Hölderlin's Hymn the Ister

By Martin Heidegger

Martin Heidegger's 1942 lecture course interprets Friedrich H lderlin's hymn "The Ister" within the context of H lderlin's poetic and philosophical work, with particular emphasis on H lderlin's dialogue with Greek tragedy. Delivered in summer 1942 at the University of Freiburg, this course was first published in German in 1984 as volume 53 of Heidegger's Collected Works. Revealing for Heidegger's thought of the period are his discussions of the meaning of "the political" and "the national," in which he emphasizes the difficulty and the necessity of finding "one's own" in and through a dialogue with "the foreign." In this context Heidegger reflects on the nature of translation and interpretation. A detailed reading of the famous chorus from Sophocles' Antigone, known as the "ode to man," is a key feature of the course.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0253330645
• ISBN13: 9780253330642
• Release Date: September 1996
• Publisher: Indiana University Press
• Length: 200 Pages
• Weight: 1.00 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 6.5" x 9.5"
• Grade Range: Postsecondary and higher

Customer Reviews

Heidegger's "Later" Thinking

This is one of the most important of Heidegger's "later" texts that deals with the question of how we may recover what is most proper to a people by encountering the other. The poetic discussion of the Greek Ister and the journeys that it take serves as an image for an encounter which will unveil the proper of the people. The text will be of great importance for those who are engaged in the study of Heidegger, Levinas and Holderlin's thinking.

Typically Great Lecture Course by Heidegger

This lecture course from 1942 has as its subject Holderlin's poem "The Ister." The Ister is the river known in English as the Danube, a river that marked the edge of the Roman Empire, and that roughly divides Eastern and Western Europe. Heidegger's reading of Holderlin leads us to reflect on the nature of nature: there is a spontaneous emergence of reality that provides the insurpassable context for all our life, all our experience, all meaning. Reflecting on the river is reflecting on this _phusis_ in its specificity and singularity, and becomes a way for us to reflect on the most profound dimensions of our existence--our mortality, our creativity, our ability to care--in their most creatively transformative and in their must destructive forms. The reflection on Holderlin and on the river leads especially into reflection on technology (especially as embodied in Americanism) and its dangers, and on art and its powers. Though the lecture course is officially about Holderlin's poem, much of the course is devoted to careful study of Sophocles _Antigone_, which Heidegger sees as closely related to _der Ister_ in what is makes manifest about nature and humanity. The reflections on _Antigone_ especially lead into reflections on the _polis_. These political reflections of course resonate with the prominent political events of the day--Nazi Europe facing the American West and the USSR to the East. This is a provocative, brilliant, and difficult text, well worth study by those interested in continental philosophy, Greek literature, technology, and many other topics. The film "The Ister," that was made to accompany this text is also excellent, and works wonderfully as a complement to Heidegger and to the texts of Holderlin and Sophocles. I recommend this highly.