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The Close
Relationship between
Nietzsche’s Two Most
Important Books
T.H. Brobjer
The Close Relationship between Nietzsche’s Two
Most Important Books
T. H. Brobjer
The Close
Relationship
between Nietzsche’s
Two Most Important
Books
T. H. Brobjer
Department of the History of Ideas
Uppsala University
Uppsala, Sweden
This Palgrave Macmillan imprint is published by the registered company Springer Nature Switzerland AG.
The registered company address is: Gewerbestrasse 11, 6330 Cham, Switzerland
To Mattias
Contents
1 Introduction:
The Close Relation between Thus Spoke
Zarathustra and the Revaluation of All Values 1
2 The
Common Origin of Thus Spoke Zarathustra and the
Revaluation of All Values 33
3 The
Role and Nature of Thus Spoke Zarathustra (I–III)
in Nietzsche’s Corpus 49
4 Values
and Revaluation of Values in Thus Spoke
Zarathustra 87
5 Nietzsche’s
Philosophical Plans and Work after Having
Finished Zarathustra (I–III)103
6 The
Relation of the Fourth Part of Thus Spoke
Zarathustra to the Rest of That Work and to the
Revaluation of All Values135
7 The
Idea of Eternal Recurrence in Zarathustra and
in the Revaluation of All Values147
vii
viii Contents
11 Th
e Relation between Zarathustra and Dionysos
philosophos (Book 4 of the Revaluation of all Values)283
Epilogue321
Bibliography of Nietzsche-Literature325
General Bibliography331
Index335
List of Figures
Fig. 7.1 The role of the idea of eternal recurrence as a test of values 172
Fig. 7.2 The consequences of Nietzsche’s idea of eternal recurrence
and revaluation of values 174
Fig. 11.1 Schematic Outline of How Nietzsche Regarded the
Contemporary Value-Crisis and His Solution by Means of
Revaluation of Values and Eternal Recurrence Leading to
Higher Humans with Life-Affirming Values, and with No
Need of Christianity, Morality and Metaphysics 305
ix
List of Tables
xi
xii List of Tables
Table 9.1 The relation between the main themes of Also sprach
Zarathustra and the main themes of the unfinished
Umwerthung aller Werthe202
Table 9.2 The relation between the last planned chapters of the
unfinished Umwerthung aller Werthe (Volumes 2–4) and
Also sprach Zarathustra204
Table 9.3 Nietzsche’s drafts of tables of contents from Late 1887 and
1888 for volume 3 of the unfinished Umwerthung aller
Werthe, usually with the title The Free Spirit: Critique of
Philosophy as a Nihilistic Movement208
Table 9.4 The planned chapter titles of The Free Spirit in 1887/88
divided into three themes (the chronologically later titles
are at the top and the earlier ones at the bottom of the table) 220
Table 9.5 Table of the development of notes, themes and chapter-
titles for The Free spirit in 1887/88 221
Table 9.6 Continuities and new developments concerning Truth,
Nihilism, etc between Also sprach Zarathustra and the
planned The Free Spirit (Umwerthung aller Werthe: 2) 246
Table 10.1 Nietzsche’s drafts of tables of contents from late 1887 and
1888 for volume 3 of the unfinished Umwerthung aller
Werthe, usually entitled The Immoralist252
Table 10.2 The twelve chapter titles on morality (from four draft table
of contents), divided into three themes, for The Immoralist
in 1887/88 264
Table 10.3 Table of the development of notes, themes and chapter-
titles for The Immoralist in 1887/88 268
Table 10.4 Continuities and new developments concerning morality
and virtue etc between Also sprach Zarathustra and the
planned The Immoralist (Umwerthung aller Werthe: 3) 274
Table 11.1 Nietzsche’s Drafts of Tables of Contents from Late 1887
and 1888 for Volume 4 of the Unfinished Umwerthung
aller Werthe, Dionysos philosophos, with the Tables of
Contents in Reverse Chronological Order, and Organized
According to the Last One 289
Table 11.2 Continuities and New Developments Concerning Eternal
Recurrence, Higher Humans, etc. between Also sprach
Zarathustra and the Planned Dionysos philosophos
(Umwerthung aller Werthe: 4) 309
1
Introduction: The Close Relation
between Thus Spoke Zarathustra
and the Revaluation of All Values
1.1 Introduction
Strangely enough, the two works by Nietzsche which he regarded as by
far his two most important ones, and which he repeatedly emphasized as
such, have received little attention in modern academic scholarship.
Furthermore, the relation between these two works has received almost
none at all although that relation is close and fundamental. The reason
for the limited attention is in part due to that the one work, Also sprach
Zarathustra (1883–84), is poetical and metaphorical, and is difficult to
use academically, the other work, the planned Revaluation of All Values
(Umwerthung aller Werthe), was left unfinished when he collapsed 3
January 1889, having only finished one of its planned four volumes. In
addition, they seem to be separated by almost five years and by Nietzsche
writing four other books.
Nevertheless, much can be gained by studying them and the relation-
ship between them. As I will show in this study, we can know more about
the Revaluation of All Values than is usually believed, and there is a very
close relation between the two works, which distinguish them from his
other books. Treating them together leads to synergetic effects, and in the
end we can say more about each of these works individually than before,
and much about their unexamined relation, as well as about the mature
Nietzsche’s philosophy generally.
It may seem odd to compare the poetical Also sprach Zarathustra (the
first three books, written in 1883 and early 1884) with the incomplete
project of the Umwerthung aller Werthe, the first volume, Der Antichrist,
written five years later in September 1888 (the three further planned vol-
umes were never written due to Nietzsche’s mental collapse).1 However,
perhaps surprisingly, they have much in common and contain many simi-
larities and kinships. This has not been well recognized. Most importantly,
these two works were, according to Nietzsche, his most important, funda-
mental and future-directed works. Compared to them, his other books
were of little importance, mere preparations for these two works, clarifica-
tion of them and/or resting-places from conceiving and writing them.
This makes the study of Also sprach Zarathustra and the Revaluation of All
Values, and, as I will argue here, of the connectedness and relation between
them, all the more important. I will show that they have the same origin,
they are both centered around the idea of eternal recurrence and the reval-
uation of all values, and that they have many, if not most other main
themes in common, in one of them Nietzsche uses Zarathustra as his
spokesman, in the other Dionysos as his ‘teacher’. The two works were not
separated by five years. They almost certainly had a common origin (as we
will examine in Chap. 2), and at least from 1884 onwards Nietzsche
explicitly closely connects them, and regards Also sprach Zarathustra as the
“entrance hall” and the Revaluation of All Values, which he calls his mag-
num opus (Hauptwerk), as “the main building” (as we will see when we
examine Nietzsche’s letters in Chap. 5). The fact that Nietzsche praises
Also sprach Zarathustra so exorbitantly in Ecce homo, as well as quoting
long passages from it, has been understood by almost all commentators as
Nietzsche’s exaggerated view of Also sprach Zarathustra—this may still be
1
Many scholars assume, following Mazzini Montinari, that the three further books of the
Hauptwerk were not written because Nietzsche changed his mind at the end of October 1888 or
later, and decided not to write them. I will show below that this is not correct. Furthermore, even
if it was correct, it does not change the fact that Nietzsche planned and worked hard on a magnum
opus (Hauptwerk) already from 1881, and with more intensity from early 1884 until at least late in
1888. All this time he aimed and worked hard at producing a four volume magnum opus.
1 Introduction: The Close Relation between Thus Spoke… 3
2
KSA 9, 11[195]. This note from August 1881 contains the first reference to Zarathustra, and was
written just weeks after Nietzsche had discovered the idea of eternal recurrence.
