Hitler, who most likely never read this book but had heard about it took Nietzsche’s concept of Übermensch to a new direction. Thus Spake Zarathustra remains one of Nietzsche’s most influential works and describes how the ancient Persian prophet, Zarathustra, descends from his to tell the world that God is dead and that the Superman (human embodiment of divinity) is his successor.
Written between 1883 and 1885, Thus Spake Zarathustra dismantled the establishment of belief in the 19th century. It is a tragedy, a parody, a polemic, and the culmination of the German language. This foundational work of Western literature has been analysed, misunderstood, and analysed again through the centuries and still stood the test of time.