Letters to his Wife

This rather extraordinary book gives a new insight into the life of the existentialist philosopher Martin Heidegger. His letters were collected by his granddaughter, who provides an interlinking narrative between the letters to fill the reader in on the events to which they refer. They span the period 1915 to 1970, from the period before his marriage to his stroke six years before his death. The early letters are full of lyricism and passion, but many are also written against the backdrop of the First World War. In the 1920s, we find Heidegger working with Husserl and trying to establish himself academically. Sadly, there are comparatively few extant letters covering the 1930s and his involvement with Nazism. Philosophical reflections are interspersed with family matters as the reader travels through a long lifetime. Right at the end of the book comes an arresting confession by Hermann Heidegger, who was told by his mother at the age of 14 that his natural father was in fact a family friend, making him promise not to mention this to anyone other than his wife as long as she was alive. The letters reveal Heidegger as a whole in an unprecedented fashion, but also evoke the character and qualities of his wife.