4 T. H. Brobjer
and theme that continued to echo in both these book-projects. The great
similarity and kinship of the two works is reflected in that they (or the
original single project) began as an attempt to present the new idea of
eternal recurrence and the consequences of this hypothesis. Eternal recur-
rence—the existential question of how one would respond to the idea
that one would have to re-live one’s life again and again in exactly the
same way (as a test of values, as discussed in Chap. 7 below)—always
remained the principle idea of Also sprach Zarathustra (in Ecce homo,
Nietzsche writes: “The basic conception of the work [Zarathustra]—the
thought of eternal recurrence”), and this idea was all along planned to be
the center-piece of either the whole or the fourth volume of the Hauptwerk
(for a while it had eternal recurrence as a subtitle and later it was used as
the subtitle to the fourth volume). Equally important for both works is
the attempt at revaluating values. A further principle idea of Also sprach
Zarathustra is the concept of the Übermensch. Nietzsche rarely uses this
term after the Zarathustra period, but the role of the closely related
“higher humans”, “exceptions”, “those that have turned out well”, “law-
givers”, etc., was planned to be prominent in volume 4 of the Umwerthung
aller Werthe. Both works also begin with the death of God and its conse-
quences as both a crisis of value (nihilism), but also as opening up the
possibility that humankind, through self-determination, could therefore
enter a new higher phase of human history. Other major common themes
are critique of morality (immoralism), that that which one thinks and
does should come from oneself (existentialism), the importance of striv-
ing, and striving beyond oneself, the importance of being creative, and in
being future-oriented. They also share a large number of other
minor themes.
These two works are also similar in that in both of them, there exist a
spokesman other than Nietzsche himself, Zarathustra and Dionysos
respectively, and that is the case in no other book by Nietzsche. It is true
that in the former work Zarathustra is the supreme and only spokesman
(Nietzsche elsewhere makes very clear that Zarathustra is just another
name for his own),3 while in the latter work Nietzsche mainly planned to
3
Nietzsche frequently refers to Zarathustra as his son, etc., and in Ecce homo he even explicitly says
that the name of Zarathustra can be exchanged for his own.
1 Introduction: The Close Relation between Thus Spoke… 5
speak in his own voice, but emphasizing that Dionysos (as sort of Über-
Zarathustra) has been his teacher, and he planned to entitle the last vol-
ume Dionysos or Dionysos philosophos.
The most fundamental difference between these two works is foremost
one of style, the poetical and metaphorical in Also sprach Zarathustra as
opposed to the more focused, philosophical and treatise-like in Der
Antichrist and the rest of the planned Umwerthung aller Werthe. Another
possible fundamental difference is one of scope. Also sprach Zarathustra
has an enormously broad scope (and is often difficult to interpret) and
can be regarded as life-philosophy while Der Antichrist is mostly limited
to a fairly narrow and focused scope of criticizing Christianity.4 The
planned second book, mostly entitled The Free Spirit, was meant to criti-
cize theoretical philosophy, i.e. epistemology and metaphysics, as well as
treat nihilism in general. The third book, called The Immoralist, was
meant to criticize morality and human ideals (the essence of so-called
practical philosophy). The fourth book, Dionysos or Dionysos philosophos
was meant to be more affirmative, presenting new alternative values to
those he had criticized, and centered on the idea of eternal recurrence.
See Tables 1.3–1.5.
In the later chapters of this study, we will examine some of the conse-
quences of realizing the close link between these two works. Some of the
questions we will answer in this study are:
4
However, considering the enormous influence of Christianity on European history, culture and
values, and Nietzsche sees this better than most, this is actually far from a limited and narrow theme.
6 T. H. Brobjer
Table 1.1 The Evolution of the Planned Title of Nietzsche’s magnum opus, from
the Autumn 1881 to December 1888
Autumn 1881-Summer 1885 → Aug. 1885-Aug. 1888 → Sept. -Dec. 1888
3-5 books (but mostly 4) Consisting of 4 books Consisting of 4 books
Many different titles Consistent title Consistent title (earlier subtitle)
Not called Hauptwerk, but Called Hauptwerk Called Hauptwerk
e.g. ’Haupt-Bau’ (from 1884)
project and its consequences has received such little attention in the
scholarly literature, and still more surprising, considering that it coloured
and partly determined much of Nietzsche’s life and work during the last
five years of his active life, that it has received almost no in-depth discus-
sion in the many biographies, including also the recent biographies of
Nietzsche. Nietzsche spent much more time and effort on this project
than on any of his published books after Also sprach Zarathustra as I have
shown and argued in my Nietzsche’s ‘Ecce Homo’ and the Revaluation of All
Values (Bloomsbury, 2021).
However we regard it and its outcome, this project greatly affected
Nietzsche’s writing also of the books that were not part of it, such as
Beyond Good and Evil (Jenseits von Gut und Böse), On the Genealogy of
Morals (Zur Genealogie der Moral), The Case of Wagner (Der Fall Wagner)
and Twilight of the Idols (Götzen-Dämmerung), and we need to take this
plan and this prospective work into account when we read and ana-
lyze them.
8 T. H. Brobjer
Not only did Also sprach Zarathustra and the Hauptwerk arise out of
the same thoughts, notes and drafts of books—and for both of them the
kernel is the idea of eternal recurrence and the consequence of the death
of God (that is, nihilism, and the overcoming of it, or, expressed differ-
ently, that a new foundation of values was needed), including a new con-
ception of man, as well as the revaluation of values. This close kinship of
the two works remains an important fact also in the later 1880s and
explains why he mentions both Also sprach Zarathustra and the
Umwerthung aller Werthe at the end of Götzen-Dämmerung: “I have given
mankind the most profound book it possesses, my Zarathustra: I shall
shortly give it the most independent”, the latter which refers to the
Hauptwerk. It also explains why Also sprach Zarathustra is so prominent
in Ecce homo, written as a preface to the Umwerthung aller Werthe, why he
can write in that work, Ecce homo, that he has said nothing now which
could not have been said by Zarathustra (he regarded both of them, Also
sprach Zarathustra and Ecce homo, as entrance halls of or prefaces to the
Hauptwerk), as well as why he can claim that perhaps the only readers
who can understand the first volume of the Umwerthung aller Werthe, i.e.
Der Antichrist, are “the readers who understand my Zarathustra”.5 I will
argue for an at least in part new interpretation of the meaning of the idea
of eternal recurrence and why it was so important to Nietzsche, by relat-
ing it explicitly to the revaluation of all values, which not only was the
planned title of the Hauptwerk, and earlier its subtitle, and constituted
the essence of the late Nietzsche’s philosophy.
