With the release of his last work of fiction, the novella Scattered Parts, Semler, as prolific as he is, suggested he might be done. Perhaps he meant done with fiction, because here we are just a few months later, presented with a monograph on Robert Smithson’s Spiral Jetty. Or rather, a monograph on how Heidegger might help us think about the Spiral Jetty.

This sounds as if it might be challenging. Indeed, we are told “Most people, even intellectuals, cannot read Heidegger nor would want to, even if they could.” Now I count myself among “most people” here, one of those who would not want to read Heidegger, certain as I am that I could not… of his being over my head. But with Semler as a guide, what might otherwise be impenetrable helps us see more deeply the impact of earthworks and other art which takes us outside the museum. This includes consideration of the “earth” and “world” of the title and how in Heidegger’s understanding of them, art takes place in the tension between the two, that in this rift artworks can reveal the truth.

Much of the pleasure in reading this essay is in discovering new or different ways of seeing. This reading has taken me outside of the museum, yes, but also outside of myself in an unexpectedly delightful way.

On this, my first reading, I missed most of the footnotes. Be careful not to. ( )