A tremendously influential philosophical work of the late nineteenth century,Thus Spake Zarathustra is also a literary masterpiece by one of the most important thinkers of modern times. In it, the ancient Persian religious leader Zarathustra (or Zoroaster) serves as the voice for Friedrieh Nietzsehe'sviews, which include the introduction of the controversial doctrine of the Ubermensch, or "superman."

Although later peverted by Nazi propagandists, the Ubermensch was conceived by Nietzsehe to designate the ultimate goal of human existence as the achievement of greatness of will and being. He was convinced that the individual, instead of resigning himself to the weakness of being human and worshipping perfection only possible in the next world (at least in the Christian view), should try to perfect himself during his earthly existence,and transcend the limitations of conventional morality. By doing so, the Ubermensch would emerge victorious, standing in stark contrast to "the last man"-an uncreative conformist and complacent hedonist who embodies Nietzsche"s critique of modern civilization, morality, and the Christian religion.Written in a passionate, quasi-biblical style, Thus Spake Zarathustra is daring in form and filled with provocative, thought-provoking concepts. Today, the work is regarded as a forerunner of modem existentialist thought, a book that has provoked and stimulated students of philosophy and literature for more than 100 years.

ZARATHUSTRA"S PROLOGUE

FIRST PART

The Three Metamorphoses

The Academic Chairs of Virtue

Backworldsmen

The Despisers of the Body

Joys and Passions

The Pale Criminal

Reading and Writing

The Tree on the Hill

The Preachers of Death

War and Warriors

The New Idol

The Flies in the Market-place

Chastity

The Friend

The Thousand and One Goals

Neighbour-Love

The Way of the Creating One

Old and Young Women

The Bite of the Adder

Child and Marriage

Voluntary Death

The Bestowing Virtue

SEGOND PART

The Child with the Mirror

In the Happy Isles

The Pitiful

The Priests

The Virtuous

The Rabble

The Tarantulas

The Famous Wise Ones

The Night-Song

The Dance-Song

The Grave-Song

Self-Surpassing

The Sublime Ones

The Land of Culture

Immaculate Perception

Scholars

Poets

Great Events

The Soothsayer

Redemption

Manly Prudence

The Stillest Hour

THIRD PART

The Wanderer

The Vision and the Enigma

Involuntary Bliss

Before Sunrise

The Bedwaffing Virtue

On the Olive-Mount

On Passing-by

The Apostates

The Return Home

The Three Evil Things

The Spirit of Gravity

Old and New Tables

The Convalescent

The Great Longing

The Second Dance Song

The Seven Seals

FOURTH AND LAST PART

The Honey Sacrifice

The Cry of Distress

Talk with the Kings

The Leech

The Magician

Out of Service

The Ugliest Man

The Voluntary Beggar

The Shadow

Noontide

The Greeting

The Supper

The Higher Man

The Song of Melancholy

Science

Among Daughters of the Desert

The Awakening

The Ass-Festival

The Drunken Song

The Sign

APPENDIX

Notes on Thus Spake Zarathustra by Anthony M. Ludovici