'The profoundest book there is, born from the innermost richness of truth, an inexhaustible well into which no bucket descends without coming up with gold and goodness.'

Thus Spoke Zarathustra (1885) was Nietzsche's own favourite among all his books and has proved to be his most popular, having sold millions of copies in many different languages.  In it he addresses the problem of how to live a fulfilling life in a world without meaning, in the aftermath of 'the death of God'.  Nietzsche's solution lies in the idea of eternal recurrence  which he calls 'the highest formula of affirmation that can ever be attained'.  A successful engagement with this profoundly Dionysian idea enables us to choose clearly among the myriad possibilities that existence offers, and thereby to affirm every moment of our lives with others on this 'sacred' earth.

This translation of Zarathustra  (the first new English version for over forty years) conveys the musicality of the original German, and for the first time annotates the abundance of allusions to the Bible and other classic texts with which Nietzsche's masterpiece is in conversation.

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Features

• The first new English translation of Nietzsche's most popular book for forty years.
• Thus Spoke Zarathustra addresses the problem of how to live a fulfilling life in the aftermath of 'the death of God' and it is a masterpiece of literature as well as philosophy, and has inspired composers as well as other writers.
• Graham Parkes's translation is more accurate than previous versions, and is the first to retain the musicality of the original, by paying attention to the rhythms and cadences of the German.
• The introduction examines the work's three most important philosophical ideas, the Overhuman, will to power, and eternal recurrence, the narrative of the book, its inspiration and its influence.
• The notes situate the text with respect to the major texts and authors with which the work is in constant conversation and the edition is more fully annotated than any other version.

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Contents
Dedication
Abbreviations
Introduction
Note on the Text and Translation
Select Bibliography
A Chronology of Friedrich Nietzsche
THUS SPOKE ZARATHUSTRA
Explanatory Notes
Index
Footnotes

Friedrich Nietzsche

Translated with an Introduction & Notes by Graham Parkes.

Graham Parkes is the author of Composing the Soul: Reaches of Nietzsche's Psychology (Chicago, 1994), and the editor of Nietzsche and Asian Thought (Chicago, 1991).  He is joint editor, with Steve Odin, of The Blackwell Source Book iin Japanese Philosophy (2005).