( 6 reviews )
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( 1 of 1 found this review helpful ) Posted: Sep 27 2008
Martin Heidegger (1889 -- 1976) and Hannah Arendt (1906 -- 1975) were among the most influential Twentieth Century thinkers. The German philosopher Martin Heidegger remains best-known for "Being and Time" (1927) and for his later "turn" to poetry and exegesis. Hannah Arendt escaped from Nazi Germany and became and American citizen in 1951. She became a political philosopher and the author of books including "The Origins of Totalitarianism", "The Human Condition" and "Eichmann in Jerusalem." The long personal and intellectual relationship between Heidegger and Arendt is chronicled in this collection of letters written between 1925 -- 1975, published and annotated by Ursula Ludz. In 1924, Arendt, a young and impressionable student, fell under the intellectual and personal influence of Heidegger at the University of Marburg. At the time, Heidegger was 35, married, a father, and working furiously on "Being and Time." The teacher and student began a passionate affair which gradually evolved into a lasting friendship. The affair was intense on both sides. "I must come see you this evening and speak to your heart.", Heidegger writes to Arendt in the opening letter of October 11, 1925. In a much later letter of 1950, after the two had resumed contact after 25 years, Heidegger writes of a recent photograph of Arendt: "You do not realize that it is the same gaze that leaped toward me on the lectern -- oh it was and will remain eternity, from afar and intimacy."(letter no. 60) For her part, Arendt left Marburg abruptly in 1926 and soon thereafter made a bad marriage which ended in divorce. Arendt married her second husband, Heinrich Blucher, in 1940 and the marriage lasted until Blucher's death in 1970. Ludz arranges the letters in the collection in three groups. The first group, headed "At first sight" covers the period between 1925 -- 1933 to include the love affair and its immediate aftermath. Notable in this group is the final letter, no.45 written by Heidegger in 1932 or 1933 in which he tries, in an unconvincing way, to respond to allegations of anti-semitism that Arendt had asked him about in a letter that has not survived. In 1950, after an absence of 25 years, Arendt and Heidegger began to correspond, with Arendt visiting the philosopher and his wife, Elfride. This section of the letters, captioned "The second look" covers the period 1950-1965. Heidegger and Arendt have a difficult reconciliation, with Arendt struggling to allay the jealousy of Heidegger's wife, Elfride. Heidegger had at first concealed the affair from Elfride (research subsequent to the publication of this book shows that the Heidegger's had an "open marriage")and subsequently admitted to it. The issue, apparently, was the concealment. Heidegger and Arendt discuss in a restrained manner their former relationship, but these letters include a great deal of discussion of Heidegger's ongoing writings and reflections. Heidegger does not appear overly interested in Arendt's writings during this time. While the prose of the letters is restrained, Heidegger also wrote short poems for Arendt in these letters which, in their elliptical, philosophical way, testify to their former relationship as lovers. The third set of letters, subtitled "Autumn" begins in 1966 and continues through 1975, just before Arendt's death. (An Epilogue includes correspondence from Heidegger on learning of her death.) These are intellectually the most interesting of the letters, as both Heidegger and Arendt discuss their ongoing writings and in a sometimes lively manner exchange ideas. The letters discuss the translation of Heidegger's works into English and their publication in the United States, Heidegger's organization of his unpublished papers, Heidegger and Elfride's move into retirement and Arendt's steadily increasing fame as a writer -- which Heidegger acknowledges at last. Heidegger continues to write and to quote poems and the two exchange and discuss their own books and the books of others. For example Arendt, sends Heidegger Melville's "Billy Budd", one of her favorite novels. Most of the letters in the collection are by Heidegger, but Arendt more than holds her own. The lifelong influence of Heidegger upon Arendt comes through. The letters includes Arendt's famous lecture "Martin Heidegger at Eighty" delivered as a radio address on Heidegger's 80th birthday which Arendt sent to Heidegger as a birthday present. (Letter no 116) In this address, Arendt describes Heidegger's great influence of a generation of students, (especially herself) and his efforts to practice and teach thinking, among the rarest of gifts. She describes Heidegger's influence both in destroying traditional philosophy and in rehabilitating the nature of thought. The address also explores Heidegger's relationship with Nazism. Arendt attempts to downplay this part of Heidegger's life by calling it a brief mistake and by analogizing it with Plato's experiences with the tyrant Dionysus of Syracuse. Subsequent historical research has not been as gentle with Heidegger on this matter. Both Heidegger and Arendt wrote these letters in a chaste style, but their early passion comes through. These letters will be valuable to those with an interest in either thinker. Reading these letters may also encourage exploration of the major works that Arendt and Heidegger intended for publication and for which they should be remembered. Robin Friedman
