Heidegger on Literature, Poetry, and Education after the "Turn"

"This is a welcomed contribution to later Heidegger scholarship in the areas of philosophy, literature, poetry, and education. Magrini and Schwieler present a high-level textual analysis of Heidegger’s later, post-Turn writings that interweaves technical and non-technical language with original and inventive literary examples, thereby providing a well-balanced approach to some of the murky conceptual and methodological issues in later Heidegger scholarship. I highly recommend this book to those engaged in the more general academic conversation about the value and continued existence of the discipline of philosophy and the humanities in general. Magrini and Schwieler put forth a rigorous and succinct account of ‘authentic education,’ highlighting the ‘extra-disciplinary’ dimensions of Heidegger’s later thought and demonstrating the applicability and practical import of Heidegger’s self-proclaimed Turn. Their analysis of how Heidegger’s later thought can and should contribute to ongoing research in education and pedagogical practices carves out a relatively nuanced path in Heidegger scholarship. The authors’ creative and thought-provoking book will be greatly appreciated and well received by the academic community at large."

--Megan Altman, Assistant Professor of Philosophy, Hiram College

"Like Heidegger’s sense of language, this book—to quote James Magrini and Elias Schwieler—is ‘a primordial gathering, revelatory, and articulating force.’ Indeed, this book is nothing less than an event, a force to be reckoned with, a profoundly edifying articulation of that ‘rumbling silence’ that promises to release us to the ‘original event of learning.’ In decades to come the Magrini and Schwieler study will be recognized as the ‘Turn’ in education scholars’ thinking about Heidegger."

--William F. Pinar, Professor and Canada Research Chair, University of British Columbia, Canada

"This is a superb book. It fulfills an excellent project. Heidegger on Literature, Poetry, and Education after the “Turn” is a careful reading of the Heidegger of the Turn. The book maintains a consistent focus on what Heidegger says about art and poetry, as well as on his own readings of poetry, especially the important essays on Hölderlin. Heidegger During the Turn includes two admirable chapters that read works by a poet and a novelist (Tranströmer and Conrad|) in the light of what Heidegger says.The authors’ knowledge and use of previous Heidegger scholarship are exemplary, they have admirably deep and accurate understanding of Heidegger’s writings. A wonderful book."

-- J. Hillis Miller, Distinguished Research Professor (Emeritus) of Comparative Literature and English, University of California, Irvine, USA

"Magrini and Schwieler’s book offers careful readings of Heidegger’s later texts in relation to a number of literary works, with the overarching aim of calling for a transformation in ‘education’ in an age dominated by technology…Their book, fluently and eloquently written, has much to say to those working in Heidegger studies, literature and poetry studies, and especially in education and philosophy of education. The authors’ consideration of later Heidegger’s themes in the interest of revising educational philosophy and practices is important and timely. Magrini and Schwieler give eloquent testimony in this superb book to the wisdom of Heidegger’s later thinking and how this wisdom can be a guide and inspiration for all of us."

-- Richard Capobianco – Comparative and Continental Philosophy ~

"This study provides an overview of principal themes in Martin Heidegger’s philosophy in the post-Being and Time work of the 1930’s and 40’s…as they offer new ways of regarding poetry, literature, and education according to the post-metaphysical turn contained in Heidegger’s notions of Ereignis (commonly translated as "the event of Being") and philosophy’s "other beginning." The authors aim to illustrate through modern and contemporary poets the "ways" poetic thinking can take when it is non-metaphysical. Readers will find here a very accessible introduction to this problematic topic in Heidegger studies that avoids getting bogged down in deep analysis of obscure texts and historical accounts, focusing instead on the purely philosophical dimensions of this moment in Heidegger’s biography. This book is a fine contribution to Heidegger studies and it makes very positive, new strides for interpreting later Heidegger."

-- Shawn Loht – The Review of Metaphysics ~