‘I want to live for the art that is my heart’s desire’

One of Germany’s greatest poets, Friedrich Hoelderlin (1770 -

1843)
also wrote prose of intense feeling, intelligence and perception.
This new translation of his complete essays and selected letters traces the life and
thoughts of this extraordinary writer. Hoelderlin’s letters to friends
and contemporaries such as Hegel, Schelling and Schiller describe his
development as a poet, and consider the purpose of poetry and philosophy, while
others, including those to his family, speak compellingly of his beliefs and
aspirations, revealing his passion for ‘Diotima’ and, finally, the
unravelling of his sanity. The essays and prose fragments form a rare
blend of the philosophic and poetic that examines Hoelderlin’s great

preoccupations

the unity of existence, the relationship between art
and life, the nature of tragedy and, above all, the ‘poetic spirit’.

Jeremy Adler and Charlie Louth’s introduction discusses the tone and
style of Hoelderlin’s prose and his key role in the German
philosophical revolution of the 1790s. This edition also includes a chronology,
suggested further reading, biographical notes on Hoelderlin’s
correspondents and notes.

Translated with an introduction and notes by
JEREMY DLER and CHARLIE LOUTH