Thus Spoke Zarathustra

Wed, 31 Dec 1969 19:31:23 -0500

My first foray into Nietzche I did not find this book to be super enjoyable. It is about Zarathustra who is a spokesman for Nietzche’s new vision. He declares that God is dead and presents the idea of the over-man (or superman) as what should replace him. This super man should be a warrior and have a personal sense of pride and above all should not be driven by pity. For as one of the most interesting quotes of the book says, “Thus spoke the devil to me, once on a time: “Even God has his hell: it is his love for man”. And lately did I hear him say these words: “God is dead: of his pity for man has God died”. So, Zarathustra comes down from a mountain and teaches some disciples about his ideas but then they try to couple his idea with some ideas of Christianity. This will not do because this is the thing that led to the death of God in the first place. So, after teaching these disciples Zarathustra starts to become overwhelmed with pity for man as well. So, he retreats back to his mountain and reconnects with nature to “find himself”. He thus returns to his enlightened state of supreme joy and happiness. After some time, some “higher men” of various types come to visit him. He thinks that they may be a sort of mantle carrier for him after he passes. But long story short, although better than most they are no superman. The story ends with him deciding to come down from the mountain again in an attempt to find some men that would live up to his standards. As far as writing goes it was pretty well written (obvious) I feel like as with most poetic type of literature it was hard to follow from time to time due to the over-floweryness of the language. Overall, I did not really like the tone very much because the “enlightened” character seemed to mirror Nietzsche’s own character too closely. It seemed a little like a long high five to himself for being so awesome and better than everyone else.

Anti_pity on George's Blog

Thus Spoke Zarathustra