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"Reflection on the Right to Will": Auden's "Canzone" and Arendt's Notes on Willing

"Reflection on the Right to Will": Auden's "Canzone" and Arendt's Notes on Willing ITH THIS EPIGRAPH from W.H. Auden, Hannah Arendt begins her last work, The Life of the Mind. Although it appears to be merely a witty apothegm—and its inclusion among the peculiar genre Auden called “Shorts” might lend credence to this evaluation—Auden’s words go to the heart of a modernist predicament: the revaluation of appearances, which began in earnest with Nietzsche, cannot be undertaken without a gesture toward something that transcends appearances, nor can it be pursued without a perspective that immerses itself in appearances in order to break their spell—the perspective of “suspicion.” In her choice of epigraph and in her treatment of Auden’s poetry throughout The Life of the Mind, Arendt indicates a strong affinity with the work of her friend; similarly, Auden, in various prose writings, especially his review of Arendt’s The Human Condition, emphasizes that the two participate in a common project.1 The stakes of this project are most readily comprehensible in terms of the dangers 1 The significance of the intellectual affinity that developed between these two friends can be seen in some of their later writings. In Auden’s review of Arendt’s Human Condition, he writes: “Every now and then, I come across a http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Comparative Literature Duke University Press

"Reflection on the Right to Will": Auden's "Canzone" and Arendt's Notes on Willing

GOTTLIEB, SUSANNAH YOUNG-AH
Comparative Literature , Volume 53 (2) – Jan 1, 2001
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Publisher
Duke University Press
Copyright
Copyright 2001 by University of Oregon
ISSN
0010-4124
eISSN
1945-8517
DOI
10.1215/-53-2-131
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

ITH THIS EPIGRAPH from W.H. Auden, Hannah Arendt begins her last work, The Life of the Mind. Although it appears to be merely a witty apothegm—and its inclusion among the peculiar genre Auden called “Shorts” might lend credence to this evaluation—Auden’s words go to the heart of a modernist predicament: the revaluation of appearances, which began in earnest with Nietzsche, cannot be undertaken without a gesture toward something that transcends appearances, nor can it be pursued without a perspective that immerses itself in appearances in order to break their spell—the perspective of “suspicion.” In her choice of epigraph and in her treatment of Auden’s poetry throughout The Life of the Mind, Arendt indicates a strong affinity with the work of her friend; similarly, Auden, in various prose writings, especially his review of Arendt’s The Human Condition, emphasizes that the two participate in a common project.1 The stakes of this project are most readily comprehensible in terms of the dangers 1 The significance of the intellectual affinity that developed between these two friends can be seen in some of their later writings. In Auden’s review of Arendt’s Human Condition, he writes: “Every now and then, I come across a

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Comparative Literature – Duke University Press

Published: Jan 1, 2001

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