress is heard, and the soothsayer tells Zarathustra that "the higher man" is calling to him. Zarathustra is alarmed, and rushes to the aid of the higher man.

Searching through his domain for the person who uttered the cry for help, Zarathustra encounters a series of characters representative of various aspects of humanity. He engages each of them in conversation, and ends by inviting each one to await his return in his cave. After a day's search, however, he is unable to find the higher man. Returning home, he hears the cry of distress once more, now coming from inside his own cave. He realises that all the people he has spoken to that day are collectively the higher man. Welcoming them to his home, he nevertheless tells them that they are not the men he has been waiting for; they are only the precursors of the ''Übermensch''.

Zarathustra hosts a supper for his guests, which is enlivened by songs and arguments, and ends in the facetious worship of a donkey. The higher men thank Zarathustra for relieving them of their distress and teaching them to be content with life.

The following morning, outside his cave, Zarathustra encounters a lion and a flock of doves, which he interprets as a sign that those whom he calls his children are near. As the higher men emerge from the cave, the lion roars at them, causing them to cry out and flee. Their cry reminds Zarathustra of the soothsayer's prediction that he would be tempted into feeling compassion for the higher man. He declares that this is over, and that from this time forward he will think of nothing but his work.

==Themes==
{{Expand section|1=Each subsection implies that there is consensus. There is no consensus|section=1|date=April 2021}}
[[File:Friederich Nietzsche.jpg|thumb|''Friedrich Nietzsche'', [[Edvard Munch]], 1906]]
Scholars have argued that "the worst possible way to understand Zarathustra is as a teacher of doctrines".<ref>Pippin, Robert B. (2019), "Figurative Philosophy in ''Beyond Good and Evil''", in ''The New Cambridge Companion to Nietzsche'', pp. 195-221</ref> Nonetheless ''Thus Spoke Zarathustra'' "has contributed most to the public perception of Nietzsche as philosopher{{snd}}namely, as the teacher of the 'doctrines' of the [[will to power]], the [[Übermensch|overman]] and the [[eternal return]]".<ref>{{cite book |doi=10.1017/9781316676264.008 |chapter=''Zarathustra:'' Nietzsche's Rendezvous with Eternity |title=The New Cambridge Companion to Nietzsche |date=2019 |last1=Johnson |first1=Dirk R. |pages=173–194 |isbn=978-1-316-67626-4 |s2cid=171729848 }}</ref>

=== Will to power ===
{{Main|Will to power}}
Nietzsche's thinking was significantly influenced by the thinking of [[Arthur Schopenhauer]]. Schopenhauer emphasised will, and particularly [[will to live]]. Nietzsche emphasised ''Wille zur Macht'', or will to power.

Nietzsche was not a systematic philosopher and left much of what he wrote open to interpretation. [[Influence and reception of Friedrich Nietzsche#Nietzsche and fascism|Receptive fascists]] are said to have misinterpreted the will to power, having overlooked Nietzsche's distinction between ''Kraft'' ‘force, strength’ and ''Macht'' ‘power, might’.<ref>Jacob Golomb & Robert S. Wistrich, eds. ''Nietzsche, godfather of fascism?: on the uses and abuses of a philosophy'' (Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 2002){{pn|date=September 2023}}</ref>

Scholars have often had recourse to Nietzsche's notebooks, where will to power is described in ways such as "willing-to-become-stronger [''Stärker-werden-wollen''], willing growth".<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Dunkle |first1=Ian D. |title=On the Normativity of Nietzsche's Will to Power |journal=The Journal of Nietzsche Studies |date=2020 |volume=51 |issue=2 |pages=188–211 |doi=10.5325/jnietstud.51.2.0188 |s2cid=229665706 |id={{Project MUSE|773967}} }}</ref>

