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Summary: A philosophical classic that must be read.
Review: Though I don`t necessarily agree with Neitzsche's philosophy, he has always stood out as a brilliant mind. Zarathustra is a character that captures his spirit and stimulates your thoughts. On a long journey from the forest to civilization and back again, Neitzsche shows through Zarathustra's thinking and actions many profound thoughts and ideas very new at the time of it`s printing (and some that are still not thought of). Zarathustra takes us on a journey that resembles Jesus in the bible; finding followers and teaching them, though his teachings are often very unholy. Neitzsche's later work sums it up well (The Anti-Christ).
"God is dead" and man has killed him, spoke Zarathustra. Do I agree with all of his ideas? Of course not. Do I think it was a good book? I had never come across as interesting a philosophy until Ayn Rand's "Anthem" preaching Objectivism. This is definitely a good read to open up your mind and to read from an Objectivist's point of view.
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Summary: Free your mind
Review: Nietzsche's great gift to mankind is also his greatest joke and his greatest trap. The idea's in it are facinating and complex and invite endless re-reading. That endless re-reading it both the joke and the trap. The joke is on you if you re-read to learn more about Nietzsche. You should only be reading to learn more about yourself. Remember that N looked for those who would "follow him becuase they wished to follow themselves," he would teach them to follow themselves, but then, they must go away, wrestle with him, and reject him. After that rejection, he would return with love. Until that rejection, they were still followers, maybe they would come to belive him again, as levels of understanding increased, ('my today refutes my yesterday') but now he would be a guide and not a leader. I suppose one could even re-embrace chistianity but as an awakened one and not as a slave. Remember that N is not telling you what to think, he is telling you that YOU must think and why he thinks like he does. So read him and reject him ( reject him becuase you think, not becuase you are christian) then read him again. Let him become your best enemy and love him not for what he says but for what he makes you become. But then again, don't just take my word for it.
as a note on the translation, Kuafmann is probably the best out there. Don't waste your time with Common if you are a cusual reader ( of course if you can read german don't waste your time with either.) However, if you are really hardcore and can't read german than reading more than one translation may give insights as different things may be translated better in one than the other. For example in the prolog Kaufmanns use of the american term "tight rope walker" does not lend the same beuty and clarity to the metaphor as Commons more literal tranlation of "rope dancer" think about it when you re-read the prolog.
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Summary: Don't Read this Book! It May Upset Your Applecart!
Review: I remember the first time my eighth grade teacher scratched a list out on the chalkboard of authors we should never read. Who do you suppose topped the list? Why, Fred Neitzsche (we're on first names after all those years). Just to be clear, I went to Catholic school. I doubt there are many secular private or public schools that care enough about what students are reading to worry about banning any authors, let alone something as powerful as Neitzsche. (I presume they're more interested in banning books that refer to nipples, racial name-calling, or popular drugs.) Buy this book now, and buy it in a hard cover edition (like this one). This, contrary to what other reviewers suggest, should be your very first Nietzsche. It is a powerful, allegorical tale that will sweep you in with its powerful tone and ideas. Don't be afraid if you come away confused and unsettled. Just read it again and again. Take it with you everywhere. When you go to class, keep it on your desk in full view. Quote from it all of your school writing projects. The truth is, your gut will tell you the man is right about so many things. You can later worry about how Zarathustra plays upon ideas from classic Greek philosophy, or how silly it is to think that Nietzsche's work led to the racist thinking of Germany's National Socialist movement.
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Summary: what if God can dance, though?
Review: i recommend this book with my whole heart. at times it seems as though nietzsche is immature, but what depth and what flashes of brilliant insight! to me, nietzsche seems to (in this book) resemble the prophets of the Old Testament. he confronts all of us, and not just Christians, with a loud message: wake up.
some of the metaphysical solutions he advances are, to me, simply false. but that will never detract from what i have gained from this book, and some of the chapters were written so beautifully, and some of the images so absolutely vivid and shattering, that i found myself unable to do anything other than meditate spellbound for several minutes.
i highly recommend this book. i'm a Christian, but i think nietzsche's criticisms are worth our attention. certainly, his call for a dance is worth nothing other than an affirmation.
