Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche (1844 - 1900) was a notable German philosopher who remains one of the most influential modern thinkers. He is renowned for writing on the concept of the super-man, the end of religion in a modern society as well as his exploration of the concepts of good and evil. Some of his major philosophical works are Thus Spake Zarathustra (1883), The Antichrist (1885) and Twilight of the Idols (1889). Many major thinkers of the 20th century such as Jean-Paul Sartre, Sigmund Freud and Albert Camus, among others, were influenced by Nietzsche's ideas. After his death, the misappropriation of his works by the Nazi Party in the 30s and 40s of the last century to further their fascist activities resulted in a negative reputation for generations whereas Nietzsche himself was steadfastly against anti-Semitism. Nietzsche died on 25 August 1900, aged 55.
The lonely one provides his hand too quickly to whomever he encounters. Thus Spake Zarathustra by German thinker and writer Friedrich Nietzsche is a path-breaking philosophical novel, crafted in four parts. It features the fictitious travels and speeches of Zarathustra – whose namesake is the founder of Zoroastrianism. Nietzsche creates his own version of Zarathustra in the book, overturning accepted conventions and questioning traditional notions of morality. The first three parts of this seminal work were first published separately, and later published in a single volume in 1887. The fourth part remained inaccessible to the public at large after Nietzsche wrote it in 1885. It was in March 1892 that the four parts were printed as a single volume. The four parts delve into concepts such as the ‘eternal recurrence of the same,’ the parable on the ‘death of God,’ morality, and the ‘prophecy’ of the Übermensch. Thus Spake Zarathustra is considered to be Nietzsche’s magnum opus.