=== ''Übermensch'' ===
{{Main|Übermensch}}
It is allegedly "well-known that as a term, Nietzsche’s Übermensch derives from [[Lucian of Samosata]]'s hyperanthropos".<ref name="research.library.fordham.edu">Babich, Babette, "Nietzsche’s Zarathustra and Parodic Style: On Lucian’s Hyperanthropos and Nietzsche’s Übermensch" (2013). Articles and Chapters in Academic Book Collections. 56.
https://research.library.fordham.edu/phil_babich/56</ref> This hyperanthropos, or "overman," appears in Lucian's [[Menippean satire]] ''Κατάπλους ἢ Τύραννος'', usually translated ''Downward Journey or The Tyrant''. This hyperanthropos is "imagined to be superior to others of 'lesser' station in this-worldly life and the same tyrant after his (comically unwilling) transport into the underworld".<ref name="research.library.fordham.edu"/>
Nietzsche celebrated [[Johann Wolfgang von Goethe|Goethe]] as an actualisation of the Übermensch.<ref name="ReferenceC"/>

=== Eternal recurrence ===
{{Main|Eternal return}}
[[File:Sick Nietzsche, Hans Olde.jpg|thumb|Nietzsche in the care of [[Elisabeth Förster-Nietzsche|his sister]] in 1899]]

Nietzsche includes some brief writings on eternal recurrence in his earlier book ''The Gay Science''. Zarathustra also appears in that book. In ''Thus Spoke Zarathustra'', the eternal recurrence is, according to Nietzsche, the "fundamental idea of the work".<ref>{{cite book |last=Nietzsche |first=Friedrich |translator=Anthony M. Ludovici |title=Ecce Homo |page=96 |url=https://archive.org/details/TheCompleteWorksOfFriedrichNietzschevol.17-EcceHomo/page/n115/mode/2up?view=theater |publisher=Macmillan |date=1911}}</ref>

Interpretations of the eternal recurrence have mostly revolved around cosmological and attitudinal and normative principles.<ref name="Loving the Eternal Recurrence">{{cite journal |last1=Sinhababu |first1=Neil |last2=Teng |first2=Kuong Un |title=Loving the Eternal Recurrence |journal=The Journal of Nietzsche Studies |date=2019 |volume=50 |issue=1 |pages=106–124 |doi=10.5325/jnietstud.50.1.0106 |s2cid=171915841 |url=https://philarchive.org/rec/SINLTE |id={{Project MUSE|721006}} }}</ref>

As a cosmological principle, it has been supposed to mean that time is circular, that all things recur eternally.<ref name="Loving the Eternal Recurrence" /> A weak attempt at proof has been noted in Nietzsche's notebooks, and it is not clear to what extent, if at all, Nietzsche believed in the truth of it.<ref name="Loving the Eternal Recurrence" /> Critics have mostly dealt with the cosmological principle as a puzzle of ''why'' Nietzsche might have touted the idea.

As an attitudinal principle it has often been dealt with as a thought experiment, to see how one would react, or as a sort of ultimate expression of life-affirmation, as if one should ''desire'' eternal recurrence.<ref name="Loving the Eternal Recurrence" />

As a normative principle, it has been thought of as a measure or standard, akin to a "moral rule".<ref name="Loving the Eternal Recurrence" />

=== Criticism of religion ===
Nietzsche studied extensively and was very familiar with [[Schopenhauer]] and Christianity and [[Buddhism]], each of which he considered nihilistic and "enemies to a healthy culture". ''Thus Spoke Zarathustra'' can be understood as a "[[polemic]]" against these influences.<ref name="Nietzsche and Buddhism">{{cite journal |last1=Elman |first1=Benjamin A. |date=October 1983 |title=Nietzsche and Buddhism |journal=Journal of the History of Ideas |volume=44 |issue=4 |pages=671–686 |doi=10.2307/2709223 |jstor=2709223}}</ref>

Though Nietzsche "probably learned [[Sanskrit]] while at [[Leipzig University|Leipzig]] from 1865 to 1868", and "was probably one of the best read and most solidly grounded in Buddhism for his time among Europeans", Nietzsche was writing when Eastern thought was only beginning to be acknowledged in the West, and Eastern thought was easily misconstrued. Nietzsche's interpretations of Buddhism were coloured by his study of Schopenhauer, and it is "clear that Nietzsche, as well as Schopenhauer, entertained inaccurate views of Buddhism". An egregious example has been the idea of ''[[śūnyatā]]'' as "nothingness" rather than "emptiness". "Perhaps the most serious misreading we find in Nietzsche's account of Buddhism was his inability to recognize that the Buddhist doctrine of emptiness was an initiatory stage leading to a reawakening". Nietzsche dismissed Schopenhauer and Christianity and Buddhism as pessimistic and nihilistic, but, according to Benjamin A. Elman, "[w]hen understood on its own terms, Buddhism cannot be dismissed as pessimistic or nihilistic". Moreover, answers which Nietzsche assembled to the questions he was asking, not only generally but also in ''Zarathustra'', put him "very close to some basic doctrines found in Buddhism". An example is when Zarathustra says that "the soul is only a word for something about the body".<ref name="Nietzsche and Buddhism" />