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Summary: para las personas de habla hispana
Review: Éste libro de Nietzsche considerado como una obra maestra de la literatura contemporánea, no solo es una gran obra para aquel que desea leerla con propósitos académicos, sino para todos lo que mas allá de querer encontrar respuestas sobre la existencia, están buscando preguntas, cuestionarse, abrir los ojos ante todo lo anteriormente creído. Por lo tanto el texto es interpretado de la manera en que cada uno de nosotros lo tomemos, adaptándolo así a nuestro código de valores, creencias y madurez crítica.
En el libro se manejan diferentes ideas, una de ellas es la importancia de la voluntad. La voluntad de existir, de creer, de vencer el dolor, de obtener una fortaleza interior que nos permita no ser parte del "rebaño" y ubicarnos en la constante búsqueda de la verdad, la espiritualidad, nuestra propia libertad y la "perfección". Sostiene el concepto de que todo hombre tiene como mayor aspiración ser cada vez mejor. Se maneja la resignación y el conformismo como lo contrario a lo que enseña Zaratustra. Sin embargo, pienso yo, que en vez de resignarnos o al contrario entregarnos a ser demasiado humanos adorando la perfección, podríamos tratar de mejorar y perfeccionar nuestra vida en este mundo.
Se maneja una ironía singular, ya que Zaratustra podría ser comparado con Cristo ya que ambos son visto como personas no comunes, desconocidas, constantemente cuestionados, pero a al mismo tiempo, las ideas expuestas por Zaratustra resultan ser todo un reto para la ideología cristiana. Por ejemplo, la muestra del utópico superhombre del que se habla, marca una inferioridad dentro de la raza humana, cosa que en la religión cuya base es la igualdad entre los hombres, representa una contrariedad severa a sus postulados.
El superhombre es el estado mas alto al que puede llegar una persona, se expone como aquel que siendo dueño de sus actos y pensamiento es capaz de gobernarse a sí mismo sin necesidad de pertenecer al tan mencionado "rebaño o manada" siendo manipulado y guiado. Éste superhombre es seguro, independiente y muy individualista, éste siente con intensidad, pero sus pasiones están frenadas y reprimidas por el poder de su propio razonamiento.
La obra está llena de contrastes. De alguna manera el texto puede ser visto como pesimista mientras que por el otro lado puede ser considerado bello y lleno de esperanza. Suena algo irónico pero el libro nos hace reflexionar que al destruir el mundo del idealismo mal entendido reflejado en el egocentrismo y el egoísmo, y los valores falsos, podríamos encontrar la verdadera esencia que nos hace ser lo que somos y así poder reconstruir lo aprendido en bases firmes y no falsas o temporales.
Existen los constantes cuestionamientos existenciales, basados en la preguntas generales de ¿Qué es un hombre?, ¿Cuál es nuestro potencial?, ¿Qué es el verdadero ser?, preguntas cuya respuesta es incierta ya que no hay una correcta si no varios puntos de vista que muchas veces difieren entre uno y otro. El texto no busca la falta de disciplina y mucho menos guiarnos hacia el libertinaje como en algún tiempo se penso, al contrario, se muestra como una reacción en contra del conformismo de ideas y acciones que prevalece hoy en día en nuestra sociedad y que de hecho es bastante común.
Otro de los temas tratados es el regreso eterno que plantea una proyección cíclica de los eventos, es decir la repetición de éstos en lapsos largos de tiempo. Habla sobre la importancia de vivir el presente sin encerrarnos en el pasado ni proyectarnos al futuro. Todas éstas ideas pueden sonar un tanto extrañas mas a una mentalidad tradicionalista y occidentalizada como la nuestra, donde generalmente se nos enseña a recurrir al pasado para entender o corregir nuestro presente y prever el futuro. Ideas como ésta nos hace comprender porque la censura al autor de ésta obra que permaneció en el anonimato por mucho tiempo acatando las reglas morales y religiosas que prevalecían no hace mucho tiempo.
