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Book Review

From Time To Time. By Hannah Tillich. Stein and Day Publishers, 1973. 152 pages.

To fully explain the complicated bond between Paul and Hannah Tillich is nearly impossible. The culture, historical moment, and personalities of both Tillich's combined for an intricate and unusual relationship. Its blatant protest against the conventional