Thus Spoke Zarathustra
Philosophical fiction by Nietzsche on the Übermensch and eternal recurrence.
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Thus Spoke Zarathustra: A Book for All and None (German: *Also sprach Zarathustra: Ein Buch für Alle und Keinen*) is a philosophical novel by the German thinker Friedrich Nietzsche. It came out in four installments from 1883 to 1885. The main character is based on the historical figure Zarathustra, known in the West as Zoroaster. Most of the book is made up of speeches Zarathustra gives on many different topics, and these speeches almost always end with the line "thus spoke Zarathustra." This character first showed up in Nietzsche’s earlier work *The Gay Science*, in section 342. The writing style is full of analogies and figurative language, so there is no agreement on exactly what Zarathustra means, though there is some agreement on what he talks about. The book covers everything from everyday matters to deep philosophy—metaphysics, war, perspectivism, and nature’s lack of morality—and it introduces or expands on key Nietzschean ideas like the Übermensch, the death of God, the will to power, and eternal recurrence.
Nietzsche grew up in the *Bildungsbürgertum*, a highly educated middle class. As a teenager he wrote music and poetry. His aunt Rosalie gave him a biography of Alexander von Humboldt for his 15th birthday, which sparked a love of learning for its own sake. His schooling and surroundings encouraged an interest in *Bildung*, a concept that touches on many themes in *Zarathustra*, and he worked very hard. He became an outstanding philologist almost by accident, giving up his earlier artistic ambitions. This training made him especially aware of how ideas are passed on and changed, which matters for *Zarathustra*. But Nietzsche grew to dislike philology as his interest in philosophy grew. As a student, his work on Diogenes Laertius combined both fields, and even then he strongly opposed accepted views. His later philosophical books continued that opposition and have been called acts of nihilistic destruction. This destruction, along with growing isolation and the rejection of his marriage proposals to Lou Andreas-Salomé, left him devastated. While writing *Thus Spoke Zarathustra*, he walked a great deal. The images from those walks mixed with his physical, emotional, and intellectual pain, as well as his decades of hard work, and what "erupted" was *Thus Spoke Zarathustra*.
Nietzsche said the central idea of the book is eternal recurrence. He claimed this idea first came to him in August 1881, while walking near a "pyramidal block of stone" by Lake Silvaplana in the Upper Engadine. He jotted down a note: "6,000 feet beyond man and time." A few weeks later, he paraphrased something Friedrich von Hellwald had written about Zarathustra in a notebook, and that paraphrase grew into the opening of *Thus Spoke Zarathustra*. A year and a half after that, Nietzsche was living in Rapallo. He said the entire first part was conceived while walking—specifically on "the magnificent road to Zoagli" and around "the whole Bay of Santa Margherita." In a letter, he wrote that the first part "was conceived in the course of strenuous hiking: absolute certainty, as if every sentence were being called out to me." He returned to "the sacred place" in the summer of 1883 and "found" the second part. The following winter, in Nice, he "found" the third part. According to his autobiography *Ecce Homo*, the whole work took "scarcely one year," with each part written in ten days. But he also said in a letter: "The whole of Zarathustra is an explosion of forces that have been accumulating for decades." He finished the third part in January 1884 and thought the book was done. By November, however, he expected a fourth part to be finished by January, and he mentioned plans for a fifth and sixth part leading to Zarathustra’s death, "or else he will give me no peace." After finishing the fourth part, he called it "a fourth (and last) part of Zarathustra, a kind of sublime finale, which is not at all meant for the public." The first three parts were published separately at first, then together in one volume in 1887. The fourth part was written in 1885. While Nietzsche was still mentally capable and involved in publishing his works, he had forty copies of the fourth part printed at his own expense and gave them to his closest friends, telling them he had "a vehement desire never to have the Fourth Part made public." In 1889, however, he became severely incapacitated. Part four was published separately in March 1892, and all four parts appeared together in a single volume that July.
In *Ecce Homo* (1888), Nietzsche explained why he chose the Persian figure Zoroaster as his protagonist. He wrote that people never asked him what the name Zarathustra meant in his mouth, as the first immoralist—because this Persian was the exact opposite of an immoralist. Zarathustra was the first to see...
