Heidegger Holderlin And The Subject Of Poetic Language

Gosetti-Ferencei argues that Heidegger has overlooked central elements in Hlderlin's poetics, such as a Kantian understanding of aesthetic subjectivity and a commitment to Enlightenment ideals. These elements, she argues, resist the more politically distressing aspects of Heidegger's interpretations, including Heidegger's nationalist valorization of the German language and sense of nationhood, or Heimat.

What is the nature of poetic language when its experience involves an encounter with finitude; with failure, loss, and absence? For Martin Heidegger this experience is central to any thinking that would seek to articulate the meaning of being, but for Friedrich Hölderlin and Maurice Blanchot it is a mark of the tragic and unanswerable demands of poetic language. In Ellipsis, a rigorous, original study on the language of poetry, the language of philosophy, and the limits of the word, William S. Allen offers the first in-depth examination of the development of Heidegger's thinking of poetic language—which remains his most radical and yet most misunderstood work—that carefully balances it with the impossible demands of this experience of finitude, an experience of which Hölderlin and Blanchot have provided the most searching examinations. In bringing language up against its limits, Allen shows that poetic language not only exposes thinking to its abyssal grounds, but also indicates how the limits of our existence come themselves, traumatically, impossibly, to speak.

“This faithful and readable translation . . . serves as a critical orientation to interpreting Heidegger’s later thought” inspired by Hölderlin’s poetry (Christopher D. Merwin, Emory University). Over the course of 1941–42, Martin Heidegger delivered a lecture course on Friedrich Hölderlin’s hymn, “Remembrance.” Immediately following his confrontation with Nietzsche, it lays out a detailed plan for the interpretation of Hölderlin’s poetry in which remembrance is a central concern. With its emphasis on the “free use of the national” and the “holy of the fatherland,” the course marks an important progression in Heidegger’s political thought. In addition to its startlingly innovative analyses of greeting, the festive, and the dream, the text provides Heidegger’s fullest elaboration of the structure of commemorative thinking in relationship to time and the possibility of an “other beginning.” This English translation by William McNeill and Julia Ireland completes the series of Heidegger’s major lecture courses on Hölderlin.

This first book-length study of what Heidegger called "thinking poetics" expounds the sense of language from the perspective of fundamental ontology. It is based on readings of the pertinent chapters of Being and Time, the lectures on Hölderlin, "The Origin of the Work of Art," and On the Way to Language.

This anthology collects 36 texts and papers from the Paul de Man archive, including essays on art and literature, translations, critical fragments, research plans, interviews, and reports on the state of comparative literature.

A new 2024 translation of Heidegger's early work "Explorations of Hölderlin's Poetry" (Original German "Erlauterungen zu Holderins Dichtung"), originally published in 1910. This edition contains a new afterword by the translator, a timeline of Heidegger's life and works, a philosophic index of core Heideggerian concepts and a guide for Existentialist terminology across 19th and 20th century Existentialists. This translation is designed for readability and accessibility to Heidegger's enigmatic and dense philosophy. Complex and specific philosophic terms are translated as literally as possible and academic footnotes have been removed to ensure easy reading. Friedrich Hölderlin (1770-1843) was a German poet and philosopher, widely regarded as one of the most important literary figures of the German Romantic period alongside Goethe and Schiller. His poetry is noted for its beauty, depth, and innovative use of language, and he is often considered a master of the German lyric tradition. Hölderlin's work is characterized by a profound engagement with themes of nature, the divine, and the human condition. Here, Heidegger pens a philosophic Pathography on Hölderlin, and by extension, the Romantic movement writ large. Heidegger's analysis goes beyond mere literary criticism, delving into the philosophical and existential dimensions of Hölderlin's work. Heidegger interprets Hölderlin's poetry as a medium for exploring profound themes such as the nature of human existence, the relationship between man and the divine, and the role of language and art in human life. Heidegger's exploration of these themes is characterized by his characteristic philosophical rigor and depth, using complex concepts and terminology to dissect Hölderlin's poetry. Heidegger discusses the concept of "the poet's mission" and how this is reflected in Hölderlin's work. He posits that poetry is more than mere artistic expression; it is a medium through which fundamental truths about human existence and the nature of reality are revealed. Heidegger emphasizes the notion of poetry as a form of truth-telling, a way of uncovering and articulating the essential nature of things. This perspective is particularly evident in his analysis of Hölderlin's treatment of themes such as homecoming and the sacred, which Heidegger interprets as metaphors for deeper philosophical insights. The essay is dense with Heidegger's characteristic exploration of language, being, and the intersection of the two as seen through the lens of Hölderlin's poetic works.

Martin Heidegger's 1941–1942 lecture course on Friedrich Hölderlin's hymn, "Remembrance," delivered immediately following his confrontation with Nietzsche, lays out a detailed plan for the interpretation of Hölderlin's poetry in which remembrance is a central concern. With its emphasis on the "free use of the national" and the "holy of the fatherland," the course marks an important progression in Heidegger's political thought. In addition to its startlingly innovative analyses of greeting, the festive, and the dream, the text provides Heidegger's fullest elaboration of the structure of commemorative thinking in relationship to time and the possibility of an "other beginning." This English translation by William McNeill and Julia Ireland completes the series of Heidegger's major lecture courses on Hölderlin.