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( 1 of 1 found this review helpful ) Posted: Nov 30 2006
This collection of letters is as one- sided as the relationship between Heidegger and Arendt was in certain respects. In this collection Heidegger is the one who speaks, over three - fourths of the one- hundred sixty- six letters are his. We do not have key documents, Arendt's early letters to Heidegger which were destroyed either by Heidegger himself or a member of his family. The relationship in the first stage at Marburg in 1925 was of the great intellectual figure Heidegger, already a person of tremendous reputation, thirty- five married with children, and that of an eighteen old student worshipper. The illicit love affair was clearly passionate and deeply felt on both sides. However in little more than a year there are signs that he does not mind her going out with a fellow student,and off to study somewhere else a sign perhaps of his being troubled that the affair exposed might cause harm to his reputation. A second stage came with the rise of the Nazis to power , Arendt's exile, and Heidegger's becoming a collaborator with the Nazi regime. At this stage Arendt becomes disturbed about allegations of Heidegger's anti- Semitism. The third stage came after a long hiatus in letter - writing. It was only after the war that there was a renewal of their relationship, though it is not clear that this was also a romantic renewal. For by this time Arendt was married to Heinrich Blucher. At this point Arendt played the role of advisor to Heidegger in helping him deal with the charges of collaboration with the Nazis. This chapter is not one which does Arendt credit. Her readiness to not simply excuse Heidegger for his revolting behavior, (including anti- Semitic remarks, dismissal of Jewish colleagues, a use of concepts of his own philosophy in a pro- Nazi speech, ) but to help him get off the hook reflects a loyalty void of all judgment. And this from the philosopher for whom 'judging' was a fundamental philosophical category. Their post- war reconciliation was prompted and pushed by Heidegger's viciously anti- Semitic wife, Elfreide. Elfreide despised Arendt but understood that she could help Heidegger, and so encouraged the renewal of the relationship. Heidegger for his part never read Arendt's work and could not give her the kind of respect and esteem that she continued to give him. Heidegger and Arendt are profound souls, and this is felt in the content and tone of these letters. They are people of high ideals and aspirations. They are two of the most significant thinkers of the twentieth century. Their story of love and friendship is a fascinating one. And whatever additional light is thrown on this relationship is eagerly seized upon by students of their work. Yet their relationship illicit at the outset , later became even more suspect as it worked to cover up Heidegger's immoral behavior. The dishonesty and evasiseness of Heidegger in dealing with the charges against him is all the more reprehensible as it is that of one whose fundamental enterprise is in striving for Truth.Arendt's excess of caring to protect Heidegger are in painful and troubling contrast with her insensitity to survivors of the Shoah, this of course in her famous 'banality of evil' analysis of the action of Eichmann. Her tone in ' Eichmann in Jerusalem' was contemptuous and superior, a tone she might too have learned from Heidegger. There are those who claim that the final phase of the Heidegger- Arendt relationship involved a reversal in which she was the powerful one and he the one more needing and enslaved. But these letters do not seem to bear this out. Her loyalty to him and love enabled her to continue serving him too well to the end of their days. She died in the latter half of 1976 and he only six months later. .
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( 1 of 1 found this review helpful ) Posted: Jul 3 2006
Most of the material in this correspondence between Martin Heidegger and Hannah Arendt shouldn't come as much of a surprise to most students who are familiar with these great thinkers's respective work. Although, there is surprisingly little discussion of the unfortunate political situation of Heidegger, I suppose the de-Nazification trials exhausted the subject. Still, this is a nice collection of letters; what unfolds are the painful vicissitudes of their affair, and the almost complete destruction of their (and their families) lives on account of WWII. What is a pleasure to read here, however, is Heidegger's casual remarks on his serious philosophical projects, it provides an excellent window into his craft. One reaction, though it hardly comes as a surprise: Heidegger was a terrible poet. For example:
