Hannah Arendt

by Kristeva, Julia

• ISBN13: 9780231121026
• ISBN10: 0231121024
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2001-08-01
• Publisher: Columbia Univ Pr

Summary

Twenty-five years after her death, we are still coming to terms with the controversial figure of Hannah Arendt. Interlacing the life and work of this seminal twentieth-century philosopher, Julia Kristeva provides us with an elegant, sophisticated biography brimming with historical and philosophical insight.Centering on the theme of female genius, Hannah Arendtemphasizes three features of the philosopher's work. First, by exploring Arendt's critique of Saint Augustine and her biographical essay on Rahel Varnhagen, Kristeva accentuates Arendt's commitment to recounting lives and narration. Second, Kristeva reflects on Arendt's perspective onJudaism, anti-Semitism, and the "banality of evil." Finally, the biography assesses Arendt's intellectual journey, placing her enthusiasm for observing both social phenomena and political events in the context of her personal life.Drawing on fragments of Arendt's most intimate correspondence with her longtime lover Martin Heidegger and her husband Heinrich Blucher, excerpts from her mother's "Unser Kind" (a diary tracking Hannah's formative years), and passages from Arendt's philosophical writings, Kristeva presents a luminous story. With a thorough thematic index and bibliographical references, Hannah Arendtis a major breakthrough in the understanding of an essential thinker.

Table of Contents

Female Genius: General Introduction	ix
Life as a Narrative	3	(98)
A Biography ``So Exposed''	8	(22)
Love According to Saint Augustine	30	(18)
The Meaning of an Example: Rahel Varnhagen	48	(21)
Arendt and Aristotle: A Defense of Narration	69	(17)
The Tale of the Twentieth Century	86	(15)
Superfluous Humanity	101	(70)
To Be Jewish	101	(11)
Among the Elements in the Structure	112	(4)
The Example of France	116	(6)
What Is Modern Anti-Semitism?	122	(7)
Imperialism...and Totalitarianism	129	(14)
The Banality of Evil	143	(11)
Faith and Revolution...in Society, That Sanctified Hearth	154	(17)
Thinking, Willing, and Judging	171	(70)
The ``Who'' and the Body	171	(13)
The Dialogue of the Thinking Ego: The ``Split,'' Melancholy, Tyranny	184	(18)
From the Interior Man to the Violence of the Life Process	202	(18)
The Taste of the Spectator: Toward a Political Philosophy	220	(10)
Judgment: Between Forgiveness and Promise	230	(11)
Notes	241	(34)
Bibliography	275	(6)
Index	281