A Commentary on, and Partial Analysis of, Nietzsche's Thus Spoke Zarathustra, Part 4, with Especial Reference to Discourses 11 to 20
A Commentary on, and Partial Analysis of, Nietzsche's Thus Spoke Zarathustra, Part 4, with Especial Reference to Discourses 11 to 20
Although Zarathustra gains his happiness before the 'Fourth and Final Part' of Al Sprecht Zarathustra, that which he is most concerned with- his work, is still ahead of him in ' The Temptation of Zarathustra: an Interlude' (which Nietzsche viewed as the fourth part's "proper title in view of what already transpired and what follows" in the text as we find it abridged today). As an interlude, it bastardises the integrity of the previous three books if they are viewed as an artistic whole, and was only published in Nietzsche’s lifetime as a private run of 40 copies and only seven copies were circulated amongst Nietzsche's close friends (and they were admonished to keep the fourth part's existence secret). Nietzsche did not include it in the publication he oversaw although it had been written the previous year. He wrote to Carl Von Gersdorff "There is a final (last) part of Zarathustra, a sort of sublime finale, which was intended for the public…. But this part should and must be printed- 20 copies, for me and for distribution amongst my friends, and with every discretion." (Letter to Carl Von Gersdorff, February 12th 1885 [Kritische Gesamtausgabe Briefarechsel, ed. G. Collit and M. Montinare (Berlin: Walter de Gruyter; 1975)]). To Overbeck he wrote: "I have sent no copy to Burckhardt or to anyone in Basel. Please let us remain silent about the existence of a fourth part." (Letter to Overbeck, end of May 1885 [Ibid.]). To Peter Gast, Nietzsche, a month before his mental collapse, wrote of his desire to recall the copies he had distributed, saying "I read it these past few days and almost died of emotion… If I published it later, after a few decades of world crisis- wars! - then that will be the proper time." (Letter to Gast, December 9th, 1888 [Ibid.]). It is R. J. Hollingdale's view that part four is comparatively
Although Zarathustra gains his happiness before the 'Fourth and Final Part' of Al Sprecht Zarathustra, that which he is most concerned with- his work, is still ahead of him in ' The Temptation of Zarathustra: an Interlude' (which Nietzsche viewed as the fourth part's "proper title in view of what already transpired and what follows" in the text as we find it abridged today). As an interlude, it bastardises the integrity of the previous three books if they are viewed as an artistic whole, and was only published in Nietzsche’s lifetime as a private run of 40 copies and only seven copies were circulated amongst Nietzsche's close friends (and they were admonished to keep the fourth part's existence secret). Nietzsche did not include it in the publication he oversaw although it had been written the previous year. He wrote to Carl Von Gersdorff "There is a final (last) part of Zarathustra, a sort of sublime finale, which was intended for the public…. But this part should and must be printed- 20 copies, for me and for distribution amongst my friends, and with every discretion." (Letter to Carl Von Gersdorff, February 12th 1885 [Kritische Gesamtausgabe Briefarechsel, ed. G. Collit and M. Montinare (Berlin: Walter de Gruyter; 1975)]). To Overbeck he wrote: "I have sent no copy to Burckhardt or to anyone in Basel. Please let us remain silent about the existence of a fourth part." (Letter to Overbeck, end of May 1885 [Ibid.]). To Peter Gast, Nietzsche, a month before his mental collapse, wrote of his desire to recall the copies he had distributed, saying "I read it these past few days and almost died of emotion… If I published it later, after a few decades of world crisis- wars! - then that will be the proper time." (Letter to Gast, December 9th, 1888 [Ibid.]). It is R. J. Hollingdale's view that part four is comparatively
Bibliography: Thus Spoke Zarathusra, Friedrich Nietzsche, tr. R. J. Hollingdale (Penguin: London, 1969); Human All Too Human, Friedrich Nietzsche (in The Complete Works of Friedrich Nietzsche, ed. Oscar Levy [Russell and Russell: New York,1964]); Selected Letters of Friedrich Nietzsche , Friedrich Nietzsche, ed. and tr. Christopher Middleton (U. of Chicago: Chicago, 1969); Nietzsche: A Critical Life, Ronald Hayman (Oxford U.: New York, 1980); Beyond Nihilism, Ofelia Schutte (U. of Chicago: Chicago, 1984); Nietzsche 's Zarathustra Kathleen Marie Higgins (Temple: Philadelphia, 1987); Zarathustra 's Dionysian Modernism, Robert Gooding-Williams (Stanford U.: California, 2001); Schopenhauer and Nietzsche. Honest Athiesm, Dishonest Pessimism, David Bernam (in Willing and Nothingness. Schopenhauer as Nietzsche 's Educator, ed. Christopher Janaway [Clarendon: Oxford, 1989]); Al Sprecht Zarathustra, A Commentary, Anthony M. Ludovici (http://www.learnlibrary.com/zarathustra/zarathustra_87.htm)