The Complete Correspondence of Friedrich Hölderlin, ed. Charlie Louth – SUNY Press, October 2025

The first English translation of Hölderlin’s complete correspondence, with a full introduction and notes.

Friedrich Hölderlin (1770–1843) is widely acknowledged to be one of the most significant European poets and thinkers. His poems continue to fascinate and compel; his role in the development of German Idealism is well-known; and his writings continue to shape philosophical reflections on subjectivity and the place of poetry in the world. Hölderlin’s correspondence is indispensable for anyone hoping to come to terms with his work, yet until now only selections have been available in English. This new and complete edition includes all the letters Hölderlin received and ranges from early letters written while he was still at school to letters pondering the French Revolution and its consequences in Germany, relaying to Hegel his arguments with Fichte’s lectures, setting out his poetic theory, to his final letters written in half-concealed madness to his mother. The chief source of what we know of Hölderlin’s biography, the letters vitally illuminate his poetry and thought at every point, German Romanticism.