What do you think?
Rate this book
The Three Escapes of Hannah Arendt: A Tyranny of Truth
For Persepolis and Logicomix fans, a New Yorker cartoonist's page-turning graphic biography of the fascinating Hannah Arendt, the most prominent philosopher of the twentieth century.
One of the greatest philosophers of the twentieth century and a hero of political thought, the largely unsung and often misunderstood Hannah Arendt is best known for her landmark 1951 book on openness in political life, The Origins of Totalitarianism, which, with its powerful and timely lessons for today, has become newly relevant.
She led an extraordinary life. This was a woman who endured Nazi persecution firsthand, survived harrowing "escapes" from country to country in Europe, and befriended such luminaries as Walter Benjamin and Mary McCarthy, in a world inhabited by everyone from Marc Chagall and Marlene Dietrich to Albert Einstein and Sigmund Freud. A woman who finally had to give up her unique genius for philosophy, and her love of a very compromised man--the philosopher and Nazi-sympathizer Martin Heidegger--for what she called "love of the world."
Compassionate and enlightening, playful and page-turning, New Yorker cartoonist Ken Krimstein's The Three Escapes of Hannah Arendt is a strikingly illustrated portrait of a complex, controversial, deeply flawed, and irrefutably courageous woman whose intelligence and "virulent truth telling" led her to breathtaking insights into the human condition, and whose experience continues to shine a light on how to live as an individual and a public citizen in troubled times.
One of the greatest philosophers of the twentieth century and a hero of political thought, the largely unsung and often misunderstood Hannah Arendt is best known for her landmark 1951 book on openness in political life, The Origins of Totalitarianism, which, with its powerful and timely lessons for today, has become newly relevant.
She led an extraordinary life. This was a woman who endured Nazi persecution firsthand, survived harrowing "escapes" from country to country in Europe, and befriended such luminaries as Walter Benjamin and Mary McCarthy, in a world inhabited by everyone from Marc Chagall and Marlene Dietrich to Albert Einstein and Sigmund Freud. A woman who finally had to give up her unique genius for philosophy, and her love of a very compromised man--the philosopher and Nazi-sympathizer Martin Heidegger--for what she called "love of the world."
Compassionate and enlightening, playful and page-turning, New Yorker cartoonist Ken Krimstein's The Three Escapes of Hannah Arendt is a strikingly illustrated portrait of a complex, controversial, deeply flawed, and irrefutably courageous woman whose intelligence and "virulent truth telling" led her to breathtaking insights into the human condition, and whose experience continues to shine a light on how to live as an individual and a public citizen in troubled times.
240 pages, Hardcover
First published September 25, 2018
91 people are currently reading
2881 people want to read
About the author
Ken Krimstein
6 books84 followersKEN KRIMSTEINS cartoons have been published in the New Yorker, Punch, National Lampoon, the Wall Street Journal, Narrative, three of S. Grosss cartoon anthologies, King Features The New Breed syndicated panel, Cosmopolitan, Science, Psychology Today, and more. He has written for New York Observers New Yorkers Diary and has published pieces on humor websites, including McSweeneys Internet Tendency, Yankee Pot Roast, and Mr. Bellers Neighborhood."
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 346 reviews
April 27, 2018
I received the Advance Reading Copy in the mail from the publisher....
Many thanks to Nicole at Bloomsbury Publishing. I requested a physical copy rather than an ebook given that it’s a graphic biography.
It’s fascinating....and ‘for me’....the best part of this book is how much it opened my eyes to Hannah Arendt. I admit not knowing much about her, and this book was the perfect introduction. But besides learning a great deal, and being really enriching...its chirpy & perky, too. Incredible how many famous people she was friends with — while always smoking her cigarettes. Marlene Dietrich, Albert Einstein, Marc Chagall to name a few.
Hannah Arendt was the most prominent women philosopher in the 20th century.
She was best known for her book “The Origins of Totalitarianism”....which a few of my Goodreads friends have read giving it 5 stars. I marked it to read myself.
I had the experience that this brilliant colossal intellect had one heck of a wicked sense of humor...but beyond everything....this woman was a truth teller.
German-Born American....she wrote 18 books. She was stripped of her German citizenship. As a Jew - she left Nazi Germany and never returned. She had an incredible life: lived in Czechoslovakia, Switzerland, and France, and Portugal before coming to the United States.... surviving torturous escapes.
Before I share more about this extraordinary book - I have a few words of ‘business’....( ha, funny way to say that? - yeah - I couldn’t figure out the right word)....but here goes:
The HARDCOVER of this graphic novel will be released in September- 2018 -
6 1/2 x 8 3/4 in size - 256 pages including and 8 page color insert.
The copy I have is black and white — ( I don’t have the colored inserts...but can’t wait to see them). ....and some of the small print was ‘really small’ and ‘faint’ making it hard to read. Most of this copy ‘was’ easy enough on the eyes — but I imagine the finish product will be an easier more delightful reading experience.
Ken Krimstein is a wonderful storyteller. The illustrations are very expressive in personality — especially the facial drawings of Hannah Arendt.
From the first page to the last ....I was captivated.
First Page: ( part of it)
“All Too Human”
Too soon, Too Angry.
Too Smart, Too Stupid
Too honest, Too Snoblish
Too Jewish, Not Jewish Enough
Too loving, Too Hateful
Too Manlike, Not Manlike Enough
Last page ( part of it)
“From beyond the grave,
Hannah says that of those living in the world of plurality and natality is no picnic, if we want to avoid Auschwitz or the Gulag or Stonewall or Pol Pot or Attica or ISIS, we as a species have no choice”.
“In other words, there is no single answer, no single bullet to understanding to guide us, just a glorious never-ending mess. The never-ending mess of true human freedom”.
Written with phenomenal compassion and spirit! Highly recommended!
Many thanks to Nicole at Bloomsbury Publishing. I requested a physical copy rather than an ebook given that it’s a graphic biography.
It’s fascinating....and ‘for me’....the best part of this book is how much it opened my eyes to Hannah Arendt. I admit not knowing much about her, and this book was the perfect introduction. But besides learning a great deal, and being really enriching...its chirpy & perky, too. Incredible how many famous people she was friends with — while always smoking her cigarettes. Marlene Dietrich, Albert Einstein, Marc Chagall to name a few.
Hannah Arendt was the most prominent women philosopher in the 20th century.
She was best known for her book “The Origins of Totalitarianism”....which a few of my Goodreads friends have read giving it 5 stars. I marked it to read myself.
I had the experience that this brilliant colossal intellect had one heck of a wicked sense of humor...but beyond everything....this woman was a truth teller.
German-Born American....she wrote 18 books. She was stripped of her German citizenship. As a Jew - she left Nazi Germany and never returned. She had an incredible life: lived in Czechoslovakia, Switzerland, and France, and Portugal before coming to the United States.... surviving torturous escapes.
Before I share more about this extraordinary book - I have a few words of ‘business’....( ha, funny way to say that? - yeah - I couldn’t figure out the right word)....but here goes:
The HARDCOVER of this graphic novel will be released in September- 2018 -
6 1/2 x 8 3/4 in size - 256 pages including and 8 page color insert.
The copy I have is black and white — ( I don’t have the colored inserts...but can’t wait to see them). ....and some of the small print was ‘really small’ and ‘faint’ making it hard to read. Most of this copy ‘was’ easy enough on the eyes — but I imagine the finish product will be an easier more delightful reading experience.
Ken Krimstein is a wonderful storyteller. The illustrations are very expressive in personality — especially the facial drawings of Hannah Arendt.
From the first page to the last ....I was captivated.
First Page: ( part of it)
“All Too Human”
Too soon, Too Angry.
Too Smart, Too Stupid
Too honest, Too Snoblish
Too Jewish, Not Jewish Enough
Too loving, Too Hateful
Too Manlike, Not Manlike Enough
Last page ( part of it)
“From beyond the grave,
Hannah says that of those living in the world of plurality and natality is no picnic, if we want to avoid Auschwitz or the Gulag or Stonewall or Pol Pot or Attica or ISIS, we as a species have no choice”.
“In other words, there is no single answer, no single bullet to understanding to guide us, just a glorious never-ending mess. The never-ending mess of true human freedom”.
Written with phenomenal compassion and spirit! Highly recommended!
November 7, 2018
“Whatever I do, I am unable to avert my eyes from the reality of the world around me”—Hannah Arendt
“As fire lives on oxygen, so the fire of totalitarianism lives on untruth”—Hannah Arendt
I absolutely love this comics biography of Arendt, a philosopher who called herself a political theorist, a writer whose work doesn’t fit easily into categories, an activist, and who is/was perhaps best known for her relationship with one of the great philosophers of the twentieth century, Martin Heidegger. As with many great Jewish (and other) philosophers of her generation, Arendt was Heidegger’s student at the University of Marlburg.
Krimstein invites us to consider: “Does her thinking offer a viable way for humanity to move forward?” When they met, she was 17, he was 35, she was electrified, he was impressed, and a passionate exchange of ideas led to love and a lifetime of struggle over the idea of The Truth vs. truths, to put it all too simply. My answer to his question is yes; her view of plurality is relevant for our times, as it was then.