Furthermore, in 1887 and 1888 Nietzsche seems to have regarded the
fourth book of Also sprach Zarathustra as a bridge between the two works
(as we will discuss in Chap. 6).
There are also many parallels between Also sprach Zarathustra and the
Umwerthung aller Werthe. For example, when Nietzsche received the first
review of Also sprach Zarathustra he was highly pleased and wrote in a let-
ter to Peter Gast, 26 August 1883:
5
Der Antichrist, Foreword. The translator, R.J. Hollingdale, selected to have Zarathustra in italics
(and thus referring to Also sprach Zarathustra), but in the original German it is not in italics. The
difference is minor.
1 Introduction: The Close Relation between Thus Spoke… 9
Also the first review of the first [part of ] Zarathustra, which has been sent
to me (by a Christian and antisemite, and, oddly enough, written in jail)
gives me encouragement for also there the public position, the only one of
my positions which can be understood, that is, my relation to Christianity,
is immediately well and distinctly understood. “Aut Christus, aut
Zarathustra!” [Latin for: Either Christ or Zarathustra] Or more clearly, it is
about the old and long promised coming of the antichrist—thus it is
understood by the reader.6
This is basically what Nietzsche examines and argues for, using history,
philosophy and values (including polemics and the revaluation of values)
five years later in the first book of the Umwerthung aller Werthe, Der
Antichrist.
6
Nietzsche to Gast, 26 August 1883. Compare also Nietzsche’s letter to Overbeck from the
same date.
10 T. H. Brobjer
7
I have attempted to make such studies of Ecce homo and Götzen-Dämmerung with my Nietzsche’s
‘Ecce Homo’ and the Revaluation of All Values: Dionysian versus Christian Values (2021) and the
forthcoming ‘Twilight of the Idols’ and Nietzsche’s Late Philosophy: Toward a Revaluation of Values.
1 Introduction: The Close Relation between Thus Spoke… 11
(i) The conventional view: Each book is regarded as separate and independent
(ii) Nietzsche’s view: Also sprach Zarathustra and the Umwerthung aller Werthe are regarded
as much more fundamental than the rest (which are regarded as either preliminaryor prefaces
to them or as commentaries to them).We will examine and follow this view in this study.
Götzen-
Dämmerung
Morgen- Die Jenseits Zur Der
röthe fröhliche von Genealogie Fall
Wissenschaft Gut der Moral Wagner
und
Böse
Note that this is in many ways implies the opposite to what many
English-language commentators assume and argue in regard to Nietzsche’s
thought and Nachlass (notes). Nietzsche saved his more important notes,
from the period 1881 to 1888, for use on especially his work on the
Hauptwerk (as we will discuss in Chap. 9), and in 1886 used the less
important notes for writing Jenseits von Gut und Böse. Jing Huang has
recently written an excellent paper on how Nietzsche’s notes have been
viewed in the Anglo-Saxon world, but in truth, her argument should be
further radicalized (Table 1.2).8
The fourth book of Also sprach Zarathustra is not included in (ii) since
it was not published (its role is discussed in Chap. 6).
The most important differences between the two interpretations are
that in the latter (i.e. in Nietzsche’s view):
8
Jing Huang, “Did Nietzsche want his notes burned? Some reflections on the Nachlass problem”,
British Journal of the History of Philosophy 27, 1194–1214 (2019).
12 T. H. Brobjer
1. Two works are regarded as much more important than the rest—and
both of these works have received relatively little attention in modern
Nietzsche scholarship
2. Ecce homo is regarded as foreword to the Umwerthung aller Werthe
(and meant to be published before Der Antichrist). The book is not
merely a backward-looking autobiography, but more preparatory and
forward-pointing to the coming Hauptwerk
3. Nietzsche’s corpus is not completed—further volumes of the
Umwerthung aller Werthe were planned and far developed during
many years
4. Der Antichrist is not separate and self-contained, but the first volume
of four of the Umwerthung aller Werthe
5. Götzen-Dämmerung is not a separate and self-contained work, but
based on excerpts from material related to the Umwerthung aller
Werthe, selected and written to tempt and prepare readers for that
work—he considered as subtitle for it several variants of “My
Philosophy in Extract”
6. Also sprach Zarathustra consists of three books, not four. Nietzsche
regarded this book as his most important published book, and as an
entrance hall to the forthcoming Umwerthung aller Werthe
7. Nietzsche came to regard the fourth book of Zarathustra as a bridge
between Also sprach Zarathustra and the Umwerthung aller Werthe in
1887 and 1888
Nietzsche claims in Ecce homo that he wrote the first three parts of Thus
Spoke Zarathustra in about ten intensive and inspired days each (the first
and second parts were written in January and July 1883, the third part in
January 1884, and the fourth part during January-early February 1885,
and published in May and September 1883, April 1884 and the fourth in
a small private edition of 45 copies in April 1885, respectively). This
claim of having written them in ten days each may in some ways be true,
but it also gives the wrong impression. He had found the fundamental
idea of the work already in August 1881 when he ‘discovered’ the idea of
1 Introduction: The Close Relation between Thus Spoke… 13
9
Compare Ecce homo, ‘Zarathustra’, 1, where Nietzsche claims that this idea constitute the cen-
trepiece of the work.
10
This is visible, among others, in letters to Lou Salomé, in the text on the cover of Die fröhliche
Wissenschaft where he states that this book ends his free spirit phase and most clearly in the last two
sections of the book, 341 and 342, were he introduces the central idea of the book, eternal recur-
rence, and the figure of Zarathustra.
The very first notes which suggest the work are from August 1881, the time when he discovered
the eternal recurrence and the figure of Zarathustra. The title and the expression Also sprach
Zarathustra does not occur until he worked on it in January 1883, but he used the expression “So
sprach Zarathustra” in KSA 9, 12[225] already in the autumn 1881.
Early versions of sections 68, 106, 125, 291 and 332 of The Gay Science contained references to
the name or figure Zarathustra, but these were withdrawn before the final version because he real-
ized that he wanted to save the figure of Zarathustra until his next book. Nietzsche introduces the
name Zarathustra in section 342. That whole section he essentially restates at the beginning of Thus
Spoke Zarathustra, which shows that he already in 1882 knew he was going to write Also sprach
Zarathustra.
11
Letters to Reinhart von Seylitz, 12 February 1888, to Naumann, 25 November 1888 and to Jean
Bourdeau, 17 December 1888. He uses these expressions in several letters, and also several other
expressions. Even as early as 1885 he makes similar claims, e.g. in letters to Marie Köckert, middle
of February 1885 and to Fritzsch, 29 August 1886. Similar statements can be found in his notes
and in his published books.
14 T. H. Brobjer
romantic and idealistic first phase and the too positivistic second phase.
His praise of Also sprach Zarathustra in his last book, Ecce homo, which he
largely wrote in the second half of October and the first part of November
1888, but continued to revise until his mental collapse in early January
1889, was extreme, and he throughout the book quotes long sections
from it, and refers to and praises Also sprach Zarathustra. In letters he
states that the purpose of Ecce homo is to get people to discover and better
understand Also sprach Zarathustra (as well as preparing them for the
Umwerthung aller Werthe)—emphasizing the importance he placed on
this work.
