Superman unifies the life work; publication

Mencken says that the superman, the idea most associated with Nietzsche, is the natural child of The Birth of Tragedy and binds his whole work into one consistent whole, and records that Parts I-II appeared in 1883, Part III in 1884, Part IV circulated privately in 1885 and was published only in 1892, the book being conceived in the Engadine and written in Genoa, Sils Maria, Nice and Mentone.

In his discourses Zoroaster voices the Nietzschean idea of the superman--the idea that has come to be associated with Nietzsche more than any other. Later on, it will be set forth in detail. For the present, suffice it to say that it is the natural child of the notions put forward in Nietzsche's first book, "The Birth of Tragedy," and that it binds his entire life work together into one consistent, harmonious whole. The first part of "Also sprach Zarathustra" was published in 1883, the second part following in the same year, and the third part was printed in 1884. The last part was privately circulated among the author's friends in 1885, but was not given to the public until 1892, when the entire work was printed in one volume. As showing Nietzsche's wandering life, it may be recorded that the book was conceived in the Engadine and written in Genoa, Sils Maria, Nice and Mentone.