Krimstein’s book is quirkily unconventional—his characters here rarely speak as they would have in their time; they joke like contemporary people, but I like it a lot; the dialogue is fresh and engaging, enlivened by punny humor throughout. The light-heartedness balances out the philosophy and, well, a generation of intellectuals engaging/failing to fully engage with/confront the fact of The Third Reich. Yes, it’s a comics biography, so it leaves a lot of her life out, but what we have is entertaining and informed by a wealth of research that structures her life into three “escapes”: Berlin, Paris, New York. Footnotes abound to help introduce us to the dizzying array of people who she knows and engages with, and to various yiddishisms and philosophical quandries.
An exciting time, to be at The Romanisches, 1933, with painters, musicians, theorists, an explosion of ideas! The sketchy art feels fresh and alive, Jules Feiffer-ish, or Roz Chast-ish. Undercuts the potential heaviness of the issues just enough. I love Hannah’s mother, her support of her daughter throughout her life. I love the Martin story; it’s one of the great philosophical stories, and not just gossip! I love it when Arendt goes to a party where handwriting analysis is being explored, and she brings some writing of her friend Walter Benjamin and also some of Heidegger ‘s to be analyzed for what it says for her life. She’s looking for a sign, an explanation of some Greater Truth!
“To be alive and to think is the same thing”—Arendt
PS: I make a note for myself here to investigate how the way of approaching ideas Arendt took was like Jane Addams; neither liked to be put in categories nor embraced popular isms.
Re: Arndt’s conditions for totalitarianism: Trump’s Lies, New York Times 12/14/17, but I am certain there are updates:
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2...
“As fire lives on oxygen, so the fire of totalitarianism lives on untruth”—Hannah Arendt
I absolutely love this comics biography of Arendt, a philosopher who called herself a political theorist, a writer whose work doesn’t fit easily into categories, an activist, and who is/was perhaps best known for her relationship with one of the great philosophers of the twentieth century, Martin Heidegger. As with many great Jewish (and other) philosophers of her generation, Arendt was Heidegger’s student at the University of Marlburg.
Krimstein invites us to consider: “Does her thinking offer a viable way for humanity to move forward?” When they met, she was 17, he was 35, she was electrified, he was impressed, and a passionate exchange of ideas led to love and a lifetime of struggle over the idea of The Truth vs. truths, to put it all too simply. My answer to his question is yes; her view of plurality is relevant for our times, as it was then.
Krimstein’s book is quirkily unconventional—his characters here rarely speak as they would have in their time; they joke like contemporary people, but I like it a lot; the dialogue is fresh and engaging, enlivened by punny humor throughout. The light-heartedness balances out the philosophy and, well, a generation of intellectuals engaging/failing to fully engage with/confront the fact of The Third Reich. Yes, it’s a comics biography, so it leaves a lot of her life out, but what we have is entertaining and informed by a wealth of research that structures her life into three “escapes”: Berlin, Paris, New York. Footnotes abound to help introduce us to the dizzying array of people who she knows and engages with, and to various yiddishisms and philosophical quandries.
An exciting time, to be at The Romanisches, 1933, with painters, musicians, theorists, an explosion of ideas! The sketchy art feels fresh and alive, Jules Feiffer-ish, or Roz Chast-ish. Undercuts the potential heaviness of the issues just enough. I love Hannah’s mother, her support of her daughter throughout her life. I love the Martin story; it’s one of the great philosophical stories, and not just gossip! I love it when Arendt goes to a party where handwriting analysis is being explored, and she brings some writing of her friend Walter Benjamin and also some of Heidegger ‘s to be analyzed for what it says for her life. She’s looking for a sign, an explanation of some Greater Truth!
“To be alive and to think is the same thing”—Arendt
PS: I make a note for myself here to investigate how the way of approaching ideas Arendt took was like Jane Addams; neither liked to be put in categories nor embraced popular isms.
Re: Arndt’s conditions for totalitarianism: Trump’s Lies, New York Times 12/14/17, but I am certain there are updates:
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2...
October 29, 2018
OMG, the name dropping! The first half of the book is less a story of Arendt than a list of every famous person she ever met. Talk about defining a woman by the men in her life! During the second half this slows down a little bit, but the author still seems pretty intent on mentioning every famous person of Jewish descent who lived during the twentieth century, shoehorning in Lou Reed and Jerry Lewis among others in footnotes and cameos, and, sure, I'd read that book if he cared to go all in on it, but I thought this was supposed to be about Arendt.
So, knowing nothing about Arendt when I picked this book up, I don't feel like I really know much more about her actual philosophy having made it through to the end, not even when another character seemed to mansplain her philosophy and significance right to her face in the final pages. Indeed, throughout, more emphasis seems to be given to her relationship with Martin Heidegger than any of her individual accomplishments, sort of reducing her to girlfriend status in her own bio.
So, knowing nothing about Arendt when I picked this book up, I don't feel like I really know much more about her actual philosophy having made it through to the end, not even when another character seemed to mansplain her philosophy and significance right to her face in the final pages. Indeed, throughout, more emphasis seems to be given to her relationship with Martin Heidegger than any of her individual accomplishments, sort of reducing her to girlfriend status in her own bio.
June 4, 2019
I WISH MY FEELINGS ON THIS WEREN'T SO MIXED.
what i was hoping to get out of this, and what it seemed like i would get out of this, was a half biography/half philosophical summary/all graphic novel fun bonanza. in some ways, i did get that. but also what i got was way more biography than philosophy, to the point that the philosophy explanations felt rushed and crammed in, and also so so so so many footnotes with tiny text and weird grammar.
it made my head hurt. (both trying to understand huge concepts in 2 or 3 cartoon frames and the teeny tiny biographical information of various historical figures.)
this was a really cool idea and i liked parts of it but also...not even a fraction as many parts as i wanted to.
bottom line: i don't have the particular interests to read swaths of dense philosophy but this kind fo made me wish i had done that instead!!!
-----------
a historical graphic novel that will teach me about something i know very little about??? sign me the hell up
(thanks to Bloomsbury for the copy)
what i was hoping to get out of this, and what it seemed like i would get out of this, was a half biography/half philosophical summary/all graphic novel fun bonanza. in some ways, i did get that. but also what i got was way more biography than philosophy, to the point that the philosophy explanations felt rushed and crammed in, and also so so so so many footnotes with tiny text and weird grammar.
it made my head hurt. (both trying to understand huge concepts in 2 or 3 cartoon frames and the teeny tiny biographical information of various historical figures.)
this was a really cool idea and i liked parts of it but also...not even a fraction as many parts as i wanted to.
bottom line: i don't have the particular interests to read swaths of dense philosophy but this kind fo made me wish i had done that instead!!!
-----------
a historical graphic novel that will teach me about something i know very little about??? sign me the hell up
(thanks to Bloomsbury for the copy)
June 22, 2021
La filosofía (y la historia de la misma) es una asignatura pendiente para muchas personas entre las cuales me encuentro. Acceder al pensamiento de los grandes nombres de esta disciplina suele ser difícil, ya que una buena parte de los textos que se escriben sobre ellos suelen ser de gran complejidad y estar dirigidos a lectores que ya tienen una buena base sobre el tema. Por eso me ha gustado que este cómic haga un acercamiento exhaustivo a la apasionante vida de Hannah Arendt y a los principales hitos de sus ideas y su producción, pero con un formato, lenguaje y estilo muy asequible para cualquier tipo de lector.
Hablar de Arendt es hablar de la historia del siglo XX. Ella fue testigo de todo lo importante de ese siglo y se movió en los círculos de la élite intelectual, primero en Europa y después en Nueva York. A lo largo de este libro se narran todos estos eventos que cambiaron la historia, y en él aparecen todos los personajes esenciales de la Gran Cultura, algunos como simples cameos y otros como personajes secundarios con gran peso a través de la trama y de los años. Me gusta, además, la vocación didáctica de una obra que se esfuerza en explicarte a pie de página lo esencial de cada uno de las docenas de de filósofos, políticos, inventores, celebridades… que surgen en la vida de Arendt y en el texto.
Me ha gustado este cómic dibujado con trazo rápido, preocupado más por las expresiones que por los detalles. Me ha parecido que está muy bien documentado, planteado y narrado. Creo que es una obra muy recomendable para cualquiera que quiera saber más sobre la filosofía en general o sobre esta filósofa en particular.
Hablar de Arendt es hablar de la historia del siglo XX. Ella fue testigo de todo lo importante de ese siglo y se movió en los círculos de la élite intelectual, primero en Europa y después en Nueva York. A lo largo de este libro se narran todos estos eventos que cambiaron la historia, y en él aparecen todos los personajes esenciales de la Gran Cultura, algunos como simples cameos y otros como personajes secundarios con gran peso a través de la trama y de los años. Me gusta, además, la vocación didáctica de una obra que se esfuerza en explicarte a pie de página lo esencial de cada uno de las docenas de de filósofos, políticos, inventores, celebridades… que surgen en la vida de Arendt y en el texto.
Me ha gustado este cómic dibujado con trazo rápido, preocupado más por las expresiones que por los detalles. Me ha parecido que está muy bien documentado, planteado y narrado. Creo que es una obra muy recomendable para cualquiera que quiera saber más sobre la filosofía en general o sobre esta filósofa en particular.