Also sprach Zarathustra was born out of Nietzsche’s thoughts
1880–1882/83, and by Nietzsche regarded as the fruit of this period. Not
only does Nietzsche present the themes of revaluation of values and the
idea of eternal recurrence in Die fröhliche Wissenschaft (1882), as well as
the figure Zarathustra. He was even convinced enough that he was mov-
ing into a new phase of his life to have printed on the back cover of Die
fröhliche Wissenschaft that this book ends his “free spirit” phase.
After having finished Also sprach Zarathustra in three parts, Nietzsche
went back and re-read Morgenröthe (1881) and Die fröhliche Wissenschaft
(1882), and found in them “hardly a single line that could not serve as an
introduction to, preparation for and commentary to” Also sprach
Zarathustra, as he writes in a letter to Overbeck, 7 April 1884. He con-
tinues: “It is a fact that I wrote the commentary before the text—”.12
That he regarded the works written after Also sprach Zarathustra as less
important than Zarathustra is clear. We know that he regarded the two
next books, Jenseits von Gut und Böse and Zur Genealogie der Moral, as
commentaries to Also sprach Zarathustra, and as preparatory for under-
standing it.13 This was also true for the fifth book of Die fröhliche
Wissenschaft, added in 1887: “My purpose with it was to give it [Die
fröhliche Wissenschaft] still more the character of a preparation ‘for Also
12
Nietzsche says the same thing in a letter to Resa von Schirnhofer, early May 1884.
13
In the letter accompanying Jenseits von Gut und Böse to Jacob Burckhardt, 22 Sept. 1886,
Nietzsche wrote: “Please read this book (although it says the same things as my Zarathustra, but
differently, very differently—)”. And to Seydlitz, 26 October 1886 he writes: “Hast Du Dich in
meinem ‘Jenseits’ umgethan? (Es ist eine Art von Commentar zu meinem ‘Zarathustra’. Aber wie
gut müsste man mich verstehn, um zu verstehn, in wie fern es zu ihm ein Commentar ist!)”.
1 Introduction: The Close Relation between Thus Spoke… 15
The mostly short later books, Der Fall Wagner and Götzen-Dämmerung
he viewed as minor works and he repeatedly referred to both of them as
mere “resting-places” from the difficult task of writing the Umwerthung
aller Werthe, confirming the view that Also sprach Zarathustra was without
doubt his magnum opus among his published books (which, of course,
did not include the Hauptwerk).16
However, this does not give the full truth. Nietzsche already from early
on, from the period 1882–84, wanted to go beyond Also sprach Zarathustra,
in the sense of writing a more theoretical or philosophical account of his
14
See letter to Nietzsche’s publisher Fritzsch, 29 April 1887: “Meine Absicht dabei war, ihm [Die
fröhliche Wissenschaft] noch mehr den Charakter einer Vorbereitung ‘für Also sprach Zarathustra’
zu geben”.
15
Zur Genealogie der Moral, II, 25. This is the whole of the last section of the second essay of Zur
Genealogie der Moral, which originally was meant to end the work (but Nietzsche later wrote and
added the third essay). This was obviously written in order to get the reader to also read his Also
sprach Zarathustra.
See also Nietzsche’s letter to Overbeck, 17 September 1887 where he claims that with Zur
Genealogie der Moral “his preparatory activity has been brought to a finale“, here the preparatory
refers to in regard to his work on the Hauptwerk: “Mit dieser Schrift (drei Abhandlungen enthal-
tend) ist übrigens meine vorbereitende Thätigkeit zum Abschluß gelangt: im Grunde gerade so, wie
es im Programm meines Lebens lag, zur rechten Zeit noch, trotz der entsetzlichsten Hemmnisse und
Gegen-Winde: aber dem Tapferen wird Alles zum Vortheil.”
16
Nietzsche contra Wagner and Dionysos-Dithyramben are short and minor works, consisting largely
of selections of earlier written poems and earlier published texts about Wagner, with much less
philosophical contents than his other books. There is for both of them uncertainty whether he
really intended to publish them. I therefore do not include them in this discussion.
16 T. H. Brobjer
17
For a longer discussion of this, see in my article, ’Nietzsche’s magnum opus’, History of European
Ideas 32 (2006), 278–294.
18
This is something which Nietzsche all along works on. To mention just one example, see KSA 10,
24[4], which is a draft for a work, almost certainly his Hauptwerk, entitled The Eternal Recurrence,
in four parts.
19
KGW VI.2, page 257.
1 Introduction: The Close Relation between Thus Spoke… 17
Anyway, this book which the author himself has called: ‘Prelude to a
Philosophy of the Future’ is only a free preface; the great question is yet to
come. At least, announced on the cover of the book is as present in
preparation: ‘The Will to Power. Attempt at a Revaluation of All Values.
(In four books.)’ One will have to wait for this work before one can make
a final judgement of the original, but often only sudden notions written in
aphoristic form of the present book.20
To his sister Nietzsche writes, concerning his plans for a magnum opus:
For the coming 4 years the working out of a four-volume magnum opus
[Hauptwerks] has been announced; already the title is enough to raise
fears: ‘The Will to Power. Attempt at a Revaluation of All Values’. For its
sake I have need of everything, good health, solitude, good spirits, per-
haps a wife.21
Ah, everything in my life is so uncertain and shaky, and always this horrible
ill health of mine! On the other hand, there is the hundredweight of this
need pressing upon me—to create a coherent structure of thought during the
next few years—and for this I need five or six preconditions, all of which
seem to be missing now or to be unattainable.22
During the autumn of 1888, shortly before his collapse, he mostly felt
that he was moving forward well, as can be seen in several letters, with
claims such as: “My life is now coming to a terrific confrontation, which
20
Joseph Viktor Widmann, Review of Jenseits von Gut und Böse in Der Bund, 16 and 17 September
1886, “Nietzsche’s Dangerous Book”, reprinted in KGB III.7/2, pp. 520–525.
21
Letter to Elisabeth and Bernhard Förster, 2 September 1886.
22
Letter to Overbeck, 24 March 1887.
18 T. H. Brobjer
has been long in preparation: that which I will do in the next two years is
such that it will overthrow our whole present order”.23
For what was Also sprach Zarathustra to be preparatory? For what was
it an entrance hall? The answer is for the project Revaluation of All Values
and the philosophy of Dionysos. Zarathustra was to be overcome and
transcended, just as Nietzsche had planned to have him killed in the con-
tinuation of the book,24 overcome and transcended by Dionysos.
