Melancholia Zaratustry

Abstract

Zarathustra’s melancholy: The primary objective of this article is to analyse the subject of the sequence of transformations manifesting in Friedrich Nietzsche’s Zarathustra and the vantage point for this investigation is afforded by Mourning and melancholia, an essay by Sigmund Freud. The dynamics of Zarathustra’s activity are conceptually evaluated against the backdrop of bipolar manic-depressive melancholy. The Freudian conception of melancholy aka depres-sion helps identify the root cause of the state of Zarathustra’s mind in the so-called “death of human being”. By the same token, there is evidence that what Nietzsche elucidates and identifies as “recovery” goes beyond paradigms advanced by Freud. So, I propose to refer to the aforementioned state of mind as “higher melancholy” — highlighting its affinity with the Heraclitean hen panta.