April 10, 2022
Graphic Novels sind für mich ein völlig unbekanntes Genre. Bilderbücher habe ich als Kind gelesen. Für was brauche ich als diese visuelle Stimulierung, wenn ich doch eine eigene Phantasie habe? Ich bin also etwas skeptisch an dieses Buch meiner Tochter herangegangen und kann mit etwas Überraschung sagen, dass es mir doch größere Freude gemacht hat, als gedacht. Ken Krimstein ist Cartoonist, hat also seinen Heimathafen im Zeichnerischen und nicht im Philosophischen. Dafür sind seine Bilder erstaunlich skizzenhaft, fast schon gekritzelt. Aber erstaunlicheweise schafft er es, mit wenigen Strichen die Physiognomie von bekannten Persönlichkeit aufs Papier zu bringen. Darüber hinaus. lässt es sich nicht von kleinen Quadraten eingrenzen, sondern nutzt die ganze Seite, um Bilder zu verbinden und wenn es nur der Zigarettenqualm ist, der aus der Kette rauchenden Hannah Arendt sich durch ihr ganzes Leben schlängelt. Während das Buch kontinuierlich in Schwarz-Weiß gehalten ist, versieht er seine Protagonist immer mit einem kleinen grünen Farbklecks im Kleid. Ebenfalls eine nette zeichnerische Finesse.
Inhaltlich konnte ich das Buch mit dem Roman Was wir scheinen von Hildegard Keller vergleichen, welches ich parallel las. Diesen Roman hatte ich als allenfalls interessanten Einstieg in das Werk Hannah Arendts bezeichnet, denn es blieben viele Fragen offen. Teilweise lieferte mir Ken Krimstein hier Antworten, aber die Schwerpunkte sind nicht deckungsgleich. Die Graphic Novel legt eine größeren Schwerpunkt auf Arendts Jugend und Studiumszeit, was mir gefiel, legte mir aber eine zu große Bedeutung auf die Beziehung Ahrendt-Heidegger, was zu Lasten ihrer philsophischen Theorien ging. Das ist für mich ein Maluspunkt an diesem Werk. Alles in allem ist es aber ein weiterer Aperitif, der mehr Lust auf einen Hauptgang von Hannah Ahrendt, als satt macht. Insgesamt ein sehr unterhaltsames und lehrreiches Lese- und Betrachtungserlebnis.
Inhaltlich konnte ich das Buch mit dem Roman Was wir scheinen von Hildegard Keller vergleichen, welches ich parallel las. Diesen Roman hatte ich als allenfalls interessanten Einstieg in das Werk Hannah Arendts bezeichnet, denn es blieben viele Fragen offen. Teilweise lieferte mir Ken Krimstein hier Antworten, aber die Schwerpunkte sind nicht deckungsgleich. Die Graphic Novel legt eine größeren Schwerpunkt auf Arendts Jugend und Studiumszeit, was mir gefiel, legte mir aber eine zu große Bedeutung auf die Beziehung Ahrendt-Heidegger, was zu Lasten ihrer philsophischen Theorien ging. Das ist für mich ein Maluspunkt an diesem Werk. Alles in allem ist es aber ein weiterer Aperitif, der mehr Lust auf einen Hauptgang von Hannah Ahrendt, als satt macht. Insgesamt ein sehr unterhaltsames und lehrreiches Lese- und Betrachtungserlebnis.
July 11, 2023
A well-intentioned, serious book. Am I damning with faint praise? The problem is that Hannah Arendt was an amazing person, with an exciting almost unbelievable life, who encountered many famous people. That she survived long enough to flee to New York and publish weighty tomes such as The Origins of Totalitarianism is one of those arbitrary miracles.
First of all, let me state that I knew nothing about Hannah Arendt before picking up this graphic novel. Parts of it are incredibly dull and static: drawings of multiple people, with footnotes in tiny tiny print explaining who each of these are. There are many famous people in this book, famous for science, for music, for art, philosophy, or literature. However, no matter how illustrious, reading a tiny biographical sketch printed in the tiniest of fonts is never a big thrill.
The whole book is littered with footnotes. Some are on the bottom of the same page. Some are on the previous page. Some are squeezed sideways and inserted between the two pages. Some are within the same panel. Some I never located, and believe me, I spent way too much time hunting down elusive unpredictable footloose footnotes.
As frustrating (and boring) as this book was, it is also completely interesting. Most importantly, it has a resonance in today's political climate. The book claims that Arendt had to make up the word "totalitarianism" to describe the new phenomenon illustrated (in 1951) by Hitler and Stalin, but that word seems to have been proudly coined by Italian fascists.
However, here is a bit from this book about Arendt and totalitarianism: Before totalitarian leaders can fit reality to their lies, their message is an unrelenting contempt for facts. And: They live by the belief that fact depends entirely on the power of the man who makes it up.
Arendt was a free-thinker and as a woman also faced incredible challenges. Her tale is an inspiring one, and also very humbling. I was very glad to have been introduced to her though this book. It's a start.
Update note: having been introduced to this influential writer, I now see Hannah Arendt quotes and references everywhere! Unfortunately, her work is immediate, relevant, and a contemporary touchstone.
First of all, let me state that I knew nothing about Hannah Arendt before picking up this graphic novel. Parts of it are incredibly dull and static: drawings of multiple people, with footnotes in tiny tiny print explaining who each of these are. There are many famous people in this book, famous for science, for music, for art, philosophy, or literature. However, no matter how illustrious, reading a tiny biographical sketch printed in the tiniest of fonts is never a big thrill.
The whole book is littered with footnotes. Some are on the bottom of the same page. Some are on the previous page. Some are squeezed sideways and inserted between the two pages. Some are within the same panel. Some I never located, and believe me, I spent way too much time hunting down elusive unpredictable footloose footnotes.
As frustrating (and boring) as this book was, it is also completely interesting. Most importantly, it has a resonance in today's political climate. The book claims that Arendt had to make up the word "totalitarianism" to describe the new phenomenon illustrated (in 1951) by Hitler and Stalin, but that word seems to have been proudly coined by Italian fascists.
However, here is a bit from this book about Arendt and totalitarianism: Before totalitarian leaders can fit reality to their lies, their message is an unrelenting contempt for facts. And: They live by the belief that fact depends entirely on the power of the man who makes it up.
Arendt was a free-thinker and as a woman also faced incredible challenges. Her tale is an inspiring one, and also very humbling. I was very glad to have been introduced to her though this book. It's a start.
Update note: having been introduced to this influential writer, I now see Hannah Arendt quotes and references everywhere! Unfortunately, her work is immediate, relevant, and a contemporary touchstone.
Read
March 17, 2021Ken Krimstein's graphic bio takes an interesting approach - a first person narrative of Hannah herself in the early years, her ambitious childhood reading (ummm, she was reading Kant as a kid... she liked that he was from Königsburg, like she was). we follow Hannah into university and her relationship with Martin Heidegger, which Krimstein chooses to frame and call back to throughout the whole book. Not sure if this was backed up by journals or interviews, but her romantic relationship with a prominent philosopher who also became a Nazi was too strong a story for the author to pass by, I guess.
My favorite parts of the graphic bio were Hannah's escape from France to Portugal, and finally her settling in the New York City where she lived the rest of her life. One of my favorite sections of this book is an extended (imagined) conversation that Hannah has with a water stain on her ceiling that reminds her of her deceased friend, fellow German Jewish philosopher, Walter Benjamin. Did this happen? Not sure. But I liked it. Hannah carried an unfinished manuscript that Benjamin entrusted in her care in her escape from Europe ... and at the time she didn't know that Benjamin had left it with her before his planned overdose suicide in Spain.
The last quarter of the book focuses on the lively controversy that caused several personal rifts in Hannah's life and with the Jewish community after the 1963 publication of Eichmann in Jerusalem: A Report on the Banality of Evil. I'm not going to rehash that all here, but I may revisit after I read that account of Adolf Eichmann's trial and Arendt's "take" on it...
Another reviewer of THREE ESCAPES made note of all the name dropping in Krimstein's book - I saw their point but also saw this employed to show the intellectual stew in which Arendt played part, notably one of the very few (only?) women. I believe that Krimstein was not defining her by the company she kept, rather showing the synergies and connections of artists, poets, musicians, and philosophers in the late Weimar Republic in the 20s and 30s, and later in New York City in the 50s and 60s.
My favorite parts of the graphic bio were Hannah's escape from France to Portugal, and finally her settling in the New York City where she lived the rest of her life. One of my favorite sections of this book is an extended (imagined) conversation that Hannah has with a water stain on her ceiling that reminds her of her deceased friend, fellow German Jewish philosopher, Walter Benjamin. Did this happen? Not sure. But I liked it. Hannah carried an unfinished manuscript that Benjamin entrusted in her care in her escape from Europe ... and at the time she didn't know that Benjamin had left it with her before his planned overdose suicide in Spain.
The last quarter of the book focuses on the lively controversy that caused several personal rifts in Hannah's life and with the Jewish community after the 1963 publication of Eichmann in Jerusalem: A Report on the Banality of Evil. I'm not going to rehash that all here, but I may revisit after I read that account of Adolf Eichmann's trial and Arendt's "take" on it...
Another reviewer of THREE ESCAPES made note of all the name dropping in Krimstein's book - I saw their point but also saw this employed to show the intellectual stew in which Arendt played part, notably one of the very few (only?) women. I believe that Krimstein was not defining her by the company she kept, rather showing the synergies and connections of artists, poets, musicians, and philosophers in the late Weimar Republic in the 20s and 30s, and later in New York City in the 50s and 60s.