Zarathustra, after all, is just a prophet, Dionysos a god! That is, a still
higher manifestation of Nietzsche himself (which was difficult to achieve
and live up to). In 1888, although Nietzsche praises Also sprach Zarathustra
excessively, Zarathustra only represents how far he has come philosophi-
cally 1883–1887/88 in his published books, while Dionysos represents
where he is going (and to some of his notes during these years). This is
also reflected in that the collection of poems he planned to publish in
1889, which was long intended to be entitled “Songs of Zarathustra” but
was now renamed Dionysos-Dithyramben. This new emphasis on Dionysos
as symbol for his philosophy is visible in Götzen-Dämmerung where
he writes:
A spirit thus emancipated stands in the midst of the universe with a joyful
and trusting fatalism, in the faith that only what is separated and individual
may be rejected, that in the totality everything is redeemed and affirmed—
he no longer denies … But such a faith is the highest of all possible faiths: I
have baptized it with the name Dionysos.25
In the section following the one after this one, which was originally
going to be the last section and sentence of the book, he wrote:
23
Letter to Helen Zimmern, 8 December 1888: “Mein Leben kommt jetzt zu einem lang vorbere-
iteten ungeheuren Eklat: das, was ich in den nächsten zwei Jahren thue, ist der Art, unsere ganze
bestehende Ordnung […] über den Haufen zu werfen.”
24
Nietzsche planned a continuation of Also sprach Zarathustra, a fifth and sixth book, in which
Zarathustra dies, until the autumn of 1885. This is reflected in a number of notes, among others
KSA 11, 35[73–75] and 39[3 and 22]. See also KGW VI.4, pp. 972ff.
25
Götzen-Dämmerung, ‘Streifzüge’, 49.
1 Introduction: The Close Relation between Thus Spoke… 19
mankind with the heaviest demand”, that is, with the revaluation of all
values which was to be contained in his work with the same name, the
Umwerthung aller Werthe. In the second section of the preface, he repeats
that he is “a disciple of the philosopher Dionysos”. Both Jenseits von Gut
und Böse and Zur Genealogie der Moral are now described as being prepa-
ratory for the coming revaluation.30 Furthermore, at the end of the review
of Der Fall Wagner he again explicitly refers to his coming Hauptwerk:
“And so, about two years before the shattering thunder of the Revaluation
which will set the earth into convulsions, I sent the ‘Wagner Case’ into
the world.” Der Fall Wagner was published in 1888, and he thus foresaw
the publication of the Umwerthung aller Werthe in or near 1890. In Ecce
homo he reviews all of his books, except Der Antichrist, which he regarded
as part of the coming ‘revaluation’. Ecce homo also ends with the words:
“Dionysos against the Crucified …”. This is almost a direct parallel to what
he had written about Also sprach Zarathustra in 1883: “Aut Christus, aut
Zarathustra!” [Latin for: Either Christ or Zarathustra], as quoted above in
Sect. 1.2 in Chap. 1.
However, as stated above, only the first volume, Der Antichrist, of this
planned magnum opus was finished when he collapsed in early January
1889. There are a number of drafts of the contents of the following two
planned volumes, but relatively few drafts for the fourth volume, called
in several notes: Dionysos: Philosophy of Eternal Recurrence, Dionysos phi-
losophos or just Dionysos.31 On the other hand, the notes for the fourth
volume show most consistency about what it was to contain. In Nietzsche’s
own view Also sprach Zarathustra represented the highest he publicly
achieved before he wrote the Hauptwerk, but we should be aware that he
for several years planned and aimed higher and beyond that, for a posi-
tion that he signified by the name Dionysos.
30
This is most obvious for Zur Genealogie der Moral, which is described as “three decisive prelimi-
nary studies of a psychologist for a revaluation of all values”.
31
See KSA 13, 14[89], 16[32], 19[8], 22[14 and 24] and 23[8 and 13], as well as the note KSA 13,
11[416], which also seems to have been added by Nietzsche after September 1888.
1 Introduction: The Close Relation between Thus Spoke… 21
32
Nietzsche’s very last outline for the last three volumes of Umwerthung aller Werthe is in KSA 13,
23[13], from October 1888. It consists of the following text: [Volume 2] The Free Spirit/ Critique
of Philosophy as a Nihilistic Movement. [Volume 3] The Immoralist/ Critique of Morality as the
Most Dangerous Kind of Lack of Knowledge. [Volume 4] Dionysos philosophos. The note 19[8] is
almost identical to this one.
22 T. H. Brobjer
Table 1.3 A comparison of the last draft for the Hauptwerk under the title Der
Wille zur Macht, 26 August 1888, with one of the several almost identical notes
for the Hauptwerk under the title Umwerthung aller Werthe, written in September
and October, but which does not contain any chapter titles
KSA 13, 18[17] The last draft for the ”Will KSA 13, 19[8], with chapter titles from
to Power”, dated 26 August 1888. KSA 13, 19[8], September 1888 18[17]
Entwurf des
Plans zu:
der Wille zur Macht. Umwerthung aller Werthe. [Constructed Table to Contents by
Versuch Combining the Two Previous Ones]
einer Umwerthung aller Werthe.
— Sils Maria
In the third column chapter titles from the first column have been added to that
of the second. (The chapter titles are translated into English in the last column
of Table 1.5 below.)
1 Introduction: The Close Relation between Thus Spoke… 23
volume, not “What is Truth?” as when the note was written), as well as
consistent with many of the earlier drafts.
An alternative way to summarize the planned contents of the
Umwerthung aller Werthe in 1888, which also shows how the plan for the
Hauptwerk developed, is to look at three actual tables of contents
Nietzsche wrote for this work during 1888, but letting the chapter titles
be organized according to how he planned the four volumes after Der
Antichrist, as volume 1, was written, listed in Table 1.5 below, which thus
includes much of Table 1.3 in the last column.
A simplified ”average” (of not just the last but of many different ver-
sions and drafts among the late notes) of the contents of the three never-
completed volumes of the Umwerthung aller Werthe can look something
like in Table 1.4:33
From earlier notes it is possible to acquire much more detail about the
planned contents of the different volumes, although one, of course, must
assume that some development and rearrangements occur as the project
evolves. From early 1888 it is possible to gain much detailed information.
It is sometimes difficult to distinguish among Nietzsche’s extant notes
which were designated to be used for the Umwerthung aller Werthe and
which should be regarded as other sorts of notes. For many of them there
probably was no such clear distinction and demarcation even in
Nietzsche’s own mind. Nonetheless, there exists a fairly large set of notes
that obviously and explicitly were written down with the intention to be
used for the Hauptwerk. Furthermore there are a fairly large number of
individual notes which Nietzsche added titles to, where it is obvious that
they too were meant for the work on the Hauptwerk. This is especially
true for most of the notes listed in three large notebooks, approximately
200 pages each, W II 1, W II 2 and W II 3, published in KSA 12,
33
Note that these three tables of contents are thus not Nietzsche’s own, but created by me from his
many drafts of tables of contents over several years (not just the last months of 1888) for the pur-
pose of giving a more ‘average’ and more representative content than what is found in any indi-
vidual draft written by Nietzsche.
24 T. H. Brobjer
Table 1.4 A Constructed Average of Many Late Notes for the Chapters and
Contents of the Three Last Volumes of the Umwerthung aller Werthe from the
period 1886 to 1888
Book 2: The Free Spirit: Critique of Philosophy as a Nihilistic Movement
(Alternative title: We Affirmative. Alternative subtitle: Salvation from ’the
Truth’.)
