Bought my first copy in the Summer of 1974 … my first summer with Ann. I was working at Alcan, Rogerstone, at the time – my last ‘student-summer-job.’ The translation was by R J Hollingdale. After MUCH USE, the paperback is just about in one piece! This morning, my 46 years old copy will be replaced by Graham Parkes 2005 … for reading, at least, since the original is full of notes, pasted comments etc.

Parkes’s translation is also well presented and arranged. Some might object to the cover illustration, which gives an image of Zarathustra, but very much like an image of Jesus. Based on an original portrait of Setsuko Aihara, who in turn based it on Durer’s original  self portrait of 1500, it shows the figure of Zarathustra with his customary allegorical symbols of staff, serpent, sea and eagle. The resemblance to Christ would seem to be fitting to represent an author, who so very much aimed to imitate and creatively to surpass the originator of Christianity.

Graham Parkes is Professorial Research Fellow in Philosophy at the University of Vienna, Austria. For over thirty years he has taught environmental philosophies and Asian and comparative thought at UC Santa Cruz, the University of Hawaii, and universities in China, Japan, and Europe.

Old oak, that spread’st thy branches to the air,
And firmly in the earth dost fix thy roots;
No shifting of the land, no mighty elements,
Which Heaven from the stormy north unlocks;
Nor whatso’er the gruesome winter sends,
Can tear thee from the spot where thou art chained.
Thou art the veritable portrait of my faith,
Which, fixed, remains ‘gainst every casual chance.
Ever the self-same ground dost thou p. 148
Grasp, cultivate and comprehend; and stretch
Thy grateful roots unto the generous breast.
Upon one only object I
Have fixed my spirit, sense, and intellect.

HEROIC ENTHUSIASTS – (GLI EROICI FURORI) – By GIORDANO BRUNO

She once stated about her work: ‘You coax the picture out of its cage along with persona …  You are merely the visitor, grandly invited: Step in.’ (Dorothea Tanning)

The term history has evolved from an ancient Greek verb that means “to know,” says the Oxford English Dictionary's Philip Durkin. The Greek word historia originally meant inquiry, the act of seeking knowledge, as well as the knowledge that results from inquiry ... in German it also means 'story' ... Exactly, history is our story, uncensored.

“I don’t see why one shouldn’t be absolutely fascinated with the human form…,” Tanning once stated. “We go through life in this wonderful envelope. Why not acknowledge that and try to say something about it? What I try to say about it is transformation.”

METAMORPHOSES … FROM MAN TO STAG!

From Legend 1949 – “Please be advised that I will vaccinate the world with a desire for violent and perpetual astonishment … The 3 graces had been looking rather sleepy but at the last words they opened their mouths in horror, then picked up their knitting and fled.“

She and Ernst had “never talked art, … We just had fun. We both had senses of humour, and we enjoyed using them …”

“I was a loner, am a loner, good Lord, it’s the only way I can imagine working. And then when I hooked up with Max Ernst, he was clearly the only person I needed …”