Document Type
Article
Publication Date
2006
Publication Title
Nietzsche-Studien
Abstract
What possible allure can a Persian prophet hold for a philhellenic philosopher? “Zarathus- tra’s Preposterous History” discusses the conspicuous heritage of Nietzsche’s figure, arguing that Nietzsche’s turn to Zoroaster itself functions as an instance of affirmation, the difficult affirmation of even that which must be overcome. The self-overcoming that structures Also sprach Zarathustra comes to characterize the figure of Zarathustra itself, both within this book and in Nietzsche’s later writings. But only through the preposterous imposition of this characteriz- ation can Nietzsche identify Zarathustra with Zoroaster and portray the moralist as the necess- ary precursor to the immoralist. Inverting chronology, Nietzsche not only affirms that which must be overcome, but also demonstrates how one can master the past by making of the “it was” of history a “thus I willed it.”
Keywords
Zoroaster, Zarathustra, affirmation, history
Volume
35
Issue
1
First Page
47
Last Page
69
DOI
10.1515/9783110186468.47
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License.
Recommended Citation
Westerdale, Joel, "Zarathustra’s Preposterous History" (2006). German Studies: Faculty Publications, Smith College, Northampton, MA.
https://scholarworks.smith.edu/ger_facpubs/3
Comments
Peer reviewed accepted manuscript.
The final publication is available at www.degruyter.com