Encounters and dialogues with Martin Heidegger, 1929-1976

About this book

Despite his predominance in twentieth-century philosophy, no intellectual biography of Martin Heidegger has yet appeared. This account of Heidegger's personal relations, originally published in German and extensively corrected by the author for this translation, enlarges our understanding of a complex figure. A well-known art historian and an intimate friend of Heidegger's, Heinrich Wiegand Petzet provides a rich portrait of Heidegger that is part memoir, part biography, and part cultural history. By recounting chronologically a series of encounters between the two friends from their meeting in 1929 until the philosopher's death in 1976, as well as between Heidegger and other contemporaries, Petzet reveals not only new aspects of Heidegger's thought and attitudes toward the historical and intellectual events of his time but also the greater cultural and social context in which he articulated his thought. Recorded here are encounters between Heidegger and Clara Rilke, Jean Beaufret, Paul Celan, Ludwig von Ficker, Andrei Voznesensky, and others. In addition, Petzet shows the formative influence that any artists such as Paula Becker-Modersohn, van Gogh, Cezanne, and Klee exerted on Heidegger. Petzet gives the reader a deeper understanding of aspects of Heidegger's life and thought that are frequently neglected, such as his appreciation of Greek thought and culture and his interest in Buddhism and Eastern thought. The book also deals at length with, Heidegger's controversial involvement with - and attitude toward - the Nazi party, both during his rectorship of the University of Freiburg in 1933-34 and afterward. Parvis Emad's thoughtful Introduction helps orient the book for an English-speaking audience and further examines the nature of Heidegger's political engagement with Nazism. Also included in this volume are several letters of Heidegger not otherwise available.