On Hannah Arendt and Mary McCarthy’s Decades-Long Friendship

Hannah Arendt’s published correspondence primarily features her relationships with male friends, creating an impression that her social circle was predominantly male.

This observation is based on the letters that have been made publicly available, which include exchanges with prominent figures such as the German philosopher Martin Heidegger, the German-Swiss philosopher and psychiatrist Karl Jaspers, and her second husband, the German political theorist and poet Heinrich Blücher.

These published letters provide a limited view of Arendt’s broader network of friends and acquaintances, as they do not fully represent the diversity of her relationships.

The focus on male correspondents in her published works may reflect historical biases in the preservation and publication of personal letters, as well as the intellectual circles in which Arendt moved during her lifetime.