Correspondence

Over the course of three decades, from 1953 to 1983, jurist Carl Schmitt (1888-1985) and historian Reinhart Koselleck (1923-2006) corresponded with one another. The exchange between the former »Crown Jurist of the Third Reich« and the future »most important German historian of the 20th centurry« (DIE ZEIT) not only deals with the main works of the two protagonists but also with Koselleck’s career in the world of West-German academia and Schmitt‘s position at the margin of the academic field. Leading contemporaries, such as Blumenberg, Habermas and Heidegger, find their place in it alongside historical questions and terminology as well as current political developments. A correspondence between scholars characterised by »criticism and crisis« – while at the same time an important chapter of German intellectual history.

On the one hand, this edition is dedicated to Reinhart Koselleck’s most important correspondence, unequalled in terms of volume, duration and intensity – a curcial source for the intellectual biography of the historian. On the other hand, it provides new insight into the life and work of Carl Schmitt, a jurist and political theorist who never left the scope of public interest.

»The correspondence between the historian Reinhart Koselleck and Carl Schmitt, the expert in constitutional law, is, in terms of the history of ideas, a document of the first rank.« Florian Meinel, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung

»[Koselleck‘s] very first, five-page letter already shows an accomplished scientist presenting a life programme to the older man. For the contemporary reader – one and a half decades after Koselleck’s death – it‘s downright breathtaking to realize how closely he stuck to the baselines he had conceptualised at the time.« Gustav Seibt, Süddeutsche Zeitung

»This book edits the material from the archives with diligence and great knowledge.« Hendrikje Schauer, Der Tagesspiegel

»A wonderful alternative history in letters.« Hannah Lühmann, Die Literarische Welt

»What a pull! Those who plan to read the correspondence between the jurist Carl Schmitt and the historian Reinhart Koselleck, should take off a weekend and absord these electrifying and intellectually highly gripping documents in one go with as few disruptions as possible – which is probably going to happen anyway once you start.« Angela Reinthal, Zeitschrift für Geschichtswissenschaft

»The more than 100 letters that Schmitt and Koselleck exchanged over the course of 30 years – from 1953 to 1983 – show readers how it is possible to enter into a fruitful intellectual exchange with an ultra-conservative intellectual, who, in addition to that, is contaminated by fascism. The condition for this was Schmitt‘s extremely alert intelligence far into old age and his legendary literacy. Koselleck knew how to capitalise on that.« Peter Meisenberg, WDR 3