Table of Contents:
Truth: The Value of Truth and Falsehood
The Will to Truth
Nihilism (and Pessimism)
Book 3: The Immoralist: Critique of Morality as the Most Dangerous Kind of
Lack of Knowledge
Table of Contents:
Introduction: What is Morality?
The Errors of Psychology
Critique of ‘the Good [Humans]’
Critique of ’the Improvers’
Critique of the Ideals and human ‘desirables’
Book 4: Dionysos philosophos
(Alternative titles: The Hammar and The Great Midday)
Table of Contents:
Eternal Recurrence (by far the most important planned content of this volume)
The Tragic Worldview
The Grand Style
Grand Politics
Order of Rank
The Higher Human. The Lawgiver
9[1–190], 10[1–206] and KSA 13, 11[1–138] respectively,34 and also for
many notes in the notebook W II 4, KSA 13, 14[1–227], used during
April and May 1888. Note KSA 13, 12[2] arranges twelve chapters into
the four books (as do several other notes). More extensively, note KSA
13, 12[1] summarizes 374 notes (that Nietzsche had worked on over the
past years); each in a few words, and then lists to which of the four books
each belongs. We know that Nietzsche used this collection of summaries
and notes in September 1888 when he wrote Der Antichrist, and it seems
very probable that he also would have used it when writing the three
34
Nietzsche numbered and summarized 374 of these notes, and attributed them (except the last
ones) into the four planned volumes of the Hauptwerk, see KSA 13, 12[1–2], from early 1888. The
contents of these four large notebooks have been published in facsimile and diplomatic text in
KGW IX.6 and IX.7. I discuss these notes in more detail in Sect. 9.2 in Chap. 9.
1 Introduction: The Close Relation between Thus Spoke… 25
Table 1.5 Chapter titles for Umwerthung aller Werthe from earlier in 1888, here
classified according to the book divisions from Sept.–Nov. 1888
Table of contents Table of contents
Umwerthung aller Table of contents from May or June from 26 August
Werthe from early 1888 of 1888 1888
Sept.–Nov. 1888 KSA 13, 12[2] KSA 13, 16[51] KSA 13, 18[17]
Book 1 of
Umwerthung aller
Werthe
The Anti-Christ:
Attempt at a
Critique of
Christianity
Critique of the The religious man The homines
Christian ideals as typical religiosi
décadent
The pagan in Thoughts about
religion Christianity
Book 2 of
Umwerthung aller
Werthe
The Free Spirit:
Critique of
Philosophy as a
Nihilistic
Movement
Nihilism, The true and the The psychology of
considered to apparent world errors
its final
conclusion
The ‘will to The philosopher as The value of truth
truth’ typical décadent and error
Psychology of Science against The will to truth
the ‘will to philosophy
power’
(pleasure, will,
concept etc)
Culture, Nihilism [and its The
Civilization, the opposite] metaphysicians
ambiguity of
‘the modern’
To the history of
European
nihilism
(continued)
26 T. H. Brobjer
further volumes. We will discuss and use this in Chaps. 9, 10, and 11
below, and many of these summaries and notes will be translated into
English and published for the first time.
We can immediately from Table 1.5 see that there is much similarity
between Also sprach Zarathustra and these plans. Zarathustra is the “most
Godless”, the bringer of new truths, the destroyer of morality—and the
teacher of new values and of the idea of eternal recurrence (which we will
discuss in Chaps. 7, 8, 9,10, and 11 below).
When Nietzsche wrote about Der Antichrist to Malwida von
Meysenbug, 4 October 1888, that “the first book of my Revaluation of All
Values is finished—the greatest philosophical event of all time, with
which the history of mankind will break into two halves …”, she responds
in the middle of October with interest and a rhetorical question: “I am
much looking forward to the first part of your great work. It is presum-
ably the complete discussion of that to which Zarathustra was the
introduction”.35
35
KGB III.6, p. 331.
28 T. H. Brobjer
interest in Dionysos began early and was at its most intensive during the
early 1870s, with a revival of interest in the later 1880s, while he only
‘discovered’ Zarathustra in 1881 and referred to the figure most fre-
quently during the years 1882–85 and in late 1888. More relevant, at
least for our interest here, is that the late Nietzsche’s use of these symbols,
that is, his use of them after 1885, is almost evenly distributed between
the two.
Zarathustra was a symbol for many things for Nietzsche. More than
anything else, he was the teacher of eternal recurrence; but he also repre-
sents the overcoming of morality, thus immoralism, but also atheism,
skepticism and the like. He is a severe critic of present values and ideals,
and he also suggests new ‘half-written tables of values’. Zarathustra can
easily be taken to constitute Nietzsche’s most important symbol, and that
impression seems confirmed by Nietzsche’s claim that there were no
counter-ideals before Also sprach Zarathustra, and that he has said nothing
in Ecce homo that he could not have said already five years before, through
the mouth of Zarathustra.
Dionysos in Nietzsche’s writings also came to represent many impor-
tant topoi; tragedy, life-affirmation, creativity (and destruction) and real-
ism. He also represents darkness (and the forbidden—which seems
mainly to refer to revalued values—which Nietzsche had referred to both
at the end of Jenseits von Gut und Böse, the beginning of Ecce homo and in
many late notes—probably another allusion to what was to come in the
planned Umwerthung aller Werthe), revolution, the antichrist,36 extasis,
music, immoralism and association with Ariadne (which eventually will
lead Nietzsche to identify with Dionysos). Most of all, however, Dionysos
seems to be not just the teacher of eternal recurrence, but actually repre-
sent the idea of eternal recurrence itself.
However important Zarathustra was to Nietzsche, I think one must
say that both Zarathustra and Nietzsche failed as teachers. Neither in the
book Also sprach Zarathustra, where Nietzsche and Zarathustra more sug-
gest than expound on the idea of eternal recurrence, nor outside of the
book, are people aware of this idea, nor are the few that have that knowl-
edge persuaded by it. A poetic and metaphorical intimation of eternal
36
Die Geburt der Tragödie, Preface, 1.
1 Introduction: The Close Relation between Thus Spoke… 29
recurrence was not sufficient. Nietzsche knew this, and thus also planned
to present it (and other aspects of his thought) in a more philosophical
manner—(while he still playfully wanted to present it as the philosophy
of the god Dionysos)—and that was the main purpose of the Umwerthung
aller Werthe.
1. I argue that the principle content of both Also sprach Zarathustra and
the Hauptwerk were conceived around the idea of eternal recurrence,
and that it was the discovery of this idea in August 1881 that was the
stimulus for the writing of both books.
2. I further show that both these works concretely have their origin in
the draft for a work entitled Midday and Eternity, and that both works
developed out of this projected work.
3. I argue that both works share in expressing a new conception of man.
This is obviously true for Also sprach Zarathustra, in which the
Übermensch-theme is arguably more prominent than even the idea of
eternal recurrence, but this has not been realized for the case of the
Umwerthung aller Werthe, since although present in the plans for it, see
especially sections three and four of Der Antichrist (where even the
When I refer to Also sprach Zarathustra I usually mean the first three books or parts of it that
37
Nietzsche made public. The fourth part, ZaIV, not published by Nietzsche, I usually treat separately.
30 T. H. Brobjer
These arguments for the kinship between Also sprach Zarathustra and
the Umwerthung aller Werthe are supplemented by several others, such as
the existence of several other parallel contents in the two works, and the
structural similarity between them. The main problem is identified in
In the subtitle for those who prefer to refer to Nietzsche’s Hauptwerk by its penultimate title, Der
38
Wille zur Macht, with the subtitle: “Attempt at a Revaluation of All Values”.
1 Introduction: The Close Relation between Thus Spoke… 31
2.1 Introduction
The titles Also sprach Zarathustra and Umwerthung aller Werthe both
began as subtitles to Nietzsche’s planned Hauptwerk, and it seems as if
both of these works grew out of a project which began in 1881 and 1882.
Nietzsche made a number of important new philosophical ‘discoveries’ in
the early 1880s (the death of God, nihilism, Übermensch, immoralism),
with the discovery of the idea of eternal recurrence, in August 1881, as
the most important one. Perhaps equally important was that he during
this time became increasingly aware of the themes of the concept of will
to power and of the revaluation of values, but the thought of these took
longer time to develop, from circa 1880 until 1883. The development of
all these philosophical themes would make Nietzsche move into a new
stage, that of the mature (or late) Nietzsche, and these concepts and ideas
would constitute important ingredients in both Also sprach Zarathustra
and the plans for the Hauptwerk.
1
It occurs for the first time as a subtitle to Mittag und Ewigkeit (which we will discuss later in this
chapter), in the note KSA 10, 4[39], from the winter 1882/83, and thereafter in the note 4[186].
Nietzsche had once before used the similar expression “So sprach Zarathustra”, KSA 9, 12[225],
but then not as a title. The notes in this notebook has been dated by Montinari as having been
written during the autumn 1881, but the final notes, to which this one belongs, were probably
added later. The last note, 12[231], was written during the end of March 1882.
2
KSA 11, 26[259]. Philosophie der ewigen Wiederkunft.
3
KSA 12, 2[100], summer 1886. Der Wille zur Macht.
2 The Common Origin of Thus Spoke Zarathustra… 35
of the idea of eternal recurrence he for the first time uses the expression
“Midday and Eternity”, and already then it is used as a title for a work
which obviously was meant to elabortate on this idea.4 Furthermore,
immediately below the title is Nietzsche’s first reference to Zarathustra—
in a sentence which essentially is identical to the first sentence of the
book (and also the first sentence of the last section, 342, of Die fröhliche
Wissenschaft).
Nietzsche found and picked up the figure of Zarathustra as his spokes-
man while reading the cultural historian and anthropologist Friedrich
von Hellwald’s Culturgeschichte in ihrer natürlichen Entstehung bis zur
Gegenwart (Augsburg, 1874, 2. ed. 1875), 839 pages.5 The introduction
of Also sprach Zarathustra is almost a direct quotation from Hellwald, and
this is even truer of Nietzsche’s very first reference to Zarathustra which
is as follows:
Zarathustra, born at the lake Urmi, left his home when he was thirty years
old, and went to the province of Aria and wrote there, during ten years of
solitude in the mountains, the Zend-Avesta.6
The central part of this text is taken from Hellwald, who wrote:
Zarathustra, the great prophet of the Iranians […] was born in the town of
Urmi, by the lake of the same name […] At the age of thirty, he left his
home, went eastwards to the province of Aria and spent there in the moun-
tains ten years in solitude and occupied himself with composing the
Zend-Avesta.7
From the very start, the idea of eternal recurrence seems to have consti-
tuted the centerpiece of a project, that fairly quickly turned into two
projects; a more poetical and prophetic version (which became Also sprach
4
KSA 9, 11[195].
5
‘Beiträge zur Quellenforschung mitgeteilt von Paolo D’Iorio,” Nietzsche-Studien 22 (1993),
395–397.
6
KSA 9, 11[195]. The next note, on the same theme, under the title “Zum ‘Entwurf einer neuen
Art zu leben’“is at the end dated with the words “Sils-Maria 26. August 1881,” i.e. only a few weeks
after his discovery of the idea of eternal recurrence.
7
Hellwald, Culturgeschichte (1874), p. 128. My translation.
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Fig. 3
Now, as you look at this picture of the apple flower (Fig. 3), you
see a circle made up of five pretty leaves. Sometimes these are
white; again they are pink. And in the center what do you see? Why,
there you see a quantity of odd-looking little things whose names
you do not know. They look somewhat like small, rather crooked
pins; for on the tips of most of them are objects which remind you of
the head of a pin.
If you were looking at a real flower, you would see that these pin
heads were little boxes filled with a yellow dust which comes off
upon one’s fingers; and so for the present we will call them “dust
boxes.”
But besides these pins—later we shall learn their real names—
besides these pins with dust boxes, we find some others which are
without any such boxes. The shape of these reminds us a little of the
pegs or pins we use in the game of tenpins. If we looked at them
very closely, we should see that there were five of them, but that
these five were joined below into one piece.
Now suppose we take the apple blossom and pull off all its pretty
white flower leaves, and all the pins with dust boxes, what will be
left?
Fig. 4
This picture (Fig. 4) shows you just what is left. You see what
looks like a little cup or vase. The upper part of this is cut into five
pieces, which are rolled back. In the picture one of these pieces is
almost out of sight. In the real blossom these pieces look like little
green leaves. And set into this cup is the lower, united part of those
pins which have no dust boxes on top.
I fancy that you are better acquainted with the apple blossom than
ever before, never mind how many mornings you may have spent in
the sweet-smelling, pink and white orchard. You know just what goes
to make up each separate flower, for all the many hundreds of
blossoms are made on the one plan.
And only now are you ready to hear what happened to make the
apple take the place of the blossom.
THE STORY OF THE BEE
Fig. 5
We see the apple stem, which last May was the flower stem. This
has grown thick and strong enough to hold the apple fast to the tree
till it ripens and is ready to drop.
The upper part of the stem you cannot see, because the apple has
swelled downwards all about it, or upwards we should say, if it were
still on the tree.
Fig. 6
Fig. 7
What do you find in its very heart? If you cut it through crosswise,
you find five brown seeds packed as neatly as jewels in their case
(Fig. 7); and if you cut it through lengthwise, you discover only two or
three seeds (Fig. 8).
Probably I need not say to you that these seeds were once the
little round things hidden within the green cup.
Fig. 8
Some day I will tell you a great deal more about the wonderful
golden dust which turns flowers into apples as easily as Cinderella’s
fairy godmother turned rats into ponies, and pumpkins into coaches.
But all this will come later. Just now I want to talk about something
else.
WHAT A PLANT LIVES FOR
W HEN you go for a walk in the country, what do you see all
about you?
“Cows and horses, and chickens and birds, and trees and
flowers,” answers some child.
Yes, all of these things you see. But of the trees and plants you
see even more than of the horses and cows and birds. On every side
are plants of one kind or another. The fields are full of grass plants.
The woods are full of tree plants. Along the roadside are plants of
many varieties.
