First published in 1883, ‘Thus Spoke Zarathustra’ is a work of philosophical fiction by Friedrich Nietzsche, a German philosopher, cultural critic, and philologist whose work has exerted a profound influence on modern intellectual history.
The book chronicles the fictitious travels and speeches of Zarathustra. Zarathustra's namesake was the Persian founder of Zoroastrianism, usually known in English as Zoroaster. Nietzsche is undoubtedly showing a ‘new’ or ‘different’ Zarathustra, one who turns traditional morality on its head.
This 19th-century literary masterpiece, tremendously influential in the arts and in philosophy, uses the Persian religious leader to voice the author's views, including the introduction of the controversial doctrine of the Übermensch, or ‘superman’, a term later perverted by Nazi propagandists. A passionate, quasi-biblical style is used to enlighten readers.
