This is my 3rd time reading Thus Spoke Zarathustra by Friederich Nietzsche.
The first time I was a wannabee-Nihilist lefty art student in my 20’s and I liked it right away – but didn’t read it all, nor did I read too carefully.
The second time I read T.S.Z. was about 4 years later. That time I read it as it deserves to be read: in a cave in a desert canyon with nearby views across vast arid zones, after hitch-hiking the western U.S. for many months alone.
This time, the third time, I read it as a tired, tax-paying citizen of a failing republic with a wife and family. I found so many pearls of wisdom in this crazy text. Surely one can also find fault with it and note pathetic aspects in it… but upon this reading I encountered the wellsprings of poetry; along with mockery of poetic self-pity. I found crazy humor, delusions of cosmic grandeur, venomous resentment, psychotic pride, peaceful humility, transcendent wit, and similar precious things that make life a nightmarish delight. Thus Spoke Zarathustra is a great read – for none and all …
And I LOVE IT MORE THAN EVER !!!!!
PS: I think Kaufmann translation is the best.