Thus Spoke Zarathustra

Summary

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'Thus Spoke Zarathustra' Summary of the book

“Thus Spoke Zarathustra: A Book for All and None” is a novel by the German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche that was originally published in four parts between 1883 and 1891.

The novel is a philosophical treatise on Nietzsche’s ideals and his idea of the “overman”. Several of the philosopher’s most famous concepts are introduced in the novel. Including the idea that God is dead (meaning that societies old foundations are dead and that the idea of good and evil has changed) and the “eternal recurrence of the same” or the idea that time is an everlasting line and that anything that can happen has already happened and will happen again eventually.

Nietzsche uses the protagonist of the fifth century B.C.E. Philosopher, Zarathustra in order to tell the story. Zarathustra comes down from his mountain top cave to preach to the people about the Overman but is soon rebuked. The book is mainly comprised of Zarathustra’s lessons to the people and to himself. In the end, he battles his final sin: pity and sees a sign that the overman is coming.