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Neitzche must've ad a lot of time on his hands (particularly chasing after his sister). This book the well written. It had some deep philosophical logic quotation that really make you say "hmmm." It's a hard, but, great read. Thus Spake the Reviewer.
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Note: I'm considering the Clancy Martin translation from the Barnes & Noble classics series. That edition is brilliant and inexpensive, but hard to find on Amazon.
Nietzsche considers this his masterpiece, and one struggles to disagree. To read Zarathustra is to fall into a sort of trance. Though Nietzsche alludes pervasively (largely to Christianity, classic lit, and contemporary philosophy), the core story of Zarathustra is a easy to follow: Zarathustra struggles to discover how 'common' man might evolve into the 'overman' - a.k.a. 'superman' or the German 'Ubermensch'.
The prose is gorgeous, overflowing with imagery and playful wordplay even in translation. Nietzsche argues fearlessly for an ultimate belief in man's potential, criticizing the pleasure-less religious piety that revolves around man's false hope (to Nietzsche) for the afterlife. Whether or not you are persuaded to humanism, Zarathustra's "coming-of-age" story sparkles with provocative philosophy without even a hint of clumsy philosopher-speak. It is an absolute delight for any reader willing to grapple with new ideas.
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Very interesting read, and this copy is small enough to carry, I read
this on trips on the plane, and it flows nicely. Recommend it.
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Ah, heck. Call me uncouth or whatever, but reading these 150 year old philosophy works can often be taxing on a today-man like myself. Honestly, I wasn't ready for the thee, thou... Anyway, sorry I tarnisheth a worketh such as thiseth. My bad. Otherwise, love Nietzsche so far. I've only read two books of his, and I guess I'm surprised by how far ahead of his time he was on religious matters. Philosophy with a hammer, indeed.
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God is dead?
Do You really care? ...
"But he "had" to die: he saw with eyes that saw everything; he saw man's depths and ultimate grounds, all his concealed disgrace and ugliness. His pity knew no shame: he crawled into my dirtiest nooks. This most curious, over obtrusive, over pitying one had to die. He always saw me: on such a witness I wanted to have revenge or not live myself. The god who saw everything, even man---this god had to die! Man cannot bear it that such a witness should live. Thus spoke the Ugliest man."
After reading Thus Spoke Zarathustra several times, I've decided it is not reviewable and, perhaps, not meant to be reviewed, as it will be something different to each individual mind -- like God, the color blue, or the taste of a fine wine.
Thus Spoke Zarathustra is absolutely one of the most informative, easy to read, humorous, internationally-debated, philosophical - theological, psychological writings to date -- and still, not many have a clue as to what Nietzsche has brought to the table, or even why. Indeed, this is better than Da Vinci Code (sorry Mr. Brown). It is a book for None and All, to be sure. I dub Nietzsche's Thus Spoke Zarathustra the 8th Wonder of the World.
"I walk among this people and keep my eyes open: they do not forgive me that I do not envy their virtues. They bite at me because I say to them: small people need small virtues --- and because I find it hard to accept that small people are needed.
I am like a rooster in a strange yard, where the hens also bite at him; but I am not angry with the hens on that account. I am polite to them as with all small annoyances; to be prickly to what is small strikes me as wisdom for hedgehogs."
Highly Recommended! --Katharena Eiermann, 2007, the Realm of Existentialism -- Presidential Hopeful
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