Friedrich Nietzsche was born in 1844 in Rocken, Germany, and was the son of a minister. When Nietzche was quite young, his father went insane and died, leaving him to grow up in a household of women. He went on to become an excellent student, and was granted a doctorate in philology (study of language in written historical sources) at the age of 24, before he had even written a dissertation. At this time, he was a follower of Immanuel Kant, although he criticized him later on in his life.
In 1870, Nietzsche served as a medical orderly in the Franco-Prussian War, where he contracted dysentery, diphtheria, and possibly syphilis. He suffered from increasing ill health, migraines, indigestion, insomnia, and near blindness for the rest of his life.
Thus Spoke Zarathustra was published in four parts between 1883 and 1885. Nietzsche wrote each of the first three parts in ten-day periods and each part was published separately, with the fourth part not reaching the general public until 1892.
In January 1889 he collapsed in the street and soon after became insane, like his father. He remained in an incapacitated state for the last eleven years of his life, and died in 1900, aged 56.
Nietzsche has influenced twentieth-century philosophy more than almost any other thinker has. He has been an inspiration to almost every new movement in European philosophy in this century, and his critiques and methodology were far ahead of his time.
Thus Spoke Zarathustra, as the title implies, revolves around Zarathustra, who was a Persian prophet who lived and preached in the fifth century. He was the first philosopher to believe in a universe that is fundamentally defined by a struggle between good and evil. Nietzsche uses him as his protagonist, since, he believed, the first prophet to preach about good and evil should also be the first to move beyond good and evil. In the book, Zarathustra preaches about the overman who has moved beyond the concepts of good and evil, and has embraced the eternal recurrence. It is unclear whether or not Nietzsche means Zarathustra himself to be an overman, though if this is the case, this only occurs in the fourth part of the book, when he finally embraces the eternal recurrence.
The Overman is the goal of humanity. It is someone who has overcome himself fully: he obeys no laws except the ones he gives himself. This means a level of self- mastery that frees him from the prejudices and assumptions of the people around him. The Overman has a creative will, and a strong will to power. Zarathustra suggests that no overman has yet existed, but that we must try to breed one. As a race, we are only justified by the exceptional people among us.
The term “Eternal Recurrence” is the idea that all events will be repeated over and over again for all eternity. Zarathustra outlines his vision of the eternal recurrence in Part III: If the past stretches back infinitely, then anything that could have happened must have happened already at some time in the past. Meaning every moment has already occurred in the past and must recur again sometime in the future. Walter Kaufmann reads this as a scientific hypothesis that is mistaken. Gilles Deleuze reads this as a fundamental expression of the fact that the universe is in a constant state of change and becoming, and that there is no moment of fixity, or being. Nietzsche would probably agree with Deleuze. The overman can look at his past and himself as something entirely willed by himself, and be delighted by the thought that this process (which includes changes) will recur forever.
The novel opens with Zarathustra descending from his cave in the mountains after ten years of solitude. He is full of wisdom and love, and wants to teach humanity about the overman. He arrives in the town of Motley Cow, and announces that the overman must be the meaning of the earth. Mankind is just a bridge between animal and overman, and as such, must be overcome. The overman is someone who is free from all the prejudices and moralities of human society, and who creates his own values and purpose.
There are three stages of progress toward the overman: the camel, the lion, and the child. In the first, one must renounce their comforts, exercise self- discipline, and accept all sorts of difficulties for the sake of knowledge and strength. Second, one must assert their independence, saying "no" to all outside influences and commands, and lastly comes the act of new creation.
The bulk of the first three parts is made up of individual lessons and sermons delivered by Zarathustra. They cover most of the general themes of Nietzsche's mature philosophy, though often in highly symbolic and ambiguous form. He values struggle and hardship, since the road toward the overman is difficult and requires a great deal of sacrifice. The struggle toward the overman is often symbolically represented as climbing a mountain, and the light-hearted free spirit of the overman is often represented through laughter and dance.
Zarathustra is harshly critical of all kinds of mass movements, and of the "rabble" in general. Christianity is based upon a hatred of the body and of this earth, and an attempt to deny them both by believing in the spirit and in an afterlife. Nationalism and mass politics are also means by which weary, weak, or sick bodies try to escape from themselves. Zarathustra suggests that those who are strong enough, struggle. Those who are not strong give up and turn to religion, nationalism, democracy, or some other means of escape.
The conclusion of Zarathustra's preaching is the principle of the eternal recurrence, which claims that all events will repeat themselves again and again forever. Only the overman can embrace this doctrine, since only the overman has the strength of will to take responsibility for every moment in his life and to wish nothing more than for each moment to be repeated. Zarathustra has trouble facing the eternal recurrence, as he cannot bear the thought that the mediocrity of society will be repeated through all eternity without improvement.
In Part IV, Zarathustra assembles a number of men in his cave who he feels are as close possible to becoming the overman. There, they enjoy a feast and a number of songs. The book ends with Zarathustra joyfully embracing the eternal recurrence, and the thought that "all joy wants deep eternity."
Thus Spoke Zarathustra is one of the strangest books in the Western philosophical tradition because it is written in a similar style to the Gospels in the Bible and is full of biblical allusions, but it also harshly condemns Christianity and mocks the idea of a holy scripture or a holy person. Zarathustra is essentially a man who praises laughter, and who is even able to laugh at himself.
Nietzsche's subtitle—"A Book for None and All"— explains the peculiar style in which it was written. Nietzsche was an incredibly lonely man, and he believed that none of his peers understood him intellectually. He knew perfectly well that his works would be misunderstood, and his writings are full with harsh condemnations of "the rabble." In that sense, Zarathustra is a book for none: Nietzsche feared that his writings would fall on deaf ears. On the other hand, his subject matter concerns the fate and destiny of the human race, and in that sense it is a book for all. The fact that Nietzsche felt his work to be of supreme significance along with the fact that he had no sense of an audience explains the boldness of his writing.
Nietzsche's philosophy, and Zarathustra in particular, can be explained using the principle of the will to power as the fundamental force of all things. Everything must obey something, and if one can't obey themselves, they must obey someone else. True freedom is only granted to those who can command themselves. The will to power does not apply only to beings, but also to ideas: religion, morality, truth, and other concepts are all subject to the same struggle for power that dominates life. Because all things are characterized by a constant struggling, striving, and overcoming, nothing can remain fixed in place for too long. All things are constantly changing; permanence and stability are mere illusions.
Examples of this are Christianity's belief in absolutes or in God, the rabble's love of nationalism and democracy, and the scholar's obsession with truth. They can all be condemned as contrary to the spirit of change, impermanence, and inequality that are essential to life. Those who strive against this spirit of change are striving against life, and thus are clearly sick and weak and wanting to escape from life.
The overman, however, is the full realization of a healthy will to power. He has gained complete power over himself, so that he is entirely a creation of his own will. His character, his values, his spirit are all exactly as he has willed them to be. In that sense, the overman is totally free and absolutely powerful.
Sources
Thus Spoke Zarathustra-Friedrich Nietzche
http://www.google.com/http://www.wikipedia.com/
http://www.sparknotes.com/
http://www.wsu.edu/~brians/hum_303/zarathustra.html
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