===Nihilism===
One of the most vexed points in discussions of Nietzsche has been whether or not he was a nihilist.<ref name="Nietzsche and Buddhism" /> Though arguments have been made for either side, what is clear is that Nietzsche was at least ''interested'' in [[nihilism]].

As far as nihilism touched other people, at least, metaphysical understandings of the world were progressively undermined until people could contend that "God is dead".<ref name="ReferenceC"/> Without God, humanity was greatly devalued.<ref name="ReferenceC"/> Without metaphysical or supernatural lenses, humans could be seen as animals with primitive drives which were or could be sublimated.<ref name="ReferenceC"/> According to Hollingdale, this led to Nietzsche's ideas about the will to power.<ref name="ReferenceC"/> Likewise, "''Sublimated will to power'' was now the [[Ariadne]]'s thread tracing the way out of the labyrinth of nihilism".<ref name="ReferenceC"/>

==Style==
{{Expand section|1= Nietzsche's general style and epistemology at least|date=May 2021}}
[[File:Nietzsche - Zarathustra, 070.jpg|thumb|"''On Reading and Writing''.<br>Of all that is written, I love only that which one writes with one's own blood".<ref>Parkes trans.</ref><br>''Thus Spoke Zarathustra, The Complete Works of Friedrich Nietzsche'', Volume VI, 1899, C. G. Naumann, Leipzig.]]

The nature of the text is musical and operatic.<ref name="ReferenceA"/> While working on it Nietzsche wrote "of his aim 'to become Wagner's heir'".<ref name="ReferenceA"/> Nietzsche thought of it as akin to a symphony or opera.<ref name="ReferenceA"/> "No lesser a symphonist than [[Gustav Mahler]] corroborates: 'His ''Zarathustra'' was born completely from the spirit of music, and is even "symphonically constructed"'".<ref name="ReferenceA"/> Nietzsche{{quote|later draws special attention to "the tempo of Zarathustra's speeches" and their "delicate slowness" {{snd}} "from an infinite fullness of light and depth of happiness drop falls after drop, word after word"{{snd}} as well as the necessity of "''hearing'' properly the tone that issues from his mouth, this halcyon tone".<ref name="ReferenceA"/>}} The length of paragraphs and the punctuation and the repetitions all enhance the musicality.<ref name="ReferenceA"/><br><br>
The title is ''Thus Spoke Zarathustra''. Much of the book is what Zarathustra said. What Zarathustra says {{Quote|is throughout so highly parabolic, metaphorical, and aphoristic. Rather than state various claims about virtues and the present age and religion and aspirations, Zarathustra speaks about stars, animals, trees, tarantulas, dreams, and so forth. Explanations and claims are almost always analogical and figurative.<ref name="ReferenceD">Robert Pippin, "Introduction", in ''Thus Spoke Zarathustra'', trans. Adrian del Caro (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 2006)</ref>}}

Nietzsche would often appropriate masks and models to develop himself and his thoughts and ideas, and to find voices and names through which to communicate.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Kofman |first1=Sarah |title=And Yet It Quakes! (Nietzsche and Voltaire) |journal=Paragraph |date=March 2021 |volume=44 |issue=1 |pages=117–137 |doi=10.3366/para.2021.0358 |s2cid=233912690 }}</ref> While writing ''Zarathustra'', Nietzsche was particularly influenced by "the language of [[Martin Luther|Luther]] and the poetic form of the Bible".<ref name="ReferenceA"/> But ''Zarathustra'' also frequently alludes to or appropriates from [[Hölderlin]]'s ''[[Hyperion (Hölderlin novel)|Hyperion]]'' and [[Goethe]]'s [[Goethe's Faust|''Faust'']] and [[Ralph Waldo Emerson|Emerson]]'s [[Essays (Emerson)|''Essays'']], among other things. It is generally agreed that the sorcerer is based on [[Richard Wagner|Wagner]] and the soothsayer is based on Schopenhauer.

