Other editions of book Thus Spake Zarathustra: Illustrated

This astonishing series of aphorisms, put into the mouth of the Persian sage Zarathustra, or Zoroaster, contains the kernel of Nietzsche's thought. 'God is dead', he tells us. Christianity is decadent, leading mankind into a slave morality concerned not with this life, but with the next. Nietzsche emphasises the 'Ubermensch, or Superman, whose will to power makes him the creator of a new heroic mentality. The intensely felt ideas are expressed in prose-poetry of indefinable beauty.

Written in a series of frenzied bursts between 1883 and 1885, Thus Spoke Zarathustra is Friedrich Nietzsche's masterpiece. It is also one of the most controversial books in the history of European literature - a founding classic of modernism in philosophy and poetics, which promised to "break the history of humanity in two."Zarathustra - "Star of Gold" - the sun-worshipping prophet of the earliest strain of monotheism, returns to recant and condemn his own ideas in the name of an entity he calls the bermensch (super-human). He wanders through a strangely familiar land whose customs, laws, and values have been mortgaged to religion and commerce. The people who live there believe they exist at the summit of civilization, wealth, freedom and good taste; Zarathustra's chosen mission is to educate them that the very opposite is true.This revelatory new translation by Dr. Stephen J Metcalf strips Thus Spoke Zarathustra down to its foundations in Gothic horror, and discovers a much darker book than previously suggested - not content with the empty refrain of "God is dead," it sings a dithyramb to the earth at the same time as it mercilessly hunts down the concept of humanity to its theological bedrock. Epic and neo-classical, minimalist and ultra-modern; at times aggressive and confrontational, at others tender, lyrical, grotesque and comical - this is the closest reproduction of the tone and tenor of the German original available in English today.

Nietzsche was one of the most revolutionary and subversive thinkers in Western philosophy, and "Thus Spoke Zarathustra" remains his most famous and influential work. It describes how the ancient Persian prophet Zarathustra descends from his solitude in the mountains to tell the world that God is dead and that the Superman, the human embodiment of divinity, is his successor. With blazing intensity and poetic brilliance, Nietzsche argues that the meaning of existence is not to be found in religious pieties or meek submission, but in an all-powerful life force: passionate, chaotic & free.

This was conceived and written by Friedrich Nietzsche during the years 1881-1885; the first three Parts were published in 1883 and 1884. The book formed part of his 'campaign against morality', in which Nietzsche explored the ethical consequences of the 'death of God'. Heavily critical not only of Christian values but also of their modern replacements, Thus spoke Zarathustra argues for a new value-system based around the prophecy of the Ubermensch, or Superman. Its appropriation by the National Socialist movement in Germany early in the twentieth century has tainted its reputation unjustly; but there are signs that the rehabilitation of Nietzsche, and of this his most incendiary work, is almost complete. Read by Alex Jennings, there are helpful introductions to every chapter.

How is this book unique? Font adjustments & biography included Unabridged (100% Original content) Illustrated About Thus Spoke Zarathustra by Friedrich Nietzsche Thus Spoke Zarathustra: A Book for All and None (German: Also sprach Zarathustra: Ein Buch für Alle und Keinen, also translated as Thus Spake Zarathustra) is a philosophical novel by German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche, composed in four parts between 1883 and 1885 and published between 1883 and 1891. Much of the work deals with ideas such as the "eternal recurrence of the same", the parable on the "death of God", and the "prophecy" of the Übermensch, which were first introduced in The Gay Science.

hus Spake Zarathustra is a masterpiece of literature as well as philosophy. It was Nietzsche's own favorite and has proved to be his most popular. In this book he addresses the problem of how to live a fulfilling life in a world without meaning, in the aftermath of "the death of God." His solution lies in the idea of eternal recurrence, which he calls "the highest formula of affirmation that can ever be attained." A successful engagement with this profoundly Dionysian idea enables us to choose clearly among the myriad possibilities that existence offers, and thereby to affirm every moment of our lives with others on this "sacred" earth. Grahm Parkes's new translation is more accurate than previous versions, and is the first to retain the musicality of the original, by paying attention to the rhythms and cadences of the German. His introduction examines the work's three most important philosophical ideas and for the first time annotates the abundance of allusions to the Bible and other classic texts with which Nietzsche's masterpiece is in conversation.