Second Part · XXXVI. The Land of Culture

Exiled from fatherlands; loving the children's land

The Superman (Übermensch)Solitude Zarathustra

Ah, whither shall I now ascend with my longing! From all mountains do I look out for fatherlands and motherlands.

But a home have I found nowhere: unsettled am I in all cities, and decamping at all gates.

Alien to me, and a mockery, are the present-day men, to whom of late my heart impelled me; and exiled am I from fatherlands and motherlands.

Thus do I love only my CHILDREN’S LAND, the undiscovered in the remotest sea: for it do I bid my sails search and search.

Unto my children will I make amends for being the child of my fathers: and unto all the future—for THIS present-day!—

Zarathustra looks from every mountain for a home but finds none, and says present-day men are alien to him. He loves only the children's land in the remotest sea. He will make amends to his children for being the child of his fathers.

The Superman (Übermensch)His love is for the undiscovered land of future children, to be found only by sailing on and on.
SolitudeFinding no home in any city or fatherland, he is unsettled and exiled.

Commentary on this passage

What the critics said

Anthony M. Ludovici, Notes on Thus Spake Zarathustra (1909)

Sterile scholars and love of the children's landAnthony M. Ludovici · Notes on Thus Spake Zarathustra, 1909interpretation

Ludovici says 'The Land of Culture' epitomises Nietzsche's attack on the scholars of his day as sterile because they believe in nothing, and that its last verses explain his altruism: he rejects Christian pity and neighbour-love both as degenerative slave-values and because he can love only his children's land, redeeming his fathers' errors in his children.