Kristina Mlinarić’s Reviews > Thus Spoke Zarathustra > Status Update

This is the worst way to start reading philosophy. To understand this you need the fundamentals of Plato's philosophy, Schopenhauer's and be familiar with Greek tragedy, most notably Aeschylus. Even if you skipped that, you should start with Nietzsche's lighter, early works like Daybreak and progress toward Gay Science, Genealogy of Morality to grasp his thoughts on morality and then Zarathustra. It would be ideal to get acquainted with Plato, Schopenhauer's main ideas (secondary literature will suffice unless you have time and energy for 1200 pages of World as Will and Representation), read Aeschylus' The Oresteia and Sopochles and start with The Birth of Tragedy.

I considered Plato and all the other works you mentioned, but I saw that people don't recommend "old" philosophers, they mention some modern ones (I think) I've never heard of before, so I went with Superman :). I've read multiple Greek tragedies (Oedipus, Antigone, Electra..), but I don't think I have The Oresteia at home. I might pick it up, I only read the notes on Orestes before, I'd like to know how the tragedy is actually written.
I don't mind long works, but I'd have to find a really empty spot in my reading schedule, I'm always reading multiple things at once. So far, Zarathustra seems light, at least to me, but it's likely better to have a more thorough knowledge of other philosophers. Thanks for the advice!
P.S. one strange horror movie The Addiction also pushed me to read more philosophy, try it, it's not everyday horror

Zarathustra is easy to follow, but you might miss the true meaning of some crucial ideas if not acquainted with Plato. His main point is to overturn Plato's concept of the ideas, Good with a capital G, as a supreme idea, so it's important. The reason why I mentioned Nietzsche's works on morality and most notably Gay Science is because here the crucial concept expanded on in Zarathustra are introduced and elaborated. You can read the article on Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy about Schopenhauer since he was the first to introduce the distinctly modern concept of the Will which Nietzsche expands on and later critiques Schopenhauer's pessimism. So his main adversaries are Plato and Schopenhauer (who was his "educator" in youth) and Christianity is for him merely a "plebeian' exponent of this two worldviews. Aeschylus is important because he is the tragic playwright he revered most of all. These things I mentioned are of genealogical interest, you can validly read Nietzsche without confronting his background, but knowing his adversaries and idols makes reading much more meaningful. You can pick up these things online, it is tedious to read the whole of Schopenhauer because for at least 400 pages across 2 volumes he brings nothing new but a simplified version of Kant's epistemology, which I found to be a waste of time, but his writings on aesthetics and morality are amazing.
The thing is, most 20th century philosophers were deeply influenced by Nietzsche, so knowing a lot about his influences and adversaries is like knowing the full Silmarillion and then reading Lord of the Rings. Much more enrichening. It's great that you know Sophocles, Nietzsche states that he started the downfall of tragedy by limiting the Dyonisian element of chorus, which is omnipresent in Aeschylus. No problem. :) Thank you for recommending Addiction, I just realized it's been on my watchlist for long!

Schopenhauer is on a list down the line, I'll include Plato as well. Philosophy seems daunting, yeah, many people are turned at the door because there are so many books you need to read to understand a concept. That's why it took me so long to start anything, but I think I'll manage, I had an interest since highschool. I know that I got on a good foot with the teacher because I knew all the Greek myths before we even started, and Greek tragedies were also very interesting to me. Well, I'm an odd one because I read Tolkien from top to bottom, starting with Silmarillion..Good luck with Addiction, if you are already familiar with the philosophy authors, you'll understand everything they are saying.

Good luck in your quest, as Socrates said in the court, it takes time. But it is rewarding. I read Silmarillion and LotR about the same time, but your approach is very interesting. Thanks!