![]() ![]() Introducing new metaphors usually just adds an extra level of unclarity. While clear and precise explanations of these images and metaphors are very helpful, using them without explaining them just leaves us where we started. Part of why we turn to the secondary literature is to better understand the striking images and metaphors in the text. ![]() While it is easy to see how Zarathustra's style gives rise to these temptations, they should be resisted. ![]() Some of the authors in the volume infuse their writing with unexplained metaphors from Zarathustra or introduce new metaphors of their own. One general remark is worth making before discussing the individual essays. Those who would like to better understand Zarathustra will gain by reading them. Some of the essays in this volume help us, either by interpreting difficult passages or by presenting interpretive hypotheses that allow us to make better sense of the text. Help in solving its riddles would replace our puzzlement with a better understanding of Nietzsche's philosophy, and give us the greater appreciation that one has for a good riddle when one knows the answer. Even as its enchanting images and metaphors draw us in, they often leave us puzzled about its philosophical content. This is part of why Zarathustra is both delightful to read and difficult to understand. As James Luchte writes in his introduction, Thus Spoke Zarathustra "simultaneously plays in the fields of literature and of philosophy" (1). ![]()
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