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Rating: 
Summary: Thus Spoke Zarathustra
Review: And god gave us Nietzsche! Or did he? One of the first discoveries of Nietzsche's main character, Zarathustra, in this fictional work is the revelation(or lack thereof) that God does not exist. An excellent description of Nietzsche's life is provided at the beginning of this translation, along with the traditional editor's notes. If you skip parts of this work, do NOT skip the notes about his life. To connect with Zarathustra, you must know the author. The ever-present references to Nausea hint at Nietzsche's numerous illnesses. The constant references to sleep parallel his insomnia etc etc.Philosophically, Nietzsche is labelled a nihilist by some. Zarathustra is Nietzsche's giving up or "going under" as the book describes it, so in a sense, this may be correct. Zarathustra renounces how the world has lived, and as a hermit, he finds himself and what the world means to him. Without God, who is destroyed by his pity for man, the world means everything to Zarathustra. This life is all he has to live, and he spreads his teachings for hope that one day man will "go over" or rise above, man as it existed 100 years ago, or for that matter, even today. His journey reminds me of a drawn out Fight Club a few centuries old. As Zarathustra drags his theoretical feet through an almost biblical writing style(used in mockery), the reasoning behind Nietzsche's Godlessness take form aside from God's pity for man. He takes a look at preachers of the spirit and how much they're missing in life. Proclaiming that the spirit and body are one and connected as an earthly concept he mocks the preachers of the body and their constant babblings of the "after-life" and a higher spirit while the earthly life is full of suffering. Sometimes going a bit far and portraying the apparent antagonists as a bit over the top, Nietzsche's main character can distance himself from the reader if taken verbatim. Zarathustra does not believe in current society or power and for good reason; what earthly ground do they stand upon? One apparent enigma I remember quite well was Zarathustra's distaste for the wise man. One tends to assume that Zarathustra is poking fun at the reader, you have a choice to drop the book now if you're following it as an instruction book and you've just become his "higher man". Carry on, and you'll find later that this is not an end(consequently neither is Nietzsche, see postmodernism). The term "going under" is really what the entire philosophy is about. I got quite a bit out of the puzzling writing style. It denies convention, as seen in the philosophy and religion of the time, its foothold on society, and without any sort of convention nothing holds up too well to Nietzsche's barrage of destruction within Zarathustra's mind. Simplified, my thoughts are that this constant questioning of ideals and beliefs are what brought on later ideas like Deconstruction in works of Derrida and other authors of similar beliefs. Reading this, it's strange to see where the hell Freud is coming from as far as Nietzsche's works go. Sex is downplayed in Thus Spoke Zarathustra. It's viewed almost as casual as going to the bathroom and reading a newspaper. The ideas presented by Zarathustra are often intriguing and help to solidify the reader's opinion on a topic one way or another. As far as writing style, this story is written like the bible. Obviously, it mocks the bible in almost every way, from the dated vocabulary to the stories of animals and silly symbolism. The ridiculous songs and poems poke fun at related portions of the bible. The setting is even pseudo-biblical. I found it somewhat hard at times to get Nietzsche's point out of some of the more muddled passages, and I had to continue on to find later that he'd repeat something a different way and I'd eventually grasp it. While, a progression(or regression depending upon your viewpoint), I feel Zarathustra's journey forward looks backward often, and some of the necessary introductory pieces didn't appeal to me much, as I felt I've already "gone under" these traditions of good and evil. This is a necessary read for anyone even somewhat interested in philosophy. Depending upon how familiar you are with works by later authors it might be a bit boring and repetative. As much praise as I give for it, the work doesn't go without flaw. Obvious in Zarathustra is a certain contempt for everything currently around him and an outwardly destructive nature to an extent that isn't directly militant, but it reflects someone shunned by a society and falls to subjectivity at certain points. One or two sections struck me as very sexist and I dismissed them as a result of the time period and Nietzsche's lonliness in life. Shining through where unwanted at times is Nietzsche's praise of solitude and on a much lower level his illness. It leaves the reader unconvinced in specific passages and opens questions of bias(not to say this isn't a biased work). Overall, 4/5 stars. A necessary, excellent read. It's a tough read and you'll have to go over a few passages more than once to grab the meaning, but you'll come out with a clear idea of where you stand on some of the issues and maybe a new view on society's conventions.
Rating: 
Summary: Worth Reading
Review: Nietzsche has been said to be one of the greatest influances on modern philosophy, especially the existentialist movement and Zarathustra shows the reader just why he was a large influance. Nietzsche's works are truly like no ohter writer's, however, his philosophy seemed to be ignorant and sexist at times to myself, but none the less I do feel that everyone should read some of Nietzsche's works (or any philosopher's works for that matter). I do enjoy Nietzsche's argument against modern Christianity and the herd mentaility of the masses, but I think those two things would have to be my favorite philosophical views of Nietzsche. I give this book and Nietzsche in general, three stars because, while he will be an influance and is a good read, his philosophy is not the greatest at many points and is often misunderstood by people.
Rating: 
Summary: Nietzsche and Socrates
Review: Thus Spoke Zarathustra, which was distributed among the German army and read by Hitler, has been long misunderstood. Walter Kaufmann, whose translations of Nietzsche's works are the best available, has been somewhat successful in helping us interpret this great book. Friedrich Nietzsche tried in this book and others to undermine the prevailing ethics, namely those of Christianity. Christianity, Nietzsche (and later, Martin Heidegger) believed, stemmed from the moral teachings of Socrates; even modern science is derived from them. Nietzsche is the great critic of modern times. He worried that communism would lead to a horrible homogenization of culture and an overextension of the bourgeoisie (which he hated). Throughout Zarathustra, he praises war, the warrior's spirit, cruelty, vanity, etc.- all things denounced by Christianity. This is not so much to bring about "new" values but rather a re-evaluation of all values! Both Nietzsche and Heidegger went back obsessively to the pre-Socratic philosophers, searching for alternatives. But Nietzsche does not scorn Socrates; on the contrary, he praises him as the "pied piper" full of "prankish wisdom," terms Nietzsche also applies to himself. And Nietzsche really is on the level Socrates: both are great, prankish, wise, critics of their times and both are philosophers. Both help us understand how to live (and, more importantly, how to die), though there are disagreements between the two. But Nietzsche brings up the great questions of our times: are OUR values the best? should we find others? should we begin anew? Read Zarathustra if you care to explore these things. Also, for those interested, I recommend Werner Dannhauser's "Nietzsche's View of Socrates," the section from Allan Bloom's "The Closing of the American Mind" called "From Socrates' Apology to Heidegger's Rektoratsrede," Heidegger's "Being and Time," and of course, the rest of Nietzsche's books.
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