On September 10, 1918, from Bernau in the Black Forest, Edmund Husserl writes a letter to Martin Heidegger. Surprisingly, preluded only by the letters »NB«, ›nota bene‹, Husserl near the end of the text points out the following: »NB. I also have Hölderlin, whom I love very much but know very little, with me here; thus, we will, in him, touch each other reading. / Regards / Yours / EHusserl.« The paper attends to this passage – the only passage in (...) the whole of Husserl’s oeuvre mentioning the name »Hölderlin« – in a threefold manner, developing a philological, a psychoanalytical, and a phenomenological reading. (shrink)

Regarding philosophical importance, Edmund Husserl is arguably "the" German export of the early twentieth century. In the wake of the linguistic turn of the humanities, however, his claim to return to the "Sachen selbst" became metonymic for the neglect of language in Western philosophy. This view has been particularly influential in post-structural literary theory, which has never ceased to attack the supposed "logophobie" of phenomenology. "Phenomenology to the Letter. Husserl and Literature" challenges this verdict regarding the poetological and logical implications (...) of Husserl’s work through a thorough re-examination of his writing in the context of literary theory, classical rhetoric, and modern art. At issue is an approach to phenomenology and literature that does not merely coordinate the two discourses but explores their mutual implication. Contributions to the volume attend to the interplay between phenomenology and literature, experience and language, as well as images and embodiment. The volume is the first of its kind to chart a phenomenological approach to literature and literary approach to phenomenology. As such it stands poised to make a novel contribution to literary studies and philosophy. (shrink)