Hölderlin's Hymn "The Ister"
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| Author | Martin Heidegger |
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| Original title | Hölderlins Hymne »Der Ister« |
| Country | Germany |
| Language | German |
| Preceded by | Contributions to Philosophy |
| Followed by | The Question Concerning Technology |
Hölderlin's Hymn "The Ister" (German: Hölderlins Hymne »Der Ister«) is the title given to a lecture course delivered by German philosopher Martin Heidegger at the University of Freiburg in 1942. It was first published in 1984 as volume 53 of Heidegger's Gesamtausgabe. The translation by William McNeill and Julia Davis was published in 1996 by Indiana University Press. Der Ister is a poem by Friedrich Hölderlin, the title of which refers to an ancient name for a part of the Danube River.
In 1942, in the darkest depths of World War II and the National Socialist period, Heidegger chose to deliver a lecture course on a single poem by Friedrich Hölderlin: "Der Ister," about the river Danube. The course explored the meaning of poetry, the nature of technology, the relationship between ancient Greece and modern Germany, the essence of politics, and human dwelling. The central third of the lecture course is a reading of Sophocles' Antigone. Heidegger undertakes this reading of Antigone ostensibly because of the importance of this text for grasping the meaning of Hölderlin's poetry, but in doing so he repeats and extends a reading he had conducted in a different context in 1935. In terms of Heidegger's oeuvre, the 1942 lecture course is significant in that it is Heidegger's most sustained discussion of the essence of politics. Heidegger was only able to deliver two-thirds of the written text of the lecture course.
The lecture course is divided into three parts.
The lecture course opens with a reflection on the Greek origin of the word "hymn," meaning song of praise, specifically in praise of the gods, the heroes, or contest victors, in preparation of the festival. Heidegger cites a line from Sophocles' Antigone connecting the noun and verb forms of the word, and then indicates that the sense in which Hölderlin's works are hymns must initially remain an open question.
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