This exciting essay focuses on the explanation and analysis of Friedrich Nietzsche's Thus Spoke Zarathustra, one the most influential works in history and whose understanding, due to its complexity and depth, escapes comprehension on a first reading. Whether you have already read Thus Spoke Zarathustra or not, this essay will allow you to immerse yourself in each and every one of its meanings, opening a window to Nietzsche's philosophical thought and his true intention when he created this immortal work.

'Enigmatic, vatic, emphatic, passionate . . . Nietzsche's works together make a unique statement in the literature of European ideas' A. C. Grayling Nietzsche was one of the most revolutionary thinkers in Western philosophy, and Thus Spoke Zarathustra remains his most 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, 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 and free. Translated with an introduction by R. J. HOLLINGDALE

Nietzsche famously regarded Thus Spoke Zarathustra as his greatest work. However, despite Nietzsche's pervasive influence upon the philosopher and non-philosopher alike, and his own intense regard for Zarathustra, there has been relatively little serious study of Nietzsche's magnum opus. This book seeks to address this gap in the available literature by taking Thus Spoke Zarathustra seriously, not only with respect to its impact on the interpretation of Nietzsche's philosophy, but also in light of the broader questions of the relationships between poetry, philosophy and existence. Fifteen leading Nietzsche scholars examine the structure, method, style and sources of Zarathustra as a philosophical text and its relationship to methodological and metaphilosophical questions amid the broader discussions of philosophy. The book also explores the implications of the philosophical questioning, interventions and teachings of Zarathustra with respect to both its negative engagement with the tradition and its attempt to set forth something new under the sun in its affirmative overcoming of nihilism.

Presented in hardcover, this title has been carefully edited and reset in a modern design for greater readability. It includes an introduction, informative notes and a chronology of the writer's life and times to enable the reader to gain a deeper understanding of these enduring works.

Descending from mountaintops, the priest Zarathustra announces "God is dead" to the people. Though met with immediate scorn and mockery, he continues on, spending the rest of his days describing the means by which God's successor--the "Superman"--can be found within. Thus Spoke Zarathustra is Friedrich Nietzsche's philosophical masterpiece that explores how the meaning of life is formed in purely human terms.