A landmark work of philosophy and of literature, Thus Spoke Zarathustra is the fullest expression of Nietzche's belief that "the object of mankind should lie in its highest individuals. " In his thirtieth year Zarathustra - the archetypal Ubermensch representative of supreme passion and creativity - abandons his home for the mountains, where he lives, literally and figuratively, on a level of experience far above the conventional standards of good and evil. The exuberant, poetic testimony of Nietzche's great messianic hero (and alter ego) is a vivid demonstration of the philosopher's genius. Walter Kaufmann's celebrated translation - hailed by Newsweek for its "incandescent splendor of language"--Has gained general recognition as the most authoritative version of Zarathustra existing in English.