Book contents
- Heidegger and Literary Studies
- Cambridge Studies in Literature and Philosophy
- Heidegger and Literary Studies
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Contributors
- Heidegger and Literature: An Introduction to the Question
- I Literature and Poetry
- II Heidegger and Greek Literature
- 6 Heidegger and Sophocles
- 7 Playing with Shadows in Heidegger’s Reading of Greek Tragedy
- III Heidegger and Literary Works
- Heidegger, Index of Works
- General Index
- References
7 - Playing with Shadows in Heidegger’s Reading of Greek Tragedy
Encountering Oedipus, Antigone, and (Absent) Medea
from II - Heidegger and Greek Literature
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 09 November 2023
- Heidegger and Literary Studies
- Cambridge Studies in Literature and Philosophy
- Heidegger and Literary Studies
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Contributors
- Heidegger and Literature: An Introduction to the Question
- I Literature and Poetry
- II Heidegger and Greek Literature
- 6 Heidegger and Sophocles
- 7 Playing with Shadows in Heidegger’s Reading of Greek Tragedy
- III Heidegger and Literary Works
- Heidegger, Index of Works
- General Index
- References
Summary
After a brief overview of Heidegger’s motivations and interest in engaging Greek tragedy understood as a downgoing in the realm of shadows, this chapter addresses three shadow figures that mark Greek tragedy as an experience of the uncanny – Oedipus, Antigone, and Medea. Whereas Heidegger addresses the first two figures at length, there is no mention of Medea in his works. By focusing on the notion of passion for being (originally advanced by Heidegger’s reading of Oedipus), this chapter explores relations of homeliness and unhomeliness, internal and external enmity, family and polis, citizen and foreigner/stranger, love and resistance, trust and betrayal of trust in Heidegger’s reading of tragedy. Ultimately, the chapter points to Medea’s (absent) character as a needed figure to maintain Heidegger’s relation to tragedy open to the possibility of a politically and existentially non-totalizing way of thinking aligned with Heidegger’s initial ambitions when returning to Greek tragedy as a theme for philosophy.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Heidegger and Literary Studies , pp. 150 - 182Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2023