October 14, 2018
As hard as I try, I cannot see a monster in the glass booth. I see a bore, a careerist former vacuum cleaner salesman spouting empty sales pitches. He's ordinary, which makes his crimes even more horrible than a Frankenstein fantasy.
Arendt was really onto something with the whole "banality of evil" thing.
As far as I can recall, I have no experience with Hannah Arendt's actual writing, and before reading Three Escapes I knew very little about her life, so I can't offer a good opinion on whether this graphic novel–style biography represents her accurately. I will say that this book was fascinating, did a fabulous job of rendering the various times and places represented, taught me a lot, and made me really want to read Hannah Arendt. This is definitely worth your time. Recommended.
Arendt was really onto something with the whole "banality of evil" thing.
As far as I can recall, I have no experience with Hannah Arendt's actual writing, and before reading Three Escapes I knew very little about her life, so I can't offer a good opinion on whether this graphic novel–style biography represents her accurately. I will say that this book was fascinating, did a fabulous job of rendering the various times and places represented, taught me a lot, and made me really want to read Hannah Arendt. This is definitely worth your time. Recommended.
February 25, 2019
I found this very disappointing. Its badly drawn and badly put-together with not enough substance. Her thoughts are given hardly any airing compared to her chain-smoking and sex with Heidegger. Most annoying of all, it's overloaded with footnotes explaining each person or word mentioned. OK, maybe that's helpful when you're introducing some little-known philosopher or painter, but at one point, in 1939, when Poland is invaded, he mentions Hitler and there's a footnote explaining that this is Adolf Hitler, you know, the German leader, not Reg Hitler the Lowestoft postman.
December 21, 2020
3.5 stars -- This was a bit different than other graphic novel biographies I've encountered, in that it was a bit on the drier side. That said, Hannah Arendt led such an interesting life that her story still shines through and if you are looking for a different medium by which to learn about her life story, this definitely checks that box
April 6, 2019
“Arguably the greatest philosopher of the 20th century,” the author suggests, “who renounced philosophy.” So she was like the Bobby Fischer of philosophy hehe.
Hannah Arendt, like the German philosopher Immanuel Kant, was from Koenigsberg, East Prussia. As a child she was precocious. She wanted to “understand everything” so she read all of Kant’s books, as he was “the smartest man ever” and not only the books Kant wrote, but also the books Kant had read. She also became obsessed with the Greek tragedies.
Her father died of syphilis when she was young. Her mother remarried and her stepfather helped her get a college education. At the University of Marburg she became the student, and later the lover, of the very much married and older German philosopher Martin Heidegger (she was 17 and he was 18 years her senior). He was most likely seduced by her talent (“do not be afraid of your genius” he said to her) and her youth; and she, of his words which excited her naturally inquisitive mind, profound (maybe just silly) utterances like:
“Life is thrownness. Like a sudden ‘Lichtung,’ a clearing in a dark forest, you were thrown at me.”
“Death is not just truth, it is THE Truth. Death is what makes a man. Death makes meaning.”
But passion, on his side, waned. He suggested she better study with Karl Jaspers (another German philosopher). She later finds herself later in Berlin, hobnobbing with famous artists and intellectuals like Marc Chagall, Edvard Munch, Irving Berlin, Bertolt Brecht, Alfred Hitchcock, Albert Einstein, etc. But there she was caught with the rise of Nazism. She, a Jew, had to get to a safer place. She then crossed to Czechoslovakia, eventually reaching Paris. That was her first escape.
In France, the Nazis almost got her but she managed to evade them after some nail-biting episodes where she matched wits with the French police/Nazi collaborators. She eventually reached New York. Her second escape.
She landed a teaching job at the Brooklyn College, then wrote an article for a German magazine for American Jewish German refugees calling for the creation of a global Jewish army to fight Hitler, suggesting that “if one is attacked as a Jew, one must defend themselves as a Jew.” This got the attention of Salo Baron, a polish Jewish professor, widely considered to be the greatest historian of Judaism in the 20th century. They talk. She speaks of the need for Jews to finally organize politically, and for there to be a “new Jew,” no longer a submissive victim. Baron challenges her to write an article about this and she excitedly plunges on with the task, summoning all the ideas which had been percolating inside her head, calling from the grave Proust, Von Clausewitz, Marx, Benjamin, St. Augustine, etc. The article was published and was a sensation. Soon she sits on the table of New York intellectuals in passionate debates.
When rumours about Nazi extermination camps began to creep in, the same were widely received in disbelief, almost everyone opining that the country of Einstein, Goethe and Schiller is simply incapable of doing such an unimaginably barbaric enterprise. But towards the end of the war, when everything has been confirmed, she felt that “an abyss has opened” and she saw “a tear in the cosmos.” Like her young self, she struggled to understand, to find the answer, for “there is something at work in the world that causes people to cannibalise their own freedom, and in so doing, turn other people into landfill.”
The end product of this mental labor was a book which made her a postwar hero—“The Origins of Totalitarianism”:
“For me, in the ashes, it’s not enough to describe what we think happened, but to focus unforgivingly on what actually happened, to provide a road map, a game plan for how hell happens, not just in Nazi Germany, but in Stalinist Russia too.”
“Not surprisingly, since this is a new phenomenon, there is no word to describe it so I have to make one up. The new force unleashed on the world is TOTALITARIANISM.”
“As fire lives on oxygen, the oxygen of totalitarianism is untruth.”
“Before totalitarian leaders can fit reality to their lies, their message is an unrelenting contempt for facts. They live by the belief that fact depends entirely on the power of the man who makes it up.”
But the book only answers the question of how evil happens. It does not answer the “why.” To find out the “why” she debated with herself, talked with a deceased friend who came back as a stain on the ceiling of her room, and had an imaginary conversation with St. Augustine:
Hannah: We know that there are many many truths from many many people.
Augustine: And that means?
Hannah: That the real miracle, the real meaning doesn’t come from death, but from birth. From new. New men. New women. New ideas.
Augustine: Exactly. As I like to say, “Initium ut esset homo creatus est”!
Hannah: I call that NATALITY.
Augustine: I like that. But what about the world being made up of lots of unique, individual, spontaneous men, women, and children?
Hannah: I call that PLURALITY.
Augustine: I like that.
Hannah: And it is precisely this force, the facts of natality and plurality, that totalitarianism is designed to smother. So they claim to know the truth. But instead of one monolithic all-knowing truth (there’s a multitude). This is more what freedom looks like. A million billion truths, acted out in public, with every passing second. Messy? You bet. But consider the alternative.
Augustine: I like it.
On 5 December 1975, after having dinner, coffee and dessert and an evening of debate with Salo Baron and his wife, Hannah Arendt passed away. The closing paragraphs of the book’s Epilogue:
“From beyond the grave, Hannah says that although living in the world of plurality and natality is no picnic, if we want to avoid Auschwitz or the Gulag or Stonewall or Pol Pot or Attica or ISIS, we as a species have no choice but to embrace it and endure it.
“In other words, there is no single truth, no silver bullet of understanding to guide us, just a glorious, neverending mess. The neverending mess of true human freedom.”
Hannah Arendt, like the German philosopher Immanuel Kant, was from Koenigsberg, East Prussia. As a child she was precocious. She wanted to “understand everything” so she read all of Kant’s books, as he was “the smartest man ever” and not only the books Kant wrote, but also the books Kant had read. She also became obsessed with the Greek tragedies.
Her father died of syphilis when she was young. Her mother remarried and her stepfather helped her get a college education. At the University of Marburg she became the student, and later the lover, of the very much married and older German philosopher Martin Heidegger (she was 17 and he was 18 years her senior). He was most likely seduced by her talent (“do not be afraid of your genius” he said to her) and her youth; and she, of his words which excited her naturally inquisitive mind, profound (maybe just silly) utterances like:
“Life is thrownness. Like a sudden ‘Lichtung,’ a clearing in a dark forest, you were thrown at me.”
“Death is not just truth, it is THE Truth. Death is what makes a man. Death makes meaning.”
But passion, on his side, waned. He suggested she better study with Karl Jaspers (another German philosopher). She later finds herself later in Berlin, hobnobbing with famous artists and intellectuals like Marc Chagall, Edvard Munch, Irving Berlin, Bertolt Brecht, Alfred Hitchcock, Albert Einstein, etc. But there she was caught with the rise of Nazism. She, a Jew, had to get to a safer place. She then crossed to Czechoslovakia, eventually reaching Paris. That was her first escape.
In France, the Nazis almost got her but she managed to evade them after some nail-biting episodes where she matched wits with the French police/Nazi collaborators. She eventually reached New York. Her second escape.
She landed a teaching job at the Brooklyn College, then wrote an article for a German magazine for American Jewish German refugees calling for the creation of a global Jewish army to fight Hitler, suggesting that “if one is attacked as a Jew, one must defend themselves as a Jew.” This got the attention of Salo Baron, a polish Jewish professor, widely considered to be the greatest historian of Judaism in the 20th century. They talk. She speaks of the need for Jews to finally organize politically, and for there to be a “new Jew,” no longer a submissive victim. Baron challenges her to write an article about this and she excitedly plunges on with the task, summoning all the ideas which had been percolating inside her head, calling from the grave Proust, Von Clausewitz, Marx, Benjamin, St. Augustine, etc. The article was published and was a sensation. Soon she sits on the table of New York intellectuals in passionate debates.
