Product Description

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 religiouspieties or meek submission, but in an all-powerful life force: passionate, chaotic & free.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #44796 in Books
• Published on: 2003-07-31
• Original language: German
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 352 pages

About the Author
Frederich Nietzsche (1844-1900) became the chair of classical philology at Basel University at the age of 24 until his bad health forced him to retire in 1879. He divorced himself from society until his final collapse in 1899 when he became insane. He died in 1900. R.J. Hollingdale translated 11 of Nietzsche's books and published 2 books about him.

Customer Reviews

Nice book, pity I can't read it.
Before I start I should say that 'Thus Spake Zarathustra' is an excellent book. It sets forth the majority of Nietschze's views through the mouth of the prophet Zoroaster. The closest thing to a criticism I can levy is that his succeeding works like 'beyond good and evil' might be a bit more suitable if you're a philosophy student like me since they set forward his views a bit more bluntly (on the other hand why not read both). I would normally give it a happy five stars, however in this case I'm not reviewing just the book in general but rather this particular edition. The translator has littered the book with exagerated archaisms. What the intention of this was is a mystery to me but the effect is clear, the book is near to unreadable. Tacking -eth to the end of every verb and sprinkling in thous and thees isn't an improvement and I can hardly believe that it represents in any way the original German. Don't be tempted by the low price, you'll regret it.

Unreadable ye's and thou's
I hate to give Thus Spoke Zarathustra less than five stars in any form, but Common's translation is just unreadable. For a more readable (and better) translation use Kaufmann's version. Despite this, Zarathustra is Nietzsche's masterpiece and one of the greatest books of all time!

A prophecy of things to come
Without doubt one of the greatest works of philosophy and thought. Though all of Nietzsche's works are grand it is this one above all that fully captures his intense and positive belief in the potential for the future of man. It also reflects a self examining and lonely side of the sickly philosopher. The magic and spiritualism of the book is enough to unsure that anyone who reads the text will not be the same person upon completion as they were when they began. Though he may come to certain conclusions that others may feel a need to disagree with, its honesty and intelligence shines through and we are reminded that Nietzsche would have wanted us to challenge what he was saying. It is a text many justly treat as a bible and which is truly a great masterpiece.