The Persisting Enigma of Nietzsche's Zarathustra: Volume XI, Issue II, Spring 2018

Thus Spoke Zarathustra is many different things to different readers: proto-modernist manifesto, convoluted prose-poem, Nietzsche's failed attempt at a novel, a parody of scripture, a revisionist Socratic dialogue, recitation of the eternal return, etc. Historically speaking, it is perhaps best remembered as announcing the end of humanism, with Zarathustra prophesizing the coming of the enigmatic "overhuman." Nietzsche certainly thought it was his masterpiece, and never tired of singing it praises. As he proclaimed triumphantly in Ecce Homo: "Among my writings my Zarathustra stands by itself. With this book I have given mankind the greatest gift it has ever been given." It would seem like hyperbole if not for the thousands of pages of ink spilled since its publication. Perhaps most confounding, is that while Nietzsche's radical intellectual challenges to moral and cultural values may have been too early for the late nineteenth century, we may be too late. Like all of his mature works, the text invites a multitude of interpretations, and we have included what we hope to be several fresh contributions to the conversation.