The original text contains a great deal of [[Word play|word-play]]. For instance, words beginning with ''[[über]]'' ('over, above') and {{Wikt-lang|en|unter}} ('down, below') are often paired to emphasise the contrast, which is not always possible to bring out in translation, except by coinages. An example is ''untergang'' ([[Literal translation|lit.]] 'down-going'), which is used in German to mean 'setting' (as in, of the sun), but also 'sinking', 'demise', 'downfall', or 'doom'. Nietzsche pairs this word with its opposite ''übergang'' ('over-going'), used to mean 'transition'. Another example is ''[[übermensch]]'' ('overman' or 'superman').

==Reception==
{{Expand section|1= things more comprehensive and relevant|date= May 2021}}
Nietzsche considered ''Thus Spoke Zarathustra'' his ''[[Masterpiece|magnum opus]]'', writing:

{{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 (book)|Ecce Homo]]'', "Preface" §4, translated by W. Kaufmann|title=|source=}}

In a letter of February 1884, he wrote:

{{quote|With ''Zarathustra'' I believe I have brought the German language to its culmination. After ''[[Martin Luther|Luther]]'' and ''[[Johann Wolfgang von Goethe|Goethe]]'' there was still a third step to be made.<ref name="ReferenceA"/>}}

To this, Parkes has said: "Many scholars believe that Nietzsche managed to make that step".<ref name="ReferenceA"/> But critical opinion varies extremely. The book is "a masterpiece of literature as well as philosophy"<ref name="ReferenceA"/> and "in large part a failure".<ref name="ReferenceD"/>

The style of the book, along with its [[ambiguity]] and [[paradox]]ical nature, has helped its eventual enthusiastic reception by the reading public but has frustrated academic attempts at analysis (as Nietzsche may have intended). ''Thus Spoke Zarathustra'' remained unpopular as a topic for scholars (especially those in the Anglo-American [[analytic philosophy|analytic tradition]]) until the latter half of the 20th century brought widespread interest in Nietzsche and his unconventional style.<ref name=":1">{{cite book |doi=10.1017/CCOL0521365864.010 |chapter=Nietzsche in the twentieth century |title=The Cambridge Companion to Nietzsche |date=1996 |last1=Behler |first1=Ernst |pages=281–322 |isbn=978-0-521-36767-7 }}</ref>

The critic [[Harold Bloom]] criticized ''Thus Spoke Zarathustra'' in ''[[The Western Canon: The Books and School of the Ages|The Western Canon]]'' (1994), calling it "a gorgeous disaster" and "unreadable".<ref name="Webster">{{cite book |author=Bloom, Harold |title=The Western Canon: The Books and School of the Ages |publisher=Riverhead Books |location=New York |year=1994 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/westerncanonbook00bloo/page/196 196, 422] |isbn=1-57322-514-2 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/westerncanonbook00bloo/page/196}}</ref> Other commentators have suggested that Nietzsche's style is intentionally [[Irony|ironic]] for much of the book.

==English translations==

The first English translation of ''Zarathustra'' was published in 1896 by [[Alexander Tille]].

=== Common (1909) ===
[[Thomas Common]] published a translation in 1909 which was based on Alexander Tille's earlier attempt.<ref name="wk">Nietzsche, Friedrich. Trans. Kaufmann, Walter. ''The Portable Nietzsche''. 1976, pp. 108–09.</ref>

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 wonder whether Common "had little German and less English".<ref name="wk" />

The German text available to Common was considerably flawed.<ref name="cm">Nietzsche, Friedrich. Trans. Martin, Clancy. ''Thus Spoke Zarathustra''. 2005, p. xxxiii.</ref>

