ABSTRACT
In this chapter, I discuss two prominent issues in Heidegger’s elucidation of Hölderlin’s poetry. One is the tripartite theme of homeland, homecoming and the journey abroad. Heidegger relates the homeland with the “nearness to Being.” The journey abroad is the necessity for becoming at home. The ontologically necessary process of not-being-at-home, passing-throughthe-foreign, and becoming-at-home, has a particular ontic reference to the intrinsic link between the Greek and German Dasein. In this connection, I comment on Vetsch’s construction of an account of intercultural dialogue that is ascribed to Heidegger. The other issue concerns the meaning of “the few other great beginnings,” which some authors identify with East Asian traditions or non-Western thought in general. Through a careful reading of the text, I demonstrate that the most plausible reference of this phrase is the four-fold of heaven, earth, god and man, which is closely related to Greece. I also discuss similar misreading of other phrases such as the Morgenland and the Orient.
