Encounters and Dialogues with Martin Heidegger, 1929-1976

The first three chapters cover Petzet's initial encounter with the young Heidegger in Freiburg, Heidegger's connection to National Socialism and naive attempt at a spiritual revival of the German university while rector at Freiburg, and Heidegger's tentative steps back into post-war public life. The "Dialogues" in chapter 4 are mostly Petzet's recorded conversations and personal recollections of talks with Heidegger in the fifties. Based on notes unknown to Heidegger, Petzet gives us glimpses of his friend in high spirits with an inner circle of friends, irritated by the "ugly attacks against him", and nervously anticipating his interview with Der Spiegel in 1966. Except for chapter 7, the gist of the "encounters" are found in chapter 5. These are Petzet's eye-witness accounts of Heidegger's meetings with various individuals. The portrait of Heidegger's happiness after meeting Clara Rilke, along with the equally poetic encounters with Hertha Koenig and Andrei Voznesensky, have a warmth about them that may tell us more about Petzet than Heidegger. There is, however, the impression of genuine intimacy in Heidegger's friendships with Paul Hassler and Jean Beaufret. In chapter 6, Petzet affirms Heidegger's positive influence on his own work as art historian and critic, and insists that exposure to the works of Cézanne and Klee pushed Heidegger's views on art beyond those expressed in his treatment of van Gogh's Peasant Shoes in "The Origin of the Work of Art".