Hannah Arendt eBook

We are still coming to terms with the controversial figure of Hannah Arendt. Interlacing her life and work, this book is an elegant, sophisticated biography brimming with historical and philosophical insight.

Focusing on the theme of female genius, Julia Kristeva emphasizes three features of the philosophers work. First, by exploring Arendts critique of Saint Augustine and her biographical essay on Rahel Varnhagen, Kristeva accentuates Arendts commitment to recounting lives and narration. Second, Kristeva reflects on Arendts perspective on Judaism, anti-Semitism, and the banality of evil. Finally, the biography assesses Arendts intellectual journey, placing her enthusiasm for observing both social phenomena and political events in the context of her personal life.

Drawing on fragments of Arendts correspondence with her longtime lover Martin Heidegger and her husband Heinrich Blucher, excerpts from her mothers Unser Kind (a diary tracking Hannahs formative years), and passages from Arendts philosophical writings, Kristeva presents a luminous account of an essential thinker.