Nietzsche: A Very Short Introduction by Michael Tanner

Author:Michael Tanner
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: OUP Oxford
Published: 2000-08-15T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 6

Prophecy

For a long time Nietzsche’s most famous book was Thus Spoke Zarathustra. It is not, I think, any longer, and on the whole that is a development I applaud. Written in short bursts of inspiration, it shows all too clearly the worst signs of that state, though it also contains some of his best writing. What Nietzsche was trying to do in it was to establish himself as a philosopher-poet, and for that purpose he employed a set of idioms that reveal dismayingly what his idea of poetry was. He uses a great deal of imagery and allegory, but he does that elsewhere too, and to much better effect. One’s initial impression is of pastiche: most obviously biblical pastiche, ranging from straightforward echoes of the Bible to parody – the range of moods is easily overlooked by the reader somewhat numbed by the reiteration of ‘Thus spoke Zarathustra’ at the end of each section. There are poems, some of which have become famous, and have been employed by many composers, of whom the most successful have been Mahler and Delius. One can see why the poems should have had the appeal they did for those two composers in particular, men of extraordinarily strong will-power who spent much of their time evoking the earth in its fullness and beauty, enduring, in contrast with the poignant brevity of human life. But their success betrays an element in Nietzsche–Zarathustra which he was at pains to disown: nostalgia.

The most genuine tone of TSZ, which surfaces in surprising places, is one of regret. The least convincing tone is of exaltation and affirmation, the qualities that Zarathustra is at such pains to inculcate, since they are necessary to prepare the ground for the arrival of the Übermensch, whose prophet Zarathustra is. But he is a prophet who is intent on not having disciples, a desire which he is keen to stress, since it singles him out from all other prophets. But one might ask whether someone who speaks the truth should not want disciples, as many as possible. The answer would seem to be that Zarathustra is not at all sure of the truth which impels him to leave his mountain and to ‘go down’ or ‘go under’ – a carefully calculated ambiguity on Nietzsche’s part. The magician in Part IV gives voice to the melancholy that is Zarathustra’s constant companion, when he sings ‘That I be banished from all truth, Only fool! Only poet!’ Again, in the last section of Part I, ‘On the gift-giving virtue’, Zarathustra speaks to his disciples in words that Nietzsche was so proud of that he quotes them at the end of the Foreword to Ecce Homo:

Truly, I counsel you: go away from me and resist Zarathustra! And even better: be ashamed of him! Perhaps he deceived you . . . One repays a teacher badly if one always wants to remain nothing but a pupil. And why do you not want to pluck at my wreath? . . .

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