Abstract

Friedrich Nietzsche's contribution to philosophy and literature is distinguished by his stylistic verve and varied use of literary forms. This essay investigates the major problems that contribution has presented for his readers--primarily in Also sprach Zarathustra. Part I focuses on contradiction in his writing style and its significance for his philosophy. Positing a new generic designation--the novel--for Zarathustra, Part II attempts to make this unique philosophical work more accessible to readers by examining its diegetic and mimetic passages according to prevailing narrative theories. Thereby it also finds ample support for the uncommon thesis that the four separate parts of Zarathustra form an integral whole. Comparisons with biblical and modern narratives demonstrate further how its literary conventions fit squarely into the Western narrative tradition