August 2025
Some notes about books I’ve finished reading this month
(Click on an author’s name to read my notes about the book.)
(I finished reading more than one book, but I’m woefully behind on writing up my notes.)
Within Four Walls: The Correspondence between Hannah Arendt and Heinrich Blücher, 1936-1968
edited by Lotte Kohler
In these letters, Hannah Arendt and Heinrich Blücher come alive as human beings, as scholars, and as lovers. At one extreme, there are matter-of-fact concerns, such as Arendt’s encouragement — even insistence — that Blücher purchase an air conditioner for his study so that he doesn’t suffer in the heat. At the other, there is Arendt’s rather poignant account of how she found herself and happiness in her relationship with Blücher:
You see, dearest, I always knew, even as a kid, that I can only truly exist in love. And that is why I was so frightened that I might simply get lost. And so I made myself independent. And about the love of others who branded me as coldhearted, I always thought: If you only knew how dangerous love would be for me. And when I met you, suddenly I was no longer afraid — after that first fright, which was just a childish fright pretending to be grown up. It still seems incredible to me that I managed to get both things, the ‘love of my life’ and a oneness with myself. And yet, I only got the one thing when I got the other. But finally I also know what happiness is (pp. 40f).
Their scholarly work is evident, both in their scholarly debates and in their accounts of their day-to-day lives, even in dire circumstances. An example of the latter: Blücher reports his enjoyment of reading Kant while imprisoned: “Kant’s works on morality are my great pleasure. Every time one understands new things and new men, one suddenly understands more deeply some of the topics of the great masters of philosophy” (p. 52).
Arendt’s scholarly work was evident both in her publications and in her teaching appointments at several universities; in her letters she shares her experience with students, faculty colleagues, and publishers. Blücher made his mark as a teacher; several letters indicate his frustration with his inability to develop his scholarship in published works. However, his impact on Arendt’s scholarship is significant. She dedicated The Origins of Totalitarianism, the book that established her reputation as a scholar, to him. As her professor, mentor, and friend said, Blücher played the role of Socrates to her Plato. Each of them supported and encouraged the other.
The collection’s title comes from one of Arendt’s letters: “for God’s sake, you are my four walls.” Blücher had his own version of this: “where I am, I am not at home”; “where you are with me there is my home.”
My current reading and TBR lists.
