Trajectory (plain list)
Übermensch
Zarathustra’s teaching of the overman against the last man; the higher men of Part IV never close the gap. The type remains a task, not a specimen.
1883 · Introduces
Thus Spoke Zarathustra · Prologue §3
Thus Spoke Zarathustra (1883–85)
Zarathustra teaches the Superman (Levy) and the contemptible last man as the opposing destinies of mankind.
When Zarathustra arrived at the nearest town which adjoineth the forest, he found many people assembled in the market-place; for it had been announced that a rope-dancer would give a performance. And Zarathustra spake thus unto the people: I TEACH YOU THE SUPERMAN. Man is something that is to be surpassed. What have ye done to surpass man? All beings hitherto have created something beyond themselves: and ye want to be the ebb of that great tide, and would rather go back to …
Sources: gutenberg:1998
1883 · Develops
Thus Spoke Zarathustra · Prologue §5
Thus Spoke Zarathustra (1883–85)
The tightrope walker falls; the teaching of the overman is staged as danger, not a finished type.
When Zarathustra had spoken these words, he again looked at the people, and was silent. “There they stand,” said he to his heart; “there they laugh: they understand me not; I am not the mouth for these ears. Must one first batter their ears, that they may learn to hear with their eyes? Must one clatter like kettledrums and penitential preachers? Or do they only believe the stammerer? They have something whereof they are proud. What do they call it, that which maketh them pr…
Sources: gutenberg:1998
1883 · Develops
Thus Spoke Zarathustra · Z-prologue-4
Thus Spoke Zarathustra (1883–85)
Man as rope between animal and Superman — bridge, not destination.
Zarathustra, however, looked at the people and wondered. Then he spake thus: Man is a rope stretched between the animal and the Superman—a rope over an abyss. A dangerous crossing, a dangerous wayfaring, a dangerous looking-back, a dangerous trembling and halting. What is great in man is that he is a bridge and not a goal: what is lovable in man is that he is an OVER-GOING and a DOWN-GOING. I love those that know not how to live except as down-goers, for they are the over…
Sources: gutenberg:1998
1883 · Develops
Thus Spoke Zarathustra · Z-prologue-7
Thus Spoke Zarathustra (1883–85)
Superman as lightning and sense of existence — still unintelligible to the crowd.
Meanwhile the evening came on, and the market-place veiled itself in gloom. Then the people dispersed, for even curiosity and terror become fatigued. Zarathustra, however, still sat beside the dead man on the ground, absorbed in thought: so he forgot the time. But at last it became night, and a cold wind blew upon the lonely one. Then arose Zarathustra and said to his heart: Verily, a fine catch of fish hath Zarathustra made to-day! It is not a man he hath caught, but a corp…
Sources: gutenberg:1998
1883 · Develops
Thus Spoke Zarathustra · Z-prologue-9
Thus Spoke Zarathustra (1883–85)
Companions sought; stairs to the Superman, not last-man comfort.
Long slept Zarathustra; and not only the rosy dawn passed over his head, but also the morning. At last, however, his eyes opened, and amazedly he gazed into the forest and the stillness, amazedly he gazed into himself. Then he arose quickly, like a seafarer who all at once seeth the land; and he shouted for joy: for he saw a new truth. And he spake thus to his heart: A light hath dawned upon me: I need companions—living ones; not dead companions and corpses, which I carry wi…
Sources: gutenberg:1998
1884 · Develops
Thus Spoke Zarathustra · Z-III-the-convalescent-2
Thus Spoke Zarathustra (1883–85)
Task restated after the recurrence ordeal: announce again to man the Superman.
Hardly, however, had Zarathustra spoken these words, when he fell down as one dead, and remained long as one dead. When however he again came to himself, then was he pale and trembling, and remained lying; and for long he would neither eat nor drink. This condition continued for seven days; his animals, however, did not leave him day nor night, except that the eagle flew forth to fetch food. And what it fetched and foraged, it laid on Zarathustra’s couch: so that Zarathustra …
Sources: gutenberg:1998
1885 · Develops
Thus Spoke Zarathustra · IV, The Higher Man
Thus Spoke Zarathustra (1883–85)
Part IV gathers “higher men” who are still not the overman — a distinction the text refuses to collapse.
1. When I came unto men for the first time, then did I commit the anchorite folly, the great folly: I appeared on the market-place. And when I spake unto all, I spake unto none. In the evening, however, rope-dancers were my companions, and corpses; and I myself almost a corpse. With the new morning, however, there came unto me a new truth: then did I learn to say: “Of what account to me are market-place and populace and populace-noise and long populace-ears!” Ye higher me…
Sources: gutenberg:1998
1885 · Contradicts (unresolved)
Thus Spoke Zarathustra · IV, The Higher Man → Thus Spoke Zarathustra · Prologue §3
Thus Spoke Zarathustra (1883–85)
The overman remains ahead of every candidate who appears; the corpus never delivers a completed specimen.
1. When I came unto men for the first time, then did I commit the anchorite folly, the great folly: I appeared on the market-place. And when I spake unto all, I spake unto none. In the evening, however, rope-dancers were my companions, and corpses; and I myself almost a corpse. With the new morning, however, there came unto me a new truth: then did I learn to say: “Of what account to me are market-place and populace and populace-noise and long populace-ears!” Ye higher me…
Sources: gutenberg:1998
1885 · Develops
Thus Spoke Zarathustra · Z-IV-the-higher-man-3
Thus Spoke Zarathustra (1883–85)
Clarification: Superman at heart — not man, neighbour, poorest, or best.
The most careful ask to-day: “How is man to be maintained?” Zarathustra however asketh, as the first and only one: “How is man to be SURPASSED?” The Superman, I have at heart; THAT is the first and only thing to me—and NOT man: not the neighbour, not the poorest, not the sorriest, not the best.— O my brethren, what I can love in man is that he is an over-going and a down-going. And also in you there is much that maketh me love and hope. In that ye have despised, ye higher …
Sources: gutenberg:1998
1888 · Comments on
Ecce Homo · Why I Am a Fatality §1
Ecce Homo (1888)
Late self-portrait as destiny and dynamite — the overman teaching reframed as a task for mankind after him.
I know my destiny. There will come a day when my name will recall the memory of something formidable--a crisis the like of which has never been known on earth, the memory of the most profound clash of consciences, and the passing of a sentence upon all that which theretofore had been believed, exacted, and hallowed. I am not a man, I am dynamite. And with it all there is nought of the founder of a religion in me. Religions are matters for the mob; after coming in contact with…
Sources: gutenberg:52190
1888 · Comments on
Ecce Homo · EH-why-i-am-a-fatality-5 → Thus Spoke Zarathustra · IV, The Higher Man
Ecce Homo (1888)
Late joke: higher men would call his Superman the devil.
Zarathustra, as the first psychologist of the good man, is perforce the friend of the evil man. When a degenerate kind of man has succeeded to the highest rank among the human species, his position must have been gained at the cost of the reverse type--at the cost of the strong man who is certain of life. When the gregarious animal stands in the glorious rays of the purest virtue, the exceptional man must be degraded to the rank of the evil. If falsehood insists at all costs …
Sources: gutenberg:52190