'Thus Spoke Zarathustra' is read by gathering segments of the disjointed religious text; in some ways its format is similar to the Bible. Within the book Astra is an ancient figure in Persian religion, founder of the Zoroastrianism religion (now scarce and mainly l in Iran/India) known for the funeral rights; leaving the corps on a pillar for birds to pick at. The key point that Nietzsche tries to bring out through Zoroastrianism is an obsession between good and evil; a dialectic history within the religion of a battle between good and evil. Another key theme is the stages of struggle and progression; the camel, the lion, the child. Struggle is good for us, we should embrace it if not bring it upon ourselves, to become the overman or superman.
Ulyses by James Joyce, exemplifies the human as a sexual being, how the Id goes wild, the Super Ego controls and conforms to society rules and the Ego mediates between the two.
Nietzsche express a modern world where there is no centre of the universe and therefore no absolute good or evil. One can questions weather this leads to anarchy or chaos, depending on if you take the Hobbes approach where the state of nature is evil so the world would be full of rape and murder, or base your ideas on Rousseau where there would be peace with no land to fight over as John Lennon suggests in 'Imagine'.
Modernism is the start of free speech. It is also about refusing to let current society rules and historical rules, morals and discoveries prevent one from living a full life. Taken to the extreme, if you have a goal and desire to kill someone, why lower yourself to societies rules and live your life unfulfilled (I think this idea is mentioned in Nietzsche's book 'Beyond Good and Evil', not saying that evil is good but that there is no evil only yourself.).
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