Nietzsche regarded 'Thus Spoke Zarathustra' as his most important work, and his story of the wandering Zarathustra has had enormous influence on subsequent culture. Nietzsche uses a mixture of homilies, parables, epigrams and dreams to introduce some of his most striking doctrines, including the Overman, nihilism, and the eternal return of the same. This edition offers a new translation by Adrian Del Caro which restores the original versification of Nietzsche's text and captures its poetic brilliance. Robert Pippin's introduction discusses many of the most important interpretative issues raised by the work, including who is Zarathustra and what kind of 'hero' is he and what is the philosophical significance of the work's literary form? The volume will appeal to all readers interested in one of the most original and inventive works of modern philosophy.

Table of Contents

First Part

Zarathustra’s Prologue

The Speeches of Zarathustra

On the Three Metamorphoses

On the Teachers of Virtue

On the Hinterworldly

On the Despisers of the Body

On the Passions of Pleasure and Pain

On the Pale Criminal

On Reading and Writing

On the Tree on the Mountain

On the Preachers of Death

On War and Warriors

On the New Idol

On the Flies of the Market Place

On Chastity

On the Friend

On a Thousand and One Goals

On Love of the Neighbor

On the Way of the Creator

On Little Women Old and Young

On the Adder’s Bite

On Child and Marriage

On Free Death

On the Bestowing Virtue

Second Part

The Child with the Mirror

On the Blessed Isles

On the Pitying

On Priests

On the Virtuous

On the Rabble

On the Tarantulas

On the Famous Wise Men

The Night Song

The Dance Song

The Grave Song

On Self-Overcoming

On the Sublime Ones

On the Land of Education

On Immaculate Perception

On Scholars

On Poets

On Great Events

The Soothsayer

On Redemption

On Human Prudence

The Stillest Hour

Third Part

The Wanderer

On the Vision and the Riddle

On Unwilling Bliss

Before Sunrise

On Virtue that Makes Small

On the Mount of Olives

On Passing By

On Apostates

The Homecoming

On the Three Evils

On the Spirit of Gravity

On Old and New Tablets

The Convalescent

On Great Longing

The Other Dance Song

The Seven Seals (Or: the Yes and Amen Song)

Fourth and Final Part

The Honey Sacrifice

The Cry of Distress

Conversation with the Kings

The Leech

The Magician

Retired

The Ugliest Human Being

The Voluntary Beggar

The Shadow

At Noon

The Welcome

The Last Supper

On the Higher Man

The Song of Melancholy

On Science

Among Daughters of the Desert

The Awakening

The Ass Festival

The Sleepwalker Song

The Sign