Heidegger as a Fictional Character. Part II

In general, the following article attempts to showcase how literature reflects and interprets philosophical concepts using a rich arsenal of inherent expressive means. The personality and ideas of Martin Heidegger, one of the most influential thinkers of the 20th century, often became the subject of literary reflection. The focus of this article is the second phase of the philosopher’s life – from 1933, when he assumed the post of rector of the University of Freiburg, and until his death. The poets and writers involved here (E. Jelinek, E. Jandl, A. Kluge, B. Kenjeev, G. Grass, P. Celan, T. Bernhard, W. Abish) create a multidimensional and complex image of Heidegger in their works. The biographical and imaginative twists and turns of the legendary philosopher come to life under the magnifying glass of writer’s reflection, for which the boundary between reality and fiction remains suspended. This allows us to understand the nature and motives of the philosopher better than any documentary evidence or even the direct speech. The language of literature – derisive, caustic, grotesque – creates necessary counterbalance to philosophy, which, according to laws of genre, gravitates to mortal seriousness and thereby loses its critical attitude towards itself. Such a combination of literary imagination and metaphysical speculation turns out to be productive both for philosophy, which tests its ethical relevance in the poetic dimension, and for literature, which turns into a space of authentic existential questions. The fiction not only reveals inconsistencies in Heidegger’s train of thought but offers its own unconventional arguments to cope with those inconsistencies.

Keywords: Heidegger; literary character; fiction; philosophy; narrative; intertext