The ground was now cleared for the work of reconstruction and the first structure that Nietzsche reared was "Also sprach Zarathustra" ("Thus Spake Zoroaster"). This book, to which he gave the sub-title of "Ein Buch für Alle und Keinen" ("A book for all and none"), took the form of a fantastic, half-poetical half-philosophical rhapsody. Nietzsche had been delving into oriental mysticism and from the law-giver of the ancient Persians he borrowed the name of his hero--Zoroaster. But there was no further resemblance between the two, and no likeness whatever between Nietzsche's philosophy and that of the Persians.
criticism · The Prophet of the Superman
Zarathustra as first work of reconstruction
Mencken says that Zarathustra was the first structure Nietzsche reared after clearing the ground, a half-poetical, half-philosophical rhapsody whose hero borrows only the name of the Persian law-giver, with no likeness to Persian philosophy.