next Heidegger volume

Surprisingly, the tariff demanded by my Department Secretary was indeed for the solo package from Amazon.de. It’s the new Heidegger volume, Band 71, Das Ereignis. At first glance it looks absolutely awful, like so many of the recent new releases. But once you’ve signed on for a project, it’s best to stick with it.

What looks awful about it? It’s the usual 1930’s melange (despite dating from the early 1940’s) of too many Greek words, too much oracular preciousness in the German (Der Schmerz…), too many sardonic scare quotes that don’t really hit the mark. I don’t mean to be so hard on Heidegger– he’s the greatest philosopher of the 20th century, after all, and I don’t regret spending much of my life since age 17 trying to understand him. But he certainly did write more than a few things that are exasperating for any reader who is not a Heidegger Kool-Aid Drinker.

One piece of advice about Heidegger Gesamtausgabe volumes… Usually the hardcover price isn’t much more than the paperback price, which makes it tempting to order the hardcover. However, Klostermann’s hardcover bindings seem to crack rather easily; I’ve had to have about three of them rebound at my own expense after reading them. By contrast, the paperback bindings are both durable and flexible, and their paperbacks are generally more pleasant to hold.

I was advised early on not to become a Gesamtausgabe subscriber, by someone whose opinion I trusted in such matters. I followed his advice, but am no longer sure of the reasons he gave for it. In the end it cost me a lot of money over the years to lose that subscriber discount. The one complaint I heard from at least one subscriber is that they also send you the later editions of volumes you already have, and the changes from one edition to the next are often minimal.