From ''Zarathustra's Prologue'':
{{Quote|The Superman is the meaning of the earth. Let your will say: The Superman ''shall be'' the meaning of the earth!<br>I conjure you, my brethren, ''remain true to the earth'', and believe not those who speak unto you of superearthly hopes! Poisoners are they, whether they know it or not.}}

=== Kaufmann (1954) and Hollingdale (1961) ===
The Common translation remained widely accepted until more critical translations, titled ''Thus Spoke Zarathustra'', were published by [[Walter Kaufmann (philosopher)|Walter Kaufmann]] in 1954,<ref name="portable">{{Cite book|last=Nietzsche|first=Friedrich|title=The Portable Nietzsche|publisher=Penguin|others=trans. Walter Kaufmann|year=1954|location=New York}}</ref> and [[R.J. Hollingdale]] in 1961.<ref>Nietzsche, Friedrich. [1883–1885] 1961. ''Thus Spoke Zarathustra'', translated by [[R. J. Hollingdale]]. Harmondsworth: [[Penguin Books]].</ref>

[[Clancy Martin]] states the German text from which Hollingdale and Kaufmann worked was 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. 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 [Nietzsche's] editor".<ref name="cm" />

Kaufmann, from ''Zarathustra's Prologue'':
{{Quote|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.}}

Hollingdale, from ''Zarathustra's Prologue'':
{{Quote|The Superman is the meaning of the earth. Let your will say: the Superman ''shall be'' the meaning of the earth!<br>I entreat you, my brothers, ''remain true to the earth'', and do not believe those who speak to you of superterrestrial hopes! They are poisoners, whether they know it or not.}}

=== 21st-century translations ===

==== Parkes (2005) ====
[[Graham Parkes]] describes his own 2005 translation as trying to convey the musicality of the text.<ref>Parkes, Graham. 2005. "[https://grahamparkes.net/core/elfinder/files/pdf/N21-Parkes-Introduction_to_Nietzsches_ThusSpoke_Zarathustra.pdf Introduction]". In ''Thus spoke Zarathustra''.</ref>

==== Del Caro (2006) ====
In 2006, Cambridge University Press published a translation by [[Adrian Del Caro]] (edited by Del Caro and [[Robert B. Pippin|Robert Pippin]]); this edition aims to restore the original versification of Nietzsche's text and "capture its poetic brilliance", in the words of the publisher.

==Further reading==
=== Selected editions ===
[[File:Buch Also sprach Zarathustra (1999).jpg|thumb|200px|The book ''Thus Spoke Zarathustra'' with pictures by [[Lena Hades]] in German and Russian]]
====English====
*''Thus Spake Zarathustra'', translated by [[Alexander Tille]]. New York: Macmillan. 1896.
*''Thus Spake Zarathustra'', trans. [[Thomas Common]]. Edinburgh: [[T. N. Foulis]]. 1909.
*''Thus Spoke Zarathustra'', trans. [[Walter Kaufmann (philosopher)|Walter Kaufmann]]. New York: [[Random House]]. 1954.
** Reprints: In ''The Portable Nietzsche'', New York: [[Viking Press]]. 1954; Harmondsworth: [[Penguin Books]]. 1976
*''Thus Spoke Zarathustra'', trans. [[R. J. Hollingdale]]. Harmondsworth: Penguin Books. 1961.
*''Thus Spoke Zarathustra'', trans. Graham Parkes. Oxford: [[Oxford World's Classics]]. 2005.
*''Thus Spoke Zarathustra'', trans. [[Clancy Martin]]. [[Barnes & Noble Books]]. 2005.
*''Thus Spoke Zarathustra'', trans. [[Adrian Del Caro|Adrian del Caro]] and edited by [[Robert B. Pippin|Robert Pippin]]. Cambridge: [[Cambridge University Press]]. 2006.
*''Thus Spake Zarathustra'', trans. [[Michael Hulse]]. New York Review Books. 2022.

====German====
*''Also sprach Zarathustra'', edited by [[Giorgio Colli]] and [[Mazzino Montinari]]. Munich: [[Deutscher Taschenbuch Verlag]] (study edition of the standard German Nietzsche edition).
* ''Also sprach Zarathustra'' (bilingual ed.) (in German and Russian), with 20 [[oil painting]]s by [[Lena Hades]]. Moscow: [[Institute of Philosophy, Russian Academy of Sciences]]. 2004. {{ISBN|5-9540-0019-0}}.

