The Poetics of Resistance: Heidegger’s Line

The Poetics of Resistance: Heidegger’s Line is a well-informed, carefully written, and detailed treatment of the political implications of Heidegger’s philosophy in its Derridean acceptation. It argues that what Heidegger calls poetic dwelling–an element of Heidegger’s later thinking often ignored by his more vehement critics–is at once disruptive (of the smooth functioning of technology) and community-founding. To engage in such thoughtful, poetic dwelling is to cross the line. Roth argues, with Derrida against Heidegger, that crossing this line is not a move into irrationalism (to say nothing of National Socialism); and he argues, with Heidegger against Derrida, that crossing the line, successful resistance, is possible. Grounded in the classics of German scholarship but reaching out to its creative appropriation in postmodernism, The Poetics of Resistance makes an important and timely contribution to the recuperation of a political philosophy from postmodernity.