Zarathoustra

Summary

Dominique Pagani approaches Zarathustra as Nietzsche's central character. He describes him as the figure of the "self with the truth without the others": alone on the mountain, Zarathustra addresses the sun and then goes back down to mankind, and "thus began Zarathustra's going-under"12. He sees him less as a superman of power than as a dancer of Dionysus, a spirit of lightness opposed to the spirit of gravity34. He also notes that adolescents readily identify with this figure. He links him to the opposition to Christ, to the prophet of the Great Noon and to the formula "Aut Christus, aut Zarathustra"5, as well as to the pitiless man through whom Nietzsche wants to renew humanity. In discussing Nietzsche's relationship to Wagner, he compares Zarathustra's hammer to Siegfried's sword. He dwells on a few passages of the book: the "Grave Song", the gateway scene where, facing the dwarf, Zarathustra states the eternal return6, and the poem "only a fool, only a poet". About this refrain, he points out a contradiction in Nietzsche, who makes Zarathustra a poet rather than a philosopher.

1. 1G for Gauche (the Left)21 Dec 2014 · 3:04
2. 2#5.2 ter Questions, following workshop #5.2 (Facebook Live)6 Dec 2018 · 25:49
3. 3U for Übermensch4 Jan 2015 · 5:54
4. 4#12 Nietzsche (right up) against Wagner28 Jan 2021 · 2:07:39
5. 5Beware of misreadings! Clouscard and the ideology of desire, in homage to Le Précepteur14 Jan 2023 · 30:41
6. 6The eternal return… of the death camps?13 Oct 2024 · 23:02

Summary produced automatically from 13 of the passages below, to be reviewed; the numbers link to the moment in the session.