=== Commentaries and introductions ===
====English====
* ''Nietzsche's 'Thus Spoke Zarathustra': Before Sunrise'' (essay collection), edited by James Luchte. London: [[Bloomsbury Publishing]]. 2008. {{ISBN|1-84706-221-0}}.
* [[Kathleen Higgins|Higgins, Kathleen]]. [1987]. 2010. ''Nietzsche's Zarathustra'' (rev. ed.). Philadelphia: [[Temple University Press]].
* [[Rajneesh|OSHO]]. 1987. "Zarathustra: A God That Can Dance". Pune, India: OSHO Commune International.
*OSHO. 1987. "Zarathustra: The Laughing Prophet". Pune, India: OSHO Commune International.
* [[Laurence Lampert|Lampert, Laurence]]. 1989. ''Nietzsche's Teaching: An Interpretation of Thus Spoke Zarathustra''. New Haven: [[Yale University Press]].
* [[Stanley Rosen|Rosen, Stanley]]. 1995. ''The Mask of Enlightenment: Nietzsche's Zarathustra''. Cambridge: [[Cambridge University Press]].
** 2nd ed. New Haven: Yale University Press. 2004.
* [[T. K. Seung|Seung, T. K.]] 2005. ''Nietzsche's Epic of the Soul: Thus Spoke Zarathustra''. Lanham, Maryland: [[Lexington Books]].
====German====
* Naumann, Gustav. 1899–1901. ''[https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/006124821 Zarathustra-Commentar]'' (in German), 4 vols. Leipzig: Haessel.
* Zittel, Claus. 2011. ''Das ästhetische Kalkül von Friedrich Nietzsches 'Also sprach Zarathustra'''. Würzburg: [[Königshausen & Neumann]]. {{ISBN|978-3-8260-4649-0}}.
* [[Rüdiger Schmidt-Grépály|Schmidt, Rüdiger]]. "Introduction" (in German). In ''Nietzsche für Anfänger: Also sprach Zarathustra – Eine Lese-Einführung''.
* Zittel, Claus: [[doi:10.1007/s41245-021-00132-8|Wer also erzählt Nietzsches Zarathustra?]], in: Deutsche Vierteljahrsschrift für Literaturwissenschaft und Geistesgeschichte 95, (2021), 327–351.
==See also==
* [[Also sprach Zarathustra]] (Richard Strauss' tone poem, inspired by Nietzsche's work)
* [[Faith in the Earth]]
*''[[Gathas]]'' (Hymns of Zoroaster)
* [[Influence and reception of Friedrich Nietzsche]]
* [[Buddhism and Western philosophy#Nietzsche|Nietzsche and Buddhism]]
* [[Manusmriti#Friedrich Nietzsche|Nietzsche on the ''Manusmriti'']] (Ancient text, otherwise known as ''Mānava-Dharmaśāstra'' or ''Laws of Manu'').
* [[Philosophy of Friedrich Nietzsche]]

==References==

=== Notes ===
{{Reflist|35em|group=lower-roman}}

=== Citations ===
{{reflist}}

==External links==
{{Wikisource|Thus Spake Zarathustra}}
{{Wikiquote|Thus Spoke Zarathustra}}
* {{StandardEbooks|Standard Ebooks URL=https://standardebooks.org/ebooks/friedrich-nietzsche/thus-spake-zarathustra/thomas-common}}
* [http://www.nietzschesource.org/texts/eKGWB/Za-I ''Also sprach Zarathustra''] at Nietzsche Source
* [http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/7205 Project Gutenberg's etext of ''Also sprach Zarathustra'' (the German original)]
* [http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/1998 Project Gutenberg's etext of ''Thus Spake Zarathustra'', translated by Thomas Common]
* {{librivox book | title=Thus Spake Zarathustra | author=Friedrich Nietzsche}}
{{Thus Spoke Zarathustra|state=expanded}}{{Nietzsche}}{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Thus Spoke Zarathustra| ]]
[[Category:1883 German novels| ]]