- author
- Friedrich Nietzsche
- published
- 1883–1885 (four volumes)
- original language
- German
- genre
- Philosophical fiction
- central idea
- Eternal recurrence
- protagonist
- Zarathustra (Zoroaster)
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Lore & Background
Nietzsche was born into the Bildungsbürgertum, a highly cultivated middle class. By his teenage years he wrote music and poetry; a biography of Alexander von Humboldt given by his aunt Rosalie inspired a love of learning for its own sake. He became an outstanding philologist almost accidentally and renounced his ideas about being an artist. His work with Diogenes Laertius and his growing distaste for philology, combined with his turn to philosophy, led him to strongly oppose received opinion. His earlier books have been described as nihilistic destruction, and his increasing isolation and rejection of his marriage proposals to Lou Andreas-Salomé devastated him. While working on Thus Spoke Zarathustra, he walked very often; the imagery of his walks mingled with his physical, emotional, and intellectual pains and his prior decades of hard work. What "erupted" was Thus Spoke Zarathustra. Nietzsche said the central idea—the eternal recurrence—first occurred to him in August 1881 near a "pyramidal block of stone" while walking through the woods along the shores of Lake Silvaplana in the Upper Engadine, and he made a small note reading "6,000 feet beyond man and time." A few weeks later, he paraphrased something written by Friedrich von Hellwald about Zarathustra, which was developed into the beginning of the book. Nietzsche claimed the entire first part was conceived while walking "the magnificent road to Zoagli" and "the whole Bay of Santa Margherita," saying in a letter that it "was conceived in the course of strenuous hiking: absolute certainty, as if every sentence were being called out to me." He returned to "the sacred place" in summer 1883 and "found" the second part; in Nice the following winter he "found" the third part. According to Nietzsche in Ecce Homo, it was "scarcely one year for the entire work," and ten days each part. More broadly, he said in a letter: "The whole of Zarathustra is an explosion of forces that have been accumulating for decades." In January 1884, Nietzsche finished the third part and thought the book finished, but by November he expected a fourth part by January, also mentioning a fifth and sixth part leading to Zarathustra's death. After the fourth part was finished, he called it "a fourth (and last) part of Zarathustra, a kind of sublime finale, which is not at all meant for the public." The first three parts were initially published individually and together in 1887. The fourth part was written in 1885; forty copies were printed at Nietzsche's own expense and distributed to his closest friends, to whom he expressed "a vehement desire never to have the Fourth Part made public." In 1889 Nietzsche became significantly incapacitated. In March 1892 part four was published separately, and the following July the four parts were published in a single volume.
Reader's Guide
Thus Spoke Zarathustra is a pivotal work in Nietzsche's oeuvre, introducing or elaborating ideas that have profoundly influenced philosophy, literature, and culture. Its style is analogical and figurative, leading to varied and often incompatible interpretations of what Zarathustra says, though there is some consensus on the subjects he addresses. The book's central idea, eternal recurrence, was first conceived by Nietzsche in August 1881. The work also presents the Übermensch, the death of God, and the will to power. Nietzsche chose the Persian figure Zarathustra because, as he wrote in Ecce Homo, Zarathustra created morality and therefore must be the first to expose it, overcoming morality through truthfulness. The book's composition was rapid and intense, with Nietzsche describing it as an eruption of forces accumulated over decades. Its publication history is complex: the first three parts were published individually and together in 1887; the fourth part was initially withheld from the public at Nietzsche's request, only appearing after his mental collapse. The work remains a touchstone for discussions of nihilism, perspectivism, and the amorality of nature.
Did You Know?
- The character of Zarathustra first appeared in Nietzsche's earlier book The Gay Science at §342, which closely resembles §1 of 'Zarathustra's Prologue'.
- Nietzsche said the central idea of eternal recurrence first occurred to him in August 1881 near a 'pyramidal block of stone' while walking through the woods along the shores of Lake Silvaplana.
- Nietzsche claimed the entire first part of Thus Spoke Zarathustra was conceived while walking 'the magnificent road to Zoagli' and 'the whole Bay of Santa Margherita'.
- Only forty copies of the fourth part were printed at Nietzsche's own expense and distributed to his closest friends, as he expressed 'a vehement desire never to have the Fourth Part made public'.
- Nietzsche described the composition of Thus Spoke Zarathustra as 'an explosion of forces that have been accumulating for decades.'
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