Thus Spoke Zarathustra: A Book for Everyone and No One (Penguin Classics)

by Friedrich Nietzsche and F.W. Nietzsche

Book Overview

Friedrich Nietzsche's most accessible and influential philosophical work, misquoted, misrepresented, brilliantly original and enormously influential Nietzsche was one of the most revolutionary and... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0140441182
• ISBN13: 8601417134900
• Release Date: November 1961
• Publisher: Penguin Classics
• Length: 352 Pages
• Weight: 0.51 lbs.
• Dimensions: 7.8" x 0.8" x 5.1"

Customer Reviews

Thus Spoke Zarathustra

I can't say enough good words about the book. Zarathustra casts aside dogmatism, pity, and humanity itself! I think that different people will end up with a different interpretation of the tale and I think that, if you are going to read it, you should do so without seeing other's commentary first to get the full effect.

A Classic.....

This is one of those books filled with those ideas that you've thought all your life but few have the courage to admit, even to themselves. Nietzsche takes a brutally honest look at human nature including the uglier things. He rightly shows no mercy towards clergy and the morality of self negation and pity. All is done in a beautiful, poetic style. The moral of the story is to be above the masses, to go above your limits and to enjoy yourself while doing it. Its a positive philosophy that if implemented can make someone that rare person who rises above the herd and makes their short time on this earth worth it.

A book for those who search

This book does not have any easy answers. It is not the purpose of the book. The purpose of the book is to make the reader think for themselves. I find the book a comforting read - it gives hope and meaning to everyone that is dissatisfied with the answers given by organized religion, political parties, or just the usual howling mobs of sheep that think that just because they are members of a group they are wolves. Nietzsche probably understood suffering and loss better than most, but he also understood hope better than most. True spiritual strength does not come from religious dogma or membership of a group. It comes from within, we all have it. For Nietzsche the only eternal truth is that we should always work for our betterment. We need no God or Leader to tell us what to do. In the end Nietzsche wants us to reject even him - he cannot tell us what we should do! It can be said that horrible crimes have been committed in Nietzsche's name, but can we ignore that even more horrible crimes have been committed in God's or Allah's name? Or in the guise of "the common good" so favoured by our politicians?

Obra maestra

Asi hablo Zaratustra es una obra maestra de la filosofia contemporanea. Jamas he deseado conocer otro idioma (el aleman) tanto como al leer este libro. Esta obra escrita en parabolas, para acentuar su similitud con la Biblia, despliega el pensamiento filosofico de uno de los hombres mas estudiados de la historia, llevada de la mano de una maestria estetica solo comparable con obras como La Divina Comedia de Dante. Zaratustra es la anti-bibila donde convergen las ideas del Dios muerto, la voluntad de poderio y el eterno retorno, base fundamental de la filosofia de Nietzsche. No solo es una gran obra para el que desea leerla con propositos academicos, sino para todo el que mas alla de querer encontrar respuestas sobre la existencia, esta buscando preguntas, esta buscando cuestionarse, abrir los ojos, ante todo lo antes creido.

Tale of an Ubermensch

Nietzsche's Thus Spoke Zarathustra is probably his most famous work as well as being the work least popular among readers. This is probably partially because it is written in fictional form. Zarathustra is well designed to frustrate twentieth century philosophy of the analytic tradition, which seeks conceptual clarity at the expense of rhetorical form, indeed often insisting on the separation between a concept and the vehicle of its expression. Moreover, the utilization of the work by the Nazi war effort did little to improve the books reception in the Anglo-American world.The book is philosophically interesting, in part because it does employ literary tropes and genres to philosophical effect. Zarathustra makes frequent use of parody, particularly of the Platonic dialogues and the New Testament. This strategy immediately places Zarathustra on a par with Socrates and Christ--and as a clear alternative to them. The erudite allusions to works spanning the Western philosophical and literary traditions also play a philosophical role, for they both reveal Nietzsche's construct of the tradition he inherited and flag points at which he views it as problematic.Much of the book consists of Zarathustra's speeches on philosophical themes. These often obscure the plotline of the book. The book does involve a plot, however, which includes sections in which Zarathustra is "off-stage," in private reflection, and some in which he seems extremely distressed about the way his teaching and his life are going. Zarathustra attempts to instruct the crowds and the occasional higher man that he encounters in the book; but his most important teaching is his education of the reader, accomplished through demonstrative means. Zarathustra teaches by showing.Zarathustra stands in he tradition of the German Bildungsroman, in which a character's development toward spiritual maturity is chronicled. Zarathustra can be seen as a paradigm for the modern, spiritually sensitive individual, one who grapples with nihilism, the contemporary crisis in values in the wake of the collapse of the Christian worldview that assigned humanity a clear place in the world.In the popular imagination, Nietzsche's idea of the Ubermensch is one of his most memorable and significant ideals. However, the concept of the Ubermensch is actually discussed little in the book. The topic is the theme of the first speech in "Zarathustra's Prologue," which he presents to a crowd gathered for a circus. The audience interprets Zarathustra as a circus barker and the speech as an introduction to a performance by a tightrope walker. The concept is mentioned recurrently in Part I as something of a refrain to Zarathustra's speeches. But the word Ubermensch rarely occurs after that. Additionally, the notion of the Ubermensch is presented in more imagistic than explanatory terms. The Ubermensch, according to Zarathustra, is continually experimental, willing to risk all for the enhancement of humanity. Th

One of the most important books of the last century

Friedrich Nietzsche was a "failure" in his time. He was branded a nihilist and heretic and his works dismissed as the ramblings of a mad man. After the Great War many philosophers such as Heidegger resurected the works of Nietzsche and Kierkegaard (to name a few) and studied them with greater admiration. We should be thankful that the works of such an imaginative genius such as Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche was called into the spotlight. Nietzsche constructed one of the most original and radical philosophies in all its history, as challenging to everyday life as Karl Marx. His ideas still send shockwaves through the Christian community because so much of what he says is blatantly obvious and true. Most people dismiss Nietzsche's slogan that "God is dead", but in this work Nietzsche truly refines this statement and incorporates brilliant ideas about living for the Earth, striving to become Der Ubermensch and the path to release from Christianities chains. The main theme of this book is that which Nietzshce will probably be best remembered for, but for all the wrong reasons. Nietzsche's vision of the "Superman" (der Ubermensch) was an idea that his sister, in co-operation with Hitler, twisted to begin the Nazi experiments for the Superrace. The Superman is at the centre of this book and Nietzsche gives a perfect description of his vision and furthermore what it will incorporate and help to abolish. It soon becomes clear that Nietzsche's Superman is far different from Hitler's, furthermore because it is not as brutal and inhumane and lastly because it centres around completely different principals: HItler wanted a physical Superman, but Nietzsche's Superman would be MENTALLY strong rather than purely physically. THe language in this book is amazing. Whether Walter Kauffman's translation has buttered it up or not is beyond my capacity to comment on, but the poetry (not prose) that Nietzsche uses is comparible to the likes of Shakespeare. The ammount of metaphors that Nietzsche draws is immense, and he beautifully illustrates all his main points without a single drawing. This is a brilliant masterpiece, whether you agree with every point that Nietzsche makes (and few do) you will still be able to appreciate the beautiful poetry. And still, how ever much you may disagree, this book is thought provoking and seems to shake your entire world upside down. It is far more preferal to Anton Scanzor LaVey "interpretation" of the Nietzschean philosophy in "the Satanic Bible" and is a must-read!