Vigils and Nocturne : Black Notebooks, 1952/53–1957

Vigils and Nocturne is the latest English translation of Martin Heidegger's Collected Works. Presenting three of Heidegger's later "Black Notebooks" from the 1950s, this volume chronicles the philosopher's private thoughts and personal observations after the reinstatement of his right to teach in 1951. In this volume, we see many of Heidegger's fascinating meditations on topics ranging from language, metaphysics, and technology to the turn, the event, and the meaning of Being, as well as contemporary events and concerns: Sputnik, nuclear energy, and the atomic bomb. Heidegger also develops new ways of approaching key concepts in his thinking, particularly focusing on the vigil and the nocturne and a relatively new idea in his work: Ver-Hältnis, or the relation of holding back. Through all this, Vigils and Nocturne showcases Heidegger's idiosyncratic and creative use of language, presenting a new way of approaching key concepts in his thinking.