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Nietzsche's Epic of the Soul: Thus Spoke Zarathustra

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This interpretation of Nietzsche's *Thus Spoke Zarathustra* is bold and exciting. One of the main strengths of this book is the author's attempt to bring together two themes that are often noted in connection with *Zarathustra*, but rarely integrated: the modern vision of a deterministic universe and the spiritual journey of the individual soul. I know of no other interpretation that takes determinism as a given for Nietzsche but still sees the resolution of the existential problem of the sovereign individual to arise through religious experience. Many readers are thus likely to be amazed at the author's reading of *Zarathustra*'s finale as presenting a Zarathustra appropriating Spinoza's nature-mysticism and a stance resembling those of the Buddha and the Taoist sage. Another strength of the book is its effort to situate *Zarathustra* in the context of other major philosophical and literary works that were known to Nietzsche. It is also admirable for taking Part IV to be crucial to an interpretation of the book. Many commentators do not, apparently feeling no compunction about stating that they would have preferred *Zarathustra* without the last part and interpreting only the parts that they prefer. This book not only takes the fourth part seriously; it shows (to my mind convincingly) how the book would be inferior without it. Finally, the manuscript does more with the notion of the superman than commentators usually do. The author analyzes the central conflict in the book in terms of the Faustian superman vs. the Spinozan superman. The exploration of various alternative construals of the superman is valuable, in particular the idea that a Buddha (an enlightened one), considered a "great person" in Buddhist thought, might be a superman in the sense that Nietzsche means it.

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. More than anything I have read on Zarathustra in a long time, Seung's book inspires me to go back to the text and to re-think my own interpretation.

T.K. Seung has combined incisive analytic rigor and high poetic sensitivity to bring Zarathustra alive--both as a philosophical treatise and a work of art. By carefully unraveling layer upon layer of symbolism, Seung has found in Zarathustra Nietzsche's own resolution to one of the weightiest of all intellectual problems: that of free will versus determinism. He finds this solution in Zarathustra's surrender of his Faustian free will in favor of a Spinozistic pantheistic determinism. There are many surprises and edifying elements of his approach. First, he successfully links Nietzsche with Spinoza (whom he praises without reservation)--that is to say, he places Nietzsche in an intellectual tradition. Second, he is able to place Nietzsche's work in a literary tradition, as well--that of the post-Christian Naturalistic epic (following Goethe and Wagner). Third, he finds a deeply religious Nietzsche--and does so in a completely persuasive manner. And fourth, perhaps Seung's greatest achievement, he takes Part IV of Zarathustra to be integral to Nietzsche's masterwork. Contrary to other interpreters, he finds the denouement not at the end of Part III, but in the Ass Festival of Part IV. To see if these strong claims are vindicated, I urge anyone interested in making sense of Zarathustra to read this work soon. It is well-written, highly erudite, and constantly stimulating. I cannot imagine ever reading Zarathustra again through any other lens than Seung's.