 was met by stony silence.The encounter seemed to convince Heller that there was little one could add, by way of moral comment on Heidegger, that has not been expressed in Paul Celan's poem 'Todtnauberg', written later but in similar circumstances, with its well-known "topos" of suffocation at what Celan calls "Krudes" (an instance of smuttiness).This turn of events must needs be adjudged a most unfortunate one, given that much of Heller's best thought can be viewed as a continuation in one sense or another of Heidegger's preoccupation with Being; certainly Heidegger's "Sein und Zeit", in its original edition, was a prized possession and remained part of Heller's personal library to his last day (surviving the substantial paring down of his collection upon his moving into a retirement home in the final stages of his life).