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Written between 1883 and 1885, Thus Spoke Zarathustra is perhaps Friedrich Nietzsche’s best-known and most-read work. Yet it may not be his best. For despite the fact that Nietzsche was a mature man of about 40 when he wrote the work, Zarathustra often seems to have an adolescent tone — a tone that does nothing to advance the argument and indeed often seems to detract from it. In this talk, we will attempt to understand both Nietzsche’s argument and his style in this famous — and to some infamous — rant against the Victorian world view.

GIVEN: AUGUST 2001