When rumours about Nazi extermination camps began to creep in, the same were widely received in disbelief, almost everyone opining that the country of Einstein, Goethe and Schiller is simply incapable of doing such an unimaginably barbaric enterprise. But towards the end of the war, when everything has been confirmed, she felt that “an abyss has opened” and she saw “a tear in the cosmos.” Like her young self, she struggled to understand, to find the answer, for “there is something at work in the world that causes people to cannibalise their own freedom, and in so doing, turn other people into landfill.”
The end product of this mental labor was a book which made her a postwar hero—“The Origins of Totalitarianism”:
“For me, in the ashes, it’s not enough to describe what we think happened, but to focus unforgivingly on what actually happened, to provide a road map, a game plan for how hell happens, not just in Nazi Germany, but in Stalinist Russia too.”
“Not surprisingly, since this is a new phenomenon, there is no word to describe it so I have to make one up. The new force unleashed on the world is TOTALITARIANISM.”
“As fire lives on oxygen, the oxygen of totalitarianism is untruth.”
“Before totalitarian leaders can fit reality to their lies, their message is an unrelenting contempt for facts. They live by the belief that fact depends entirely on the power of the man who makes it up.”
But the book only answers the question of how evil happens. It does not answer the “why.” To find out the “why” she debated with herself, talked with a deceased friend who came back as a stain on the ceiling of her room, and had an imaginary conversation with St. Augustine:
Hannah: We know that there are many many truths from many many people.
Augustine: And that means?
Hannah: That the real miracle, the real meaning doesn’t come from death, but from birth. From new. New men. New women. New ideas.
Augustine: Exactly. As I like to say, “Initium ut esset homo creatus est”!
Hannah: I call that NATALITY.
Augustine: I like that. But what about the world being made up of lots of unique, individual, spontaneous men, women, and children?
Hannah: I call that PLURALITY.
Augustine: I like that.
Hannah: And it is precisely this force, the facts of natality and plurality, that totalitarianism is designed to smother. So they claim to know the truth. But instead of one monolithic all-knowing truth (there’s a multitude). This is more what freedom looks like. A million billion truths, acted out in public, with every passing second. Messy? You bet. But consider the alternative.
Augustine: I like it.
On 5 December 1975, after having dinner, coffee and dessert and an evening of debate with Salo Baron and his wife, Hannah Arendt passed away. The closing paragraphs of the book’s Epilogue:
“From beyond the grave, Hannah says that although living in the world of plurality and natality is no picnic, if we want to avoid Auschwitz or the Gulag or Stonewall or Pol Pot or Attica or ISIS, we as a species have no choice but to embrace it and endure it.
“In other words, there is no single truth, no silver bullet of understanding to guide us, just a glorious, neverending mess. The neverending mess of true human freedom.”
December 4, 2019
2,5 Sterne. Dtv hat mir freundlicherweise ein Rezensionsexemplar bereitgestellt, vielen Dank dafür!
Das mit Arendt und mir war purer Zufall: Letztes Semester hatte ich ein Seminar, das sich mit Repräsentationen des Bösen auseinandersetzte, und für eine Stunde hatte der Dozent ein Kapitel aus Arendts Elementen und Ursprüngen totaler Herrschaft (1951; dt. 1955) vorgesehen. Der Text beeindruckte mich ungemein – die Präzision, mit der sie schrieb, die Aktualität ihrer Worte -, und noch vor Ende des Semesters hatte ich Die Freiheit, frei zu sein (ca. 1963; dt. 2018 posth.) gelesen und Über das Böse (1965; dt. 2006 posth.) noch dazu. (Für meine mündliche Prüfung war ich quasi übervorbereitet.) Arendt ließ mich nicht mehr los. Egal, was ich von ihr las, ich war immer wieder auf ein Neues überrascht, wie zugänglich ihre Worte doch waren. Dass sie sich nicht in Abstraktionen verloren, sondern ich tatsächlich etwas für meine Gegenwart daraus gewinnen konnte.
Lange Rede, kurzer Sinn: Als ich hörte, dass dtv eine Graphic Novel zu Hannah Arendt publizieren würde, war ich ziemlich aus dem Häuschen. Ich war gespannt, mehr über ihre biographischen Hintergründe zu lernen; gleichermaßen hoffte ich, dass sie dadurch neuen Leser_innen nahegebracht werden könnte. Ken Krimstein vermerkt in seinem Nachwort, er wollte „eine neue Leserschaft an Hannah Arendts bewegtes Leben heranführ[en]“ und sie dazu bringen, „sich direkt mit ihrem Denken auseinanderzusetzen.“ (Krimstein, Die drei Leben der Hannah Arendt, S. 234) Leider habe ich auch Tage nach Beenden der Graphic Novel immer noch nicht das Gefühl, dass er auch nur eines der beiden Ziele richtig erreicht hat.
Wenn ich ehrlich bin, erweckt ein Großteil der Graphic Novel den Eindruck, konsequent durch einen Male Gaze geschrieben und illustriert geworden zu sein. Krimstein erachtet es für erwähnenswert, dass Arendt nach ihrer Pubertät aus ihrem „Kokon“ (S. 25) schlüpft und stellt sie dementsprechend aufreizend dar. Auf derselben Seite muss er erwähnen und darstellen, mit wem und wann sie ihre Jungfräulichkeit verloren hat. Dass Arendt bei Jaspers studiert, wird in einem einzigen Panel erwähnt, was sehr verwunderlich ist, wo sie doch in ihrem berühmten vielzitierten Interview (1964) mit Günter Gaus damit schließt, dass Jaspers nicht nur ihren Zugang zu den Begriffen der Vernunft und der Freiheit entscheidend geprägt hat, sondern auch eine Art Vaterfigur für sie darstellte, nachdem ihr Vater früh gestorben war. Dass sie bei ihm ihre Dissertation zum Liebesbegriff bei Augustin schreibt – mit 22 Jahren! -, wird nicht thematisiert.
Überhaupt ist es faszinierend, wie wenig es in einer Graphic Novel über Arendts Leben tatsächlich um Arendt geht. Im Vordergrund steht neben einer beachtlichen Menge Namedropping all der ‚wichtigen‘ Männer, die ihr jemals begegnet sind, vor allem Martin Heidegger. Krimstein setzt sich dabei ausführlich mit Heideggers Philosophie auseinander (wenn auch so kryptisch, dass ich die Referenzen erst dann verstand, als ich in einem Seminar darüber lernte), vor allem aber mit der Beziehung zwischen Heidegger und Arendt. Neben zahlreichen Sexszenen – wo natürlich nur Arendt nackt gezeigt wird und Heidegger sittlich verhüllt bleibt – lenkt Krimstein vor allem das Augenmerk darauf, dass Arendt, egal, wann wie wo, nie von Heidegger loskommt, sich stets nach ihm sehnt, ihre Bedeutung von ihm abhängig macht. In demselben Panel, welches enthüllt, dass ihre Elemente und Ursprünge totaler Herrschaft in über 40 Sprachen übersetzt wurden, wundert sie sich, nichts von Heidegger gehört zu haben, und fragt sich ernsthaft, ob ihr „Denken nicht weit, nicht tief genug“ (S. 171) ging. Dass Arendt lange mit ihrer Liebe zu Heidegger gerungen hat, ist richtig, aber warum sollte man ausgerechnet in diesem Moment den Fokus darauf legen? Damit wird das Bild einer Frau gezeichnet, die sich selbst in ihren größten Erfolgen einem Mann unterordnet, ihm hinterherweint – ein Bild, und das ist hier das ausschlaggebende Problem, das Krimsteins Interpretation und Fokussetzung entspringt und in seiner Häufigkeit und Nachdrücklichkeit ganz schön verzerrend wirkt und bei mir einfach nur einen bitteren Nachgeschmack hinterlassen hat.
Arendt tritt damit in einem Buch, das vorrangig ihrem Leben gewidmet werden soll, größtenteils hinter den Männern in ihrem Leben zurück. Das geht so weit, dass Krimstein sogar mit der Ich-Perspektive bricht, um zu Heideggers Perspektive zu wechseln und darzustellen, wie sehr doch auch er sich nach Arendt sehnt. Zusammen mit einem Panel, in welchem Arendt sich Heidegger als Superheld imaginiert (vgl. S. 197), grenzt die Heidegger-Darstellung schon gefährlich nahe an eine Heroisierung. (Was nicht heißen soll, dass man Heideggers Werk aufgrund seines Bekenntnis zum NS nicht mehr rezipieren soll; aber es gibt einen Unterschied zwischen dem Werk und der Person, und bei Krimstein sind die Darstellungen längst nicht mehr klar zuzuordnen.)
Was die Lektüre doppelt bitter macht, ist die Tatsache, dass Krimstein, wenn er sich denn mal Arendts Werk widmet, dies wirklich gut tut. Insbesondere von ihrer Vita activa (1958; dt. 1960) werden viele Kerngedanken aufgegriffen, aber auch der Eichmann-Prozess (1961), dem sie als Journalistin beiwohnte, wird präzise und kompetent erklärt. Dadurch liegt der Eindruck nahe, dass er sich bewusst dagegen entschieden hat, den Fokus stärker auf sie zu legen. Und das … ist traurig.
