Abstract

With this short and highly readable book, Julian Young has performed a much-needed service for a wide range of readers. Not only will scholars of Heidegger's work profit from its incisive analyses; so, too, will other students of the German philosophical tradition—and indeed anyone seriously interested in the history of aesthetics and the philosophy of art. Studies of Heidegger's treatment of poets and artists often succumb to one of two temptations: either they pay little attention to the works of art on which Heidegger elucidates and concentrate, instead, on making sense of his reflections; or, conversely, they align themselves with the poets and artists whom Heidegger discusses and attempt to show the depth and extent of the philosopher's errors. In either case, the tension between the direction of Heidegger's thought and the pull exerted by the artworks in question is missed. Heidegger's Philosophy of Art, by contrast, makes this tension palpable.