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Summary: Nietzsche's New Testament
Review: By far the most famous of Nietzsche's works, but also one of the harder to read. Will write more when I figure out what to really say about it.
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Summary: Scripture, not Philosophy
Review: In my opinion, it helps somewhate to have read prof. Ronald Hayman's excellent biography of Nietzsche to get some idea of the context in which Nietzsche wrote this work. As Hayman describes it, it appears this book reflects a kind of genuine religious epiphany/satori experience Nietzsche had while hiking the trails of Sils-Maria while in anguish over his failed relationship with Lou Salome and Paul Ree. For that reason, I personally consider the book to be more scripture than philosophy. Albeit, a scripture informed by the life and learning of an eminent philosopher in the classical tradition. In this context, I see the book as the expression of the fruition of a true seeker's lifetime quest for truth and insight. The two key concepts that are new in the book: the Ubermensch, and The Eternal Return, have been vastly misunderstood, to often horrific effect. A result not entirely unforseen by Nietzsche himself, of course. Personally, even though I was fortunate enought to have studied Nietzsche in college, I never quite grokked the 'eternal return' until I grokked the psychological device of the zen koan via reading Philip Kapleau's 'Three Pillars of Zen'. It seems to me that the 'eternal return' fits in quite nicely with the koan tradition, being a 'what if' conundrum that just happened to grab Nietzsche in the right way and propelled him through the transformations he records here, in the later parts of 'Thus Spake Zarathustra'. The questions the book challenges us to confront are the classic ones: 'what is it to be human', 'what is the potential of the human', 'what is the self and why is it to be overcome' etc etc The sad and untold part of the book is the book's foreshadowing of Nietzsche's final kundalini awakening/epiphany, and subsequent collapse due to the overwhelming power of the kundalini energy, upon rescuing the flogged horse in the town square, in his story of the jester falling from the tightrope. but ... 'what matters all happiness?' indeed!
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Summary: An Epic Poem
Review: Using the New Testament device of the parable, (in part to satirize it) Nietzsche created a prophet with which to deliver his message to the world with the force of characterization. Though he would outline his ideas more clearly later, he never again came so close to poetry and it remained the favorite of all his books.
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Summary: Rereadable
Review: This is a new gospell, as Nietzsche himself described it. Truth is only a few can read the book, but reading it again is always a possibility and each time it will be different. Nietzsche is in fac one of the greatest philosophers, the price of this book is an insult for its real value, well worth it.
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Summary: A call to personal greatness.
Review: Nietzsche is by far one of the most vilified of Philosophers - probably with good reason. He was not clear and he contradicted himself - much like lots of thinkers that came before and specially after him. His project (after all the thundering language, hyperbole and confusion) is that Zarathustra is a call to personal freedom and greatness. Mostly misquoted, Nietzsche was not calling for a master race based on genetic and physical difference. His treatment of women is by far the most controversial, next to his incantation of "God is Dead....", we always seem to forget the long live man. Nietzsche calls for a re-examination of slave mentality. For this to come about, we have to go under - a sense of nihilism a freedom from the current constraints as if to effect a new order..... and that is not just risky it is downright scary. Often seen as nihilistic, Nietzsche just opened our eyes to the weakness of our current system that we might be prompted to change - his love for man was misunderstood and twisted to suit the needs of greedy and ignorant people. Nietzsche asks us to focus on what can make us great again. He calls us to question our decisions as life affirmation on the philosophical matrix of the "Eternal Return" - that it is this life and no other. He challenges us to love our fate. Nietzsche begins with the problem of existence. On the premise of the book alone, it is clear that Zarathustra's coming down from the mountain is like an unfamiliar alien (or a too familiar human). Much like his Postmodern successors, he questions the vanguards and those long cherished tenets and traditions - asking us to look a things differently. Is it a system that is useful - probably not - it would put too much stress/pressure on an individual. Inspiring writers like Foucault, Sartre and Hesse - Nietzsche will remain enigmatic till the end of time and Zarathustra his greatest work. Read with caution..... Miguel Llora
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