Krimsteins Zeichenstil gefällt mir grundsätzlich gut; er hat etwas Rustikales an sich, etwas Gehetztes, das gut zu der Geschichte passt. Leider sieht es manchmal so aus, als wären manche Zeichnungen mit copy und paste dupliziert worden, die dadurch etwas lieblos wirken. Krimstein schafft es jedoch, der Graphic Novel eine Atemlosigkeit zu verpassen, wodurch sie sich schnell lesen lässt. Und selbstverständlich gibt es die seltenen Momente, in denen Arendt im Vordergrund steht, wagemutige Fluchten auf sich nimmt und ihre eigenen philosophischen Ideen entwickelt, wo man als Leser_in daran erinnert wird, was für eine über die Maßen beeindruckende Denkerin Arendt doch war. In Anbetracht der anderen Kritikpunkte ist das jedoch ein schwacher Trost.
Das mit Arendt und mir war purer Zufall: Letztes Semester hatte ich ein Seminar, das sich mit Repräsentationen des Bösen auseinandersetzte, und für eine Stunde hatte der Dozent ein Kapitel aus Arendts Elementen und Ursprüngen totaler Herrschaft (1951; dt. 1955) vorgesehen. Der Text beeindruckte mich ungemein – die Präzision, mit der sie schrieb, die Aktualität ihrer Worte -, und noch vor Ende des Semesters hatte ich Die Freiheit, frei zu sein (ca. 1963; dt. 2018 posth.) gelesen und Über das Böse (1965; dt. 2006 posth.) noch dazu. (Für meine mündliche Prüfung war ich quasi übervorbereitet.) Arendt ließ mich nicht mehr los. Egal, was ich von ihr las, ich war immer wieder auf ein Neues überrascht, wie zugänglich ihre Worte doch waren. Dass sie sich nicht in Abstraktionen verloren, sondern ich tatsächlich etwas für meine Gegenwart daraus gewinnen konnte.
Lange Rede, kurzer Sinn: Als ich hörte, dass dtv eine Graphic Novel zu Hannah Arendt publizieren würde, war ich ziemlich aus dem Häuschen. Ich war gespannt, mehr über ihre biographischen Hintergründe zu lernen; gleichermaßen hoffte ich, dass sie dadurch neuen Leser_innen nahegebracht werden könnte. Ken Krimstein vermerkt in seinem Nachwort, er wollte „eine neue Leserschaft an Hannah Arendts bewegtes Leben heranführ[en]“ und sie dazu bringen, „sich direkt mit ihrem Denken auseinanderzusetzen.“ (Krimstein, Die drei Leben der Hannah Arendt, S. 234) Leider habe ich auch Tage nach Beenden der Graphic Novel immer noch nicht das Gefühl, dass er auch nur eines der beiden Ziele richtig erreicht hat.
Wenn ich ehrlich bin, erweckt ein Großteil der Graphic Novel den Eindruck, konsequent durch einen Male Gaze geschrieben und illustriert geworden zu sein. Krimstein erachtet es für erwähnenswert, dass Arendt nach ihrer Pubertät aus ihrem „Kokon“ (S. 25) schlüpft und stellt sie dementsprechend aufreizend dar. Auf derselben Seite muss er erwähnen und darstellen, mit wem und wann sie ihre Jungfräulichkeit verloren hat. Dass Arendt bei Jaspers studiert, wird in einem einzigen Panel erwähnt, was sehr verwunderlich ist, wo sie doch in ihrem berühmten vielzitierten Interview (1964) mit Günter Gaus damit schließt, dass Jaspers nicht nur ihren Zugang zu den Begriffen der Vernunft und der Freiheit entscheidend geprägt hat, sondern auch eine Art Vaterfigur für sie darstellte, nachdem ihr Vater früh gestorben war. Dass sie bei ihm ihre Dissertation zum Liebesbegriff bei Augustin schreibt – mit 22 Jahren! -, wird nicht thematisiert.
Überhaupt ist es faszinierend, wie wenig es in einer Graphic Novel über Arendts Leben tatsächlich um Arendt geht. Im Vordergrund steht neben einer beachtlichen Menge Namedropping all der ‚wichtigen‘ Männer, die ihr jemals begegnet sind, vor allem Martin Heidegger. Krimstein setzt sich dabei ausführlich mit Heideggers Philosophie auseinander (wenn auch so kryptisch, dass ich die Referenzen erst dann verstand, als ich in einem Seminar darüber lernte), vor allem aber mit der Beziehung zwischen Heidegger und Arendt. Neben zahlreichen Sexszenen – wo natürlich nur Arendt nackt gezeigt wird und Heidegger sittlich verhüllt bleibt – lenkt Krimstein vor allem das Augenmerk darauf, dass Arendt, egal, wann wie wo, nie von Heidegger loskommt, sich stets nach ihm sehnt, ihre Bedeutung von ihm abhängig macht. In demselben Panel, welches enthüllt, dass ihre Elemente und Ursprünge totaler Herrschaft in über 40 Sprachen übersetzt wurden, wundert sie sich, nichts von Heidegger gehört zu haben, und fragt sich ernsthaft, ob ihr „Denken nicht weit, nicht tief genug“ (S. 171) ging. Dass Arendt lange mit ihrer Liebe zu Heidegger gerungen hat, ist richtig, aber warum sollte man ausgerechnet in diesem Moment den Fokus darauf legen? Damit wird das Bild einer Frau gezeichnet, die sich selbst in ihren größten Erfolgen einem Mann unterordnet, ihm hinterherweint – ein Bild, und das ist hier das ausschlaggebende Problem, das Krimsteins Interpretation und Fokussetzung entspringt und in seiner Häufigkeit und Nachdrücklichkeit ganz schön verzerrend wirkt und bei mir einfach nur einen bitteren Nachgeschmack hinterlassen hat.
Arendt tritt damit in einem Buch, das vorrangig ihrem Leben gewidmet werden soll, größtenteils hinter den Männern in ihrem Leben zurück. Das geht so weit, dass Krimstein sogar mit der Ich-Perspektive bricht, um zu Heideggers Perspektive zu wechseln und darzustellen, wie sehr doch auch er sich nach Arendt sehnt. Zusammen mit einem Panel, in welchem Arendt sich Heidegger als Superheld imaginiert (vgl. S. 197), grenzt die Heidegger-Darstellung schon gefährlich nahe an eine Heroisierung. (Was nicht heißen soll, dass man Heideggers Werk aufgrund seines Bekenntnis zum NS nicht mehr rezipieren soll; aber es gibt einen Unterschied zwischen dem Werk und der Person, und bei Krimstein sind die Darstellungen längst nicht mehr klar zuzuordnen.)
Was die Lektüre doppelt bitter macht, ist die Tatsache, dass Krimstein, wenn er sich denn mal Arendts Werk widmet, dies wirklich gut tut. Insbesondere von ihrer Vita activa (1958; dt. 1960) werden viele Kerngedanken aufgegriffen, aber auch der Eichmann-Prozess (1961), dem sie als Journalistin beiwohnte, wird präzise und kompetent erklärt. Dadurch liegt der Eindruck nahe, dass er sich bewusst dagegen entschieden hat, den Fokus stärker auf sie zu legen. Und das … ist traurig.
Krimsteins Zeichenstil gefällt mir grundsätzlich gut; er hat etwas Rustikales an sich, etwas Gehetztes, das gut zu der Geschichte passt. Leider sieht es manchmal so aus, als wären manche Zeichnungen mit copy und paste dupliziert worden, die dadurch etwas lieblos wirken. Krimstein schafft es jedoch, der Graphic Novel eine Atemlosigkeit zu verpassen, wodurch sie sich schnell lesen lässt. Und selbstverständlich gibt es die seltenen Momente, in denen Arendt im Vordergrund steht, wagemutige Fluchten auf sich nimmt und ihre eigenen philosophischen Ideen entwickelt, wo man als Leser_in daran erinnert wird, was für eine über die Maßen beeindruckende Denkerin Arendt doch war. In Anbetracht der anderen Kritikpunkte ist das jedoch ein schwacher Trost.
June 3, 2021
Super! Ich lese Biographien ab jetzt vielleicht nur noch als Graphic Novel.
December 12, 2018
This was... interesting.
I enjoyed the art style quite a bit. I read the ARC, which was entirely in black and white, but the final version still takes a fairly minimalist approach to color (some images have splashes of green and brown, but otherwise the book is still B&W). I liked the sketches, the smudges, the messiness of the art.
I have a basic understanding of 20th Century European philosophy, but oh man so much of this still went over my head. And mY GOODNESS the name dropping. I understand the need to emphasize the honestly incredibly circles that Arendt ran in, but I found it tedious trying to read every footnote for every figure mentioned. I think a stronger structure for this would be to include a "cast list" at the end of the book rather than footnotes.
I would have liked for the book to dig a bit deeper into the "Eichmann in Jerusalem" trial. The book definitely touches on it, but I think that piece is arguably more well known than The Origins of Totalitarianism and merited a more in-depth look at it.
I enjoyed the art style quite a bit. I read the ARC, which was entirely in black and white, but the final version still takes a fairly minimalist approach to color (some images have splashes of green and brown, but otherwise the book is still B&W). I liked the sketches, the smudges, the messiness of the art.
