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Thus Spoke Zarathustra,
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Tejas Khanna
One of the reasons why a lot of new readers are put-off by this book is it's esoteric nature of the prose in this one. Also, if you're reading a translation which translates german into old english, you're bound to get bored pretty quickly. As far your question goes, there are certain chapters where Nietzsche's prose turns into something of a teenage rant, and that goes on for multiple pages! But fret not! The last two parts were my favourite to be honest and I found Part II to be rather dull and uneventful! As far as reading some of his other works goes, I don't think you can compart TSZ to his other works as this is his most long-winded work and perhaps the only one where he's going all out with his poetry and long proses! So judging his works based solely on TSZ and comparing them to his other works is a bad idea. That being said, if you can succesfully decipher the meanings of the parables and metaphors form this back, which happen to be the core of Nietzsche's philosphy and you find it too dull or just plain wrong, then I'd surely not recommend reading any of his other works.
For instance, the whole "God is dead" idea finds utterances in multiple works of Nietzsche and the same goes on with his 'Eternal Recurrence' idea. The only difference being- there he expands on these ideas in a fashion which is altoghether different from the satire writen in a biblical prose style that he adopts in this one, with Zarathustra acting as a conduit of his own ideas.
As a concluding note, TSZ is like a TV show, which starts off really interesting, then gets a tad boring with season 2 and 3 and then just when it's audience was about to give up on that show, it astonishes them with the new plot twists and character arcs with the upcoming seasons 4 and 5!
I hope you enjoy the remainder of the book should you choose to finish it after reading this long-winded answer :P
For instance, the whole "God is dead" idea finds utterances in multiple works of Nietzsche and the same goes on with his 'Eternal Recurrence' idea. The only difference being- there he expands on these ideas in a fashion which is altoghether different from the satire writen in a biblical prose style that he adopts in this one, with Zarathustra acting as a conduit of his own ideas.
As a concluding note, TSZ is like a TV show, which starts off really interesting, then gets a tad boring with season 2 and 3 and then just when it's audience was about to give up on that show, it astonishes them with the new plot twists and character arcs with the upcoming seasons 4 and 5!
I hope you enjoy the remainder of the book should you choose to finish it after reading this long-winded answer :P
Luke Connors
Absolutely. You should also read Nietzsche's biography before reading any of his works. If you want to get a deeper understanding of his philosophy, read Fyodor Dostoyevski's "Crime and Punishment" (warning: it's Russian literature). After that, read "Beyond Good and Evil" to understand the moral underpinnings of the Ubermensch in clearer terms (my opinion). It should make reading Zarathustra (a frustratingly abstract and over-your-head book) much more enjoyable and enlightening. Don't give up on Nietzsche, his philosophies are and will continue to be very relevant in the coming decades, probably longer. You will need to reread him every 10 years.
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