Chapter 1 The Superman (Prologue and Part I) Chapter 2 The Suffering Soul (Part II) Chapter 3 The Twofold Will (Part III.1-12) Chapter 4 The Twofold Self (Part III.13-16) Chapter 5 The Higher Men (Part IV.1-16) Chapter 6 The Dionysian Mystery (Part IV.17-20)
T.K. Seung is Jesse H. Jones Regents Professor of Liberal Arts and Professor of Philosophy, Government, and Law at University of Texas, Austin
This learned book makes a timely contribution to the growing
secondary literature devoted to Nietzsche's Thus Spoke Zarathustra.
By framing Zarathustra as an "epic of the soul," Seung is able to
capture the full sweep of Nietzsche's philosophical and literary
aspirations. The resulting interpretation maps a stunning journey
of self-realization, as Zarathustra graduates from his famous
pronouncement of the "death of God" to the this-worldly religiosity
of Dionysus. Seung masterfully charts the gradual development of
Zarathustra's self-understanding and the concomitant evolution of
his teachings. Having finally succeeded in uniting his individual,
free self with his cosmic, determined self, the Zarathustra of Part
IV exemplifies a novel, post-moral model of heroism, which enables
him, perhaps, to launch the new epic cycle promised by the
open-ended conclusion of the book. Students and scholars alike will
appreciate Seung's clear, patient prose, the breadth and depth of
his scholarship, the coherence of his narrative, and his obvious
admiration for Nietzsche's greatest work.
*Daniel W. Conway, Professor of Philosophy, The Pennsylvania State
University*
By and Large, Seung succeeds very well in establishing that there
is a "master plan" on which Zarathustra is constructed and in
disclosing what it is. I don know of anything else that does the
same job.... The author has an exhaustive knowledge of the
secondary literature on Nietzsche and knows a great deal of German
intellectual history, yet never allows this weight of learning to
become burdensome to the reader or allow squabbles with other
Nietzsche scholars to obscure the primary relation to Nietzsche
himself.
*Julian Young, Wake Forest University*
This represents an original reading of Frederich Nietzsche's Thus
Spoke Zarathustra and it contains many fresh ideas.
*Kathleen Higgins, Professor of Philosophy at The University of
Texas at Austin*
This is an outstanding addition to the growing body of first-rate
philosophical treatments of Nietzsche's Zarathustra. Careful,
meticulous, and generously attuned to the insights of other
commentators, Seung argues that Nietzsche's masterwork is centrally
about the conflict between its hero's Faustian, individual self and
his Spinozan, cosmic self. Nietzsche scholars have elsewhere given
due weight to the Faustian themes animating Nietzsche's book, but
Seung's detailed and complex account of its Spinozan and Dionysian
naturalism is unprecedented, profound, and henceforth
indispensable. Thoughtful students of Zarathustra will admire
Seung's book, for even where they disagree with him they will find
his discerning and original interpretations difficult to
resist.
*Robert Gooding-Williams, Professor of Philosophy and Director,
Alice Berline Kaplan Center for the Humanities at Northwestern
University*
T.K. Seung has a superb command of existing Zarathustra scholarship
and challenges the best commentators, such as Hollingdale, Magnus,
and Lampert. Seung breaks with all the others and creates a world,
a Zarathustra, of his own. He is his own interpreter, or as Max
Stirner might have said, he hangs his hat on no man's hook. Seung
narrates an epic of his own self under the sway of Zarathustra. He
has gone through Zarathustra's journey on his own and is a worthy
guide for others. Though Seung is conversant with the scholarship,
the reader is not encumbered by too numerous or overly scholarly
footnotes....T.K. Seung's commentary possesses the majesty and
sense of triumph characteristic of the best guides to Zarathustra.
His work is indispensable for initiates and experts on Zarathustra
alike. This volume should be on every Nietzsche-reader's bookshelf.
Seung makes Zarathustra accessible and meaningful to everyone. His
book is a wonderful companion to Zarathustra.
*Greg Whitlock, Professor of Philosophy at Parkland College, and
author of Returning to Sils-Maria: A Commentary to Nietzsche's Also
sprach Zara*
An innovative, creative approach to a highly controversial problem
in Nietzsche thought: eternal return. Seung points the way to a
fruitful solution to what has been up until now, unsolvable.
*Joan Stambaugh, Translator of Martin Heidegger'sBeing and
Time and Professor Emeritus of Philosophy, CUNY Hunter*
Seung's epic reading of Zarathustra is a stunning performance. His
the-matic account delivers a synoptic understanding of Nietzsche's
complex philosophy and its entire cultural background. There has
been nothing like it in the entire history of Nietzsche
scholarship.
*Lee Chul Bum*
This exceptionally lucid and erudite commentary argues for the
first time that Nietzsche intended every chapter of Zarathustra,
and indeed even their sequence, to fit within an overarching
thematic framework. While other commentaries often lose the forest
of Zarathustra for its trees, T. K. Seung's highly original study
aims to explain how the trees make up the forest. This in itself is
an enormous interpretive accomplishment, and I can honestly say
that I have learned from it on nearly every page.
*Paul S. Loeb, Professor of Philosophy, University of Puget
Sound*
A groundbreaking contribution to Nietzsche scholarship.
*German Studies Review*
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