THUS SPOKE ZARATHUSTRA BOOK RELEASE March 31, 2006

THUS SPOKE ZARATHUSTRA BOOK RELEASE ? NIETZSCHE CIRCLE

On Friday, March 31st at 7 PM the Nietzsche Circle will be celebrating the release of Nietzsche and Buddhist scholar Graham Parkes? momentous new translation of Thus Spoke Zarathustra, what Nietzsche called ?the greatest gift mankind? has ever received. Mr. Parkes? new translation is not only the first in nearly half a decade, but the first to retain the musicality of the original and to annotate the abundance of allusions to the Bible and other classic texts Nietzsche is in a polemic with.

This book, which Nietzsche referred to as ?the profoundest book there is, born from the innermost richness of truth,? has influenced and inspired much of the most significant artwork of the 20th century. From the poetry of Rilke and Yeats to the novels of Thomas Mann, Nikos Kazantzakis, and Milan Kundera, from the painting of Otto Dix, Matisse and Munch to the music of Strauss, Mahler, and Schoenberg and the choreography of Isadora Duncan, Mary Wigman, and Martha Graham, Nietzsche?s affect upon the arts of the 20th century is not only irrefutable, but astonishing.

Thus Spoke Zarathustra addresses the crisis of the death of God and mankind?s exigent task of how to live a fulfilling life in a world devoid of meaning. In it, Zarathustra, the first to transpose morality into the metaphysical realm, the first to create the most calamitous error, morality, recognizes and overcomes his error. Before the shadow of the murdered God, Zarathustra also overcomes the non-tragic finite conception of temporality and discovers the thought of thoughts, the idea of the Eternal Return. This is ?the highest formula of affirmation that can ever be attained? and successful engagement with this profoundly Dionysian idea enables us to choose clearly among the myriad possibilities that existence offers, and thereby to affirm every moment of our lives and remain faithful to the earth.

Please join the Nietzsche Circle for this rare and very special occasion, which Mr. Parkes is expressly visiting New York from Hawaii for. For more information, visit our website, nietzschecircle.com or write to [email protected]. Admission is $5.

The event will take place at Mercy College, Manhattan on 66 W. 35th St (near Broadway), Rm 704 and will include film excerpts, recitation, and a dialogue with Mr. Parkes conducted by John Richardson, a prominent Nietzsche scholar and NYU philosophy professor.