Now, what are all these plants trying to do? “To grow,” comes the
answer. To grow big and strong enough to hold their own in the
world. That is just what they are trying to do.
Then, too, they are trying to flower.
“But they don’t all have flowers,” objects one voice.
You are right. They do not all have flowers; but you would be
surprised to know how many of them do. In fact, all of them except
the ferns and mosses, and a few others, some of which you would
hardly recognize as plants,—all of them, with these exceptions,
flower at some time in their lives.
All the trees have flowers, and all the grasses (Figs. 9, 10); and all
those plants which get so dusty along the roadside, and which you
call “weeds,”—each one of these has its own flower. This may be so
small and dull-looking that you have never noticed it; and unless you
look sharply, perhaps you never will. But all the same, it is a flower.
But there is one especial thing which is really the object of the
plant’s life. Now, who can tell me this: what is this object of a plant’s
life?
Do you know just what I mean by this question? I doubt it; but I will
try to make it clear to you.
Fig. 9
If I see a boy stop his play, get his hat, and start down the street, I
know that he has what we call “an object in view.” There is some
reason for what he is doing. And if I say to him, “What is the object of
your walk?” I mean, “For what are you going down the street?” And if
he answers, “I am going to get a pound of tea for my mother,” I know
that a pound of tea is the object of his walk.
So when I ask what is the object of a plant’s life, I mean why does
a plant send out roots in search of food, and a stem to carry this food
upward, and leaves to drink in air and sunshine? What is the object
of all this?
A great many people seem to think that the object of all plants with
pretty flowers must be to give pleasure. But these people quite forget
that hundreds and thousands of flowers live and die far away in the
lonely forest, where no human eye ever sees them; that they so lived
and died hundreds and thousands of years before there were any
men and women, and boys and girls, upon the earth. And so, if they
stopped long enough quietly to think about it, they would see for
themselves that plants must have some other object in life than to
give people pleasure.
Fig. 10
But now let us go back to the tree from which we took this apple,
and see if we can find out its special object.
“Why, apples!” some of you exclaim. “Surely the object of an apple
tree is to bear apples.”
That is it exactly. An apple tree lives to bear apples.
And now why is an apple such an important thing? Why is it worth
so much time and trouble? What is its use?
“It is good to eat,” chime all the children in chorus.
Yes, so it is; but then, you must remember that once upon a time,
apple trees, like all other plants and trees, grew in lonely places
where there were no boys and girls to eat their fruit. So we must find
some other answer.
Think for a moment, and then tell me what you find inside every
apple.
“Apple seeds,” one of you replies.
And what is the use of these apple seeds?
“Why, they make new apple trees!”
If this be so, if every apple holds some little seeds from which new
apple trees may grow, does it not look as though an apple were
useful and important because it yields seeds?
And what is true of the apple tree is true of other plants and trees.
The plant lives to bear fruit. The fruit is that part of the plant which
holds its seeds; and it is of importance for just this reason, that it
holds the seeds from which come new plants.
THE WORLD WITHOUT PLANTS
S OME time ago you noticed that apple seeds were packed away
within the apple as neatly as though they were precious jewels
in their case.
When we see something done up very carefully, surrounded with
cotton wool, laid in a beautiful box, and wrapped about with soft
paper, we feel sure that the object of all this care is of value. Even
the outside of such a package tells us that something precious lies
within.
Fig. 11
But what precious jewels could be laid away more carefully than
these apple seeds? And what jewel case could boast a more
beautiful outside than this red-cheeked apple (Fig. 11)?
Pass it around. Note its lovely color, its delicate markings, its satin-
like skin. For myself, I feel sure that I never have seen a jewel case
one half so beautiful.
Then cut it open and see how carefully the soft yet firm apple flesh
is packed about the little seeds, keeping them safe from harm (Fig.
12).
Fig. 12
But perhaps you think that anything so good to eat is not of much
use as a protection. It takes you boys and girls about half a minute to
swallow such a jewel case as this.
But here comes the interesting part of the story.
When you learn how well able this apple is to defend from harm its
precious seeds, I think you will look upon it with new respect, and will
own that it is not only a beautiful jewel case, but a safe one.
All seeds need care and wrapping-up till they are ripe; for if they
fall to the ground before they are well grown, they will not be able to
start new plants.
You know that you can tell whether an apple is ripe by looking at
its seeds, for the fruit and its seeds ripen together. When the apple
seeds are dark brown, then the apple is ready to be eaten.
But if, in order to find out whether an apple was ripe, you were
obliged always to examine its seeds, you might destroy many apples
and waste many young seeds before you found what you wished;
so, in order to protect its young, the apple must tell you when it is
ready to be eaten in some other way than by its seeds.
How does it do this? Why, it puts off its green coat, and instead
wears one of red or yellow; and from being hard to the touch, it
becomes soft and yielding when you press it with your fingers. If not
picked, then it falls upon the ground in order to show you that it is
waiting for you; and when you bite into it, you find it juicy, and
pleasant to the taste.
While eating such an apple as this, you can be sure that when you
come to the inner part, which holds its seeds, you will find these
brown, and ripe, and quite ready to be set free from the case which
has held them so carefully all summer.
But how does the apple still further protect its young till they are
ready to go out into the world?
Well, stop and think what happened one day last summer when
you stole into the orchard and ate a quantity of green apples, the
little seeds of which were far too white and young to be sent off by
themselves.
In the first place, as soon as you began to climb the tree, had you
chosen to stop and listen, you could almost have heard the green
skins of those apples calling out to you, “Don’t eat us, we’re not ripe
yet!”
And when you felt them with your fingers, they were hard to the
touch; and this hardness said to you, “Don’t eat us, we’re not ripe
yet!”
But all the same, you ate them; and the sour taste which puckered
up your mouth said to you, “Stop eating us, we’re not ripe yet!”
But you did not pay any attention to their warnings; and, though
they spared no pains, those apples were not able to save their baby
seeds from being wasted by your greediness.
But there was still one thing they could do to prevent your eating
many more green apples, and wasting more half-ripe seeds. They
could punish you so severely for having disobeyed their warnings,
that you would not be likely very soon to do the same thing again.
And this is just what they did.
When feeling so ill and unhappy that summer night from all the
unripe fruit you had been eating, perhaps you hardly realized that
those apples were crying out to you,—
“You would not listen to us, and so we are punishing you by
making you ill and uncomfortable. When you saw how green we
were, we were begging you not to eat us till our young seeds were
ripe. When you felt how hard we were, we were trying to make you
understand that we were not ready for you yet. And, now that you
have eaten us in spite of all that we did to save ourselves and our
seeds, we are going to make you just as unhappy as we know how.
Perhaps next time you will pay some heed to our warnings, and will
leave us alone till we are ready to let our young ones go out into the
world.”
So after this when I show you an apple, and ask you what you
know about it, I fancy you will have quite a story to tell,—a story that
begins with one May day in the orchard, when a bee went flower
visiting, and ends with the little brown seeds which you let fall upon
the ground, when you had finished eating the rosy cheeks and juicy
pulp of the apple seed case. And the apple’s story is also the story of
many other fruits.
SOME COUSINS OF THE APPLE
Fig. 13