Absolutely Yours, Hegel

To the Editors:

Although there are any number of things which should be criticized in Anthony Quinton’s “review” [NYR, May 29] of some recent Hegel-literature in English, I should like to focus on this one: Heidegger’s Hegel’s Concept of Experience does not, as he claims, print the introduction and commentary en face. Perhaps he has confused it with Kaufmann’s translation of the Preface. The translation is credited in the book to the publishers rather than Albert Hofstadter. If Hofstadter did it, I would like to know how Quinton came upon this esoteric information, just for the record.

The sentence which Quinton quotes from the book might also have been translated: “The absoluteness of the Absolute—a completion which being complete completes itself—is the labor of unconditional self-certainty grasping itself.” The etymological connection is lost, but Heidegger’s meaning is retained, and the sentence is dark only for those who know nothing of Hegel….

Richard Gram

University Park, Pennsylvania