I have a basic understanding of 20th Century European philosophy, but oh man so much of this still went over my head. And mY GOODNESS the name dropping. I understand the need to emphasize the honestly incredibly circles that Arendt ran in, but I found it tedious trying to read every footnote for every figure mentioned. I think a stronger structure for this would be to include a "cast list" at the end of the book rather than footnotes.
I would have liked for the book to dig a bit deeper into the "Eichmann in Jerusalem" trial. The book definitely touches on it, but I think that piece is arguably more well known than The Origins of Totalitarianism and merited a more in-depth look at it.
July 6, 2021
3,5*
Infinitamente superior à graphic novel do Marcuse; aqui o autor pelo menos pensou em um projeto e um recorte não adaptou um guia.
Infinitamente superior à graphic novel do Marcuse; aqui o autor pelo menos pensou em um projeto e um recorte não adaptou um guia.
November 9, 2021
I had the great privilege of taking two seminars with Hannah Arendt at the New School. She was a wonderful teacher. She stated her beliefs and analysis clearly and was then more than willing to hear those of her seminar students. She took herself seriously and appropriately so. She was a serious person who led a serious life. But she could also be playful. She had a sly sense of humor. At the time (1968-1969) we both smoked. My brand was "Marlboro." Her brand was "True." Did I mention her sense of humor?
I have read almost nothing in this genre and I don't expect that to change. But I did find myself entranced by this treatment of her life. It reaches out to one in a way that appeals to the imagination. There's lots of white space that you can fill in for yourself. You can, as it were, "interpenetrate." It is a process that Arthur Allen Cohen might have gone through when writing "An Admirable Woman." Many years ago I found myself with friends in the company of Hans-Georg Gadamer, one of Arendt's fellow students at Freiburg and Marburg. He described her as both vivacious and brilliant. Her nickname was "The Green" and Krimstein plays with that idea visually throughout the book.
This book is not a treatise. It is not a biography. It is not an analysis. It is a form of meditation in which you are invited to join. It may not be to your taste if you are looking for something which it is not, nor pretends to be. Personally, having read it once, I may just do it again...and benefit from having done so."
I have read almost nothing in this genre and I don't expect that to change. But I did find myself entranced by this treatment of her life. It reaches out to one in a way that appeals to the imagination. There's lots of white space that you can fill in for yourself. You can, as it were, "interpenetrate." It is a process that Arthur Allen Cohen might have gone through when writing "An Admirable Woman." Many years ago I found myself with friends in the company of Hans-Georg Gadamer, one of Arendt's fellow students at Freiburg and Marburg. He described her as both vivacious and brilliant. Her nickname was "The Green" and Krimstein plays with that idea visually throughout the book.
This book is not a treatise. It is not a biography. It is not an analysis. It is a form of meditation in which you are invited to join. It may not be to your taste if you are looking for something which it is not, nor pretends to be. Personally, having read it once, I may just do it again...and benefit from having done so."
September 9, 2018
A great biography of Hannah Arendt.
It's drawn in an easy, attractive style (I personally didn't find coloring very pleasing, but it fits the mood of the book), also, the material is dense and I couldn't read it in one sitting.
Her personal story is explored minutely on two levels, representing two conflicts: Hannah's battle with antisemitism on the narrative level, and her battle with Heidegger's influence and his conception of truth on the level of ideas. (Heidegger is really evil, btw!)
Simply a great way to get acquainted with one of the greatest thinkers of XX century.
On a more personal note, since I did a biographical book on Greimas and his semiotics, also as a graphic novel, it is interesting to notice some similarities, which naturally arise (as we hadn't read each other's books before doing ours) when attempting to draw an intellectual biography of someone: showing the intellectual climate of the protagonists, the suggested reading list, even the ending!
It's drawn in an easy, attractive style (I personally didn't find coloring very pleasing, but it fits the mood of the book), also, the material is dense and I couldn't read it in one sitting.
Her personal story is explored minutely on two levels, representing two conflicts: Hannah's battle with antisemitism on the narrative level, and her battle with Heidegger's influence and his conception of truth on the level of ideas. (Heidegger is really evil, btw!)
Simply a great way to get acquainted with one of the greatest thinkers of XX century.
On a more personal note, since I did a biographical book on Greimas and his semiotics, also as a graphic novel, it is interesting to notice some similarities, which naturally arise (as we hadn't read each other's books before doing ours) when attempting to draw an intellectual biography of someone: showing the intellectual climate of the protagonists, the suggested reading list, even the ending!
March 17, 2019
Enjoyed this and learned some things. Arendt is fascinating, apparently present for many of the 20th century's biggest moments, and this graphic novel is a good intro.
December 30, 2024
A biography of Hannah Arendt, a cartoon presentation of Arendt’s life and thinking.
The book is structured around 3 escapes Arendt made during her life. Two physical escapes (Germany then France), the last one was an ideological escape from her mentor and lover Martin Heidegger. What she found in the end was the culmination of her thinking, a practice she called “Thinking through” philosophy or Principles of Plurality.
As with all great philosophers, I will have to read Arendt’s own work to start to understand her ideas better. But I wonder if I’ll get any answers. The author put this statement in the mouth of Arendt to close out the book: “To be alive and to think are the same thing.” A statement that leaves me with more questions than answers.
But what does come across clear in this biography is a woman who acknowledged life’s tragedies and evils, and who sought to answer why they happened.
The book is structured around 3 escapes Arendt made during her life. Two physical escapes (Germany then France), the last one was an ideological escape from her mentor and lover Martin Heidegger. What she found in the end was the culmination of her thinking, a practice she called “Thinking through” philosophy or Principles of Plurality.
As with all great philosophers, I will have to read Arendt’s own work to start to understand her ideas better. But I wonder if I’ll get any answers. The author put this statement in the mouth of Arendt to close out the book: “To be alive and to think are the same thing.” A statement that leaves me with more questions than answers.
But what does come across clear in this biography is a woman who acknowledged life’s tragedies and evils, and who sought to answer why they happened.
March 8, 2022
I really liked this book. It helped me learn more about Arendt and dealt with a bit of some of the more controversial aspects of her legacy, and it had an awful lot of (footnoted) information about other people from the time, without being at all intimidating. Additionally, I grew to love the art and artistic style, especially the depiction of Arendt throughout her life and aging.
I feel like this book is so in my wheelhouse (historical graphic novel about a Jewish woman) that I was surprised how little I heard about it when it came out, and since! I can't tell if this is just under-publicizing or if I am ignorant of Bloomsbury works, but I'm going to try to keep an eye on the issue!
I feel like this book is so in my wheelhouse (historical graphic novel about a Jewish woman) that I was surprised how little I heard about it when it came out, and since! I can't tell if this is just under-publicizing or if I am ignorant of Bloomsbury works, but I'm going to try to keep an eye on the issue!
January 2, 2022
Myslela som si, že si kupujem čítanie "do vlaku", prelistovať, odložiť do knižnice pre niekoho, kto o Hannah Arendtovej ešte nepočul. Ale nie - toto bol naozaj fajn komiks. Malé dejny skoncentrované do obrázkov s bublinami - plejáda postáv, striedanie nekonečného žúru a rozprávania o svete s desivými momentami (aj tými intímnymi aj tými politickými). Nevadili mi skratky. A fakt dobre nakreslené - čiernou a zelenou.
October 27, 2022
Hannah. Walter. Che bello ritrovarvi per caso. Mi mancavate tanto!
Vi porto nel cuore.
Grazie a questo libro emozionante e bellissimo d'ora in poi guarderò con altri occhi ogni macchia di umidità sul soffitto.
Perché, come dici sempre tu, raccontare storie rivela il significato senza commettere l'errore di definirlo.
Vi porto nel cuore.
Grazie a questo libro emozionante e bellissimo d'ora in poi guarderò con altri occhi ogni macchia di umidità sul soffitto.
Perché, come dici sempre tu, raccontare storie rivela il significato senza commettere l'errore di definirlo.
March 28, 2023
This is a book you sit down with, and don't get up again until you finish. The graphic novel style and the story are engaging and help make the philosophical themes more accessible. At least, I think so. I thoroughly enjoyed this read. It made me think, remember, and reflect.
December 23, 2018
Loved this. I recently read Sabrina - another graphic novel that is on some year's best lists (and Booker long list?) and was really disappointed with the bland drawings and genderless, affectless people and cultural isolation-subject matter. It left me cold. By contrast, Krimstein's book checked off every box when it comes to what I want in a graphic novel: intricate drawings that I may have to linger over to catch nuance; historical significance; philosophical and/or scientific information; footnotes (!); love, sex, danger - emotion; and - admittedly - lots of WORDS. I made notes of the recommended reading list Krimstein provides at the end (Elizabeth Young-Bruehl, Anne C. Heller, Maria Luisa Knott, Deborah Nelson, Susan Buck-Morss ....)
December 14, 2018
I have long been intrigued with Hannah Arendt even though I only know the barest outlines of her life and philosophy. So when I saw this graphic biography, I jumped on it! In The Three Escapes of Hannah Arendt, we learn about Arendt's life in three segments, from her childhood in Germany to her death in the United States. Krimstein shows us how she focused on learning the truth from a very young age and how her philosophy about truth and human nature evolved over the years through her experiences and relationships with other important philosophers of the mid-20th-century. While she was a controversial figure, her view of human nature, plurality and the nature of totalitarianism and evil can still resonate today and should make us think! Her overriding call to action is that we think for ourselves. She is much maligned for her study (and affair) with German philosopher Martin Heidegger who later became a Nazi sympathizer. Krimstein puts this part of her very early life in context and shows us how it shouldn't define her.
The Three Escapes of Hannah Arendt is a vividly illustrated introduction to her. The black and white drawings are somewhat whimsical, which you can see on the book cover. Hannah is always depicted in green clothing and green is used sparingly in other ways to add a spark of color. I would have given this 5 stars except for the myriad of teeny-tiny footnotes on the men that shaped philosophy starting in the 1940's. All of these philosophers - and yes, they're all men - are drawn as part of the story and often given numbers, leading to the annoying footnotes that completely took me out of the story, making it hard to flow with it. Felt a little like Krimstein was name-dropping or showing off all that he knew. Indeed, after finishing the book, I went immediately back to the beginning to read it again without the distraction!
The best part of reading this book for me is that it has made me hungry for more Hannah! I watched the movie Hannah Arendt, a recent biopic by Margarethe von Trotta and I have Vita Activa, The Spirit of Hannah Arendt, a documentary about her to watch tonight.
The Three Escapes of Hannah Arendt is a vividly illustrated introduction to her. The black and white drawings are somewhat whimsical, which you can see on the book cover. Hannah is always depicted in green clothing and green is used sparingly in other ways to add a spark of color. I would have given this 5 stars except for the myriad of teeny-tiny footnotes on the men that shaped philosophy starting in the 1940's. All of these philosophers - and yes, they're all men - are drawn as part of the story and often given numbers, leading to the annoying footnotes that completely took me out of the story, making it hard to flow with it. Felt a little like Krimstein was name-dropping or showing off all that he knew. Indeed, after finishing the book, I went immediately back to the beginning to read it again without the distraction!
The best part of reading this book for me is that it has made me hungry for more Hannah! I watched the movie Hannah Arendt, a recent biopic by Margarethe von Trotta and I have Vita Activa, The Spirit of Hannah Arendt, a documentary about her to watch tonight.
May 13, 2019
“Whatever I do, I am unable to avert my eyes from the reality of the world around me”—Hannah Arendt
I wandered into a bookshop this weekend and surrendered to my browsing, knowing that if there was a book for me to read, it would make itself known. Ken Krimstein's book sang out.
This was the right book for me in these dark days.
Hannah Arendt, Thinker and truth sayer. BRILLIANT woman.
I am a fan.
This is a graphic novel that takes us through Arendt's life history and her devotion to THINKING; her escape from Nazi Germany, occupied France, toxic lovers (Heiddiger); her emergence to speaking her truth through a natalist, polarity philosophy, and identifying as a political theorist rather than a philosopher "political questions are far too serious to be left to politicians."
I love the THINKER that is Hannah Arendt, even if I disagree with her conclusion that another holocaust is avoidable, (they continue throughout the world to this day), but I have compassion for her committing herself to that view.
She had a forensic and clear view of what constitutes Totalitarianism and reading her words
gave me the chill of recognition of the ever-present chains of oppression in our world, even if we delude ourselves otherwise.
“As fire lives on oxygen, so the fire of totalitarianism lives on untruth”
"Before Totalitarian leaders can fit reality to their lies, their message is an unrelenting contempt for facts."—Hannah Arendt
Familiar?
This book makes me want to go back and re-read everything she has written.
Marvelous. Highly recommended.
I wandered into a bookshop this weekend and surrendered to my browsing, knowing that if there was a book for me to read, it would make itself known. Ken Krimstein's book sang out.
This was the right book for me in these dark days.
Hannah Arendt, Thinker and truth sayer. BRILLIANT woman.
I am a fan.
This is a graphic novel that takes us through Arendt's life history and her devotion to THINKING; her escape from Nazi Germany, occupied France, toxic lovers (Heiddiger); her emergence to speaking her truth through a natalist, polarity philosophy, and identifying as a political theorist rather than a philosopher "political questions are far too serious to be left to politicians."
I love the THINKER that is Hannah Arendt, even if I disagree with her conclusion that another holocaust is avoidable, (they continue throughout the world to this day), but I have compassion for her committing herself to that view.
She had a forensic and clear view of what constitutes Totalitarianism and reading her words
gave me the chill of recognition of the ever-present chains of oppression in our world, even if we delude ourselves otherwise.
“As fire lives on oxygen, so the fire of totalitarianism lives on untruth”
"Before Totalitarian leaders can fit reality to their lies, their message is an unrelenting contempt for facts."—Hannah Arendt
Familiar?
This book makes me want to go back and re-read everything she has written.
Marvelous. Highly recommended.
May 31, 2019
This is worse than a comic book/Cliff Notes version of War and Peace. In that sense, at least it gives people who have never heard of Arendt an introduction to Arendt.
I'm not sure how much of Arendt's work the author actually read. He appears to have read the secondary literature, but I doubt he's read "Totalitarianism."
After reading this graphic-novel biography, I was afraid I missed something. I read three on-line book reviews to check myself. The reviews describe it basically as snappy or didactic. The reviews all veered to be about Arendt, not the book. None of them panned it.
My three complaints about this book:
1) The book gives the impression that Arendt is a grown-up child-product of Heidegger and Benjamin. Not. She is a serious political thinker who deserves to be depicted as an independent woman thinker who contributed greatly to unraveling the complexities of the human condition. Arendt developed her own views through intense study and reflection.
2) Arendt did not spend her life obsessing over Heidegger, her relationship with Heidegger, or Heidegger's philosophy. She did understand that totalitarianism is the phenomenon to obsess over and that Heidegger was complicit in it.
3) Cecil B. DeMille did not create "The Birth of a Nation." (p. 183) That was D. W. Griffith.
A positive note: the two page Suggested Reading list isn't bad.
Conclusion. Skip the graphic novel. Read "Eichmann in Jerusalem."
Recommendation. If you want a short introduction to Arendt, watch the film Hannah Arendt (2012).
I'm not sure how much of Arendt's work the author actually read. He appears to have read the secondary literature, but I doubt he's read "Totalitarianism."
After reading this graphic-novel biography, I was afraid I missed something. I read three on-line book reviews to check myself. The reviews describe it basically as snappy or didactic. The reviews all veered to be about Arendt, not the book. None of them panned it.
My three complaints about this book:
1) The book gives the impression that Arendt is a grown-up child-product of Heidegger and Benjamin. Not. She is a serious political thinker who deserves to be depicted as an independent woman thinker who contributed greatly to unraveling the complexities of the human condition. Arendt developed her own views through intense study and reflection.
2) Arendt did not spend her life obsessing over Heidegger, her relationship with Heidegger, or Heidegger's philosophy. She did understand that totalitarianism is the phenomenon to obsess over and that Heidegger was complicit in it.
3) Cecil B. DeMille did not create "The Birth of a Nation." (p. 183) That was D. W. Griffith.
A positive note: the two page Suggested Reading list isn't bad.
Conclusion. Skip the graphic novel. Read "Eichmann in Jerusalem."
Recommendation. If you want a short introduction to Arendt, watch the film Hannah Arendt (2012).
September 22, 2019
An interesting introduction to Hannah Arendt is what I would like to say about this graphic novel. Honestly though, there are obvious and glaring problems with the story. For one, it's rife with unnecessary namedropping, which distracts from the star of the show: Hannah Arendt! So what that she encountered a bunch of semi-famous men! It is of no further importance to the story, and Arendt herself has done more than enough to not be defined by the people she meets.
Secondly, it's just a bit of a mess, in a narrative way. Big philosophical ideas are packed into two or three frames, and it is only towards the end that the specific content of Hannah's ideology comes into play. I know a bit about Arendt, and honestly, I was glad that I did, because I'm not sure I would have put everything together otherwise.
That's not to say that it is all bad, of course. My three star rating mainly hinges on the drawing style, which I appreciated a lot, and the sheer fact that it encouraged me to delve into Arendt's primary works, which, honestly, is an achievement. Maybe this graphic novel really isn't all that good, I realize while typing this. I just think Hannah Arendt was pretty badass.
Secondly, it's just a bit of a mess, in a narrative way. Big philosophical ideas are packed into two or three frames, and it is only towards the end that the specific content of Hannah's ideology comes into play. I know a bit about Arendt, and honestly, I was glad that I did, because I'm not sure I would have put everything together otherwise.
That's not to say that it is all bad, of course. My three star rating mainly hinges on the drawing style, which I appreciated a lot, and the sheer fact that it encouraged me to delve into Arendt's primary works, which, honestly, is an achievement. Maybe this graphic novel really isn't all that good, I realize while typing this. I just think Hannah Arendt was pretty badass.
February 25, 2019
The thing I like best about this book is that it leads me to so many questions, and it has a great list for further reading. It was interesting to learn about Arendt’s work in a context of her as philosopher-first; however, I found the author’s writing to be so-so, and I found a factual error in a footnote (blaming Cecile B. DeMille for Birth of a Nation, which, as far as I know, he was not involved with—maybe the author was thinking of D.W. Griffith). That sounds nit-picky, but I know old movies better than I know philosophers, and so it made me wonder about accuracy in details. That said, it was a quick read and did a good job of offering the major point of Arendt’s life and career, insofar as I know them, and I look forward to reading more about her with this book as an easy way in. Also, sometimes the graphics themselves are quite marvelous.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 346 reviews