Metodo

International Studies in Phenomenology and Philosophy

Journal | Volume | Article

141923

The eclipse of the transcendent and the poetics of praise

Arendt's Rilke

Ulrika Björk

pp. 99-126

Abstract

Literature has a central place in Hannah Arendt’s writings. In particular, scholars continually discuss the implications of storytelling to her theory of action. This paper takes a different approach by drawing attention to an early literary essay, ”Rilke’s Duino Elegies”, which Arendt co-authored with Günther Stern (later Anders) in 1930. The paper locates the essay in the early twentieth century intellectual response to the ”break in tradition”, arguing that the construction of a poetics dramatized in the Duino Elegies is crucial for judging the originality of Arendt’s philosophical methodology, and the ontological significance of her poetic conception of praise. In this conception, meaning is to be found in things as they appear to human beings capable of using the language designating them poetically. I present my interpretation of the Arendt-Stern essay by contrasting it with Heidegger’s comment on the eighth Elegy from 1942-43 and Blanchot’s reading of Rilke from 1955.

Publication details

Published in:

Campana Francesco, Farina Mario (2018) Philosophy and literature. Metodo 6 (1).

Pages: 99-126

DOI: 10.19079/metodo.6.1.99

Full citation:

Björk Ulrika (2018) „The eclipse of the transcendent and the poetics of praise: Arendt's Rilke“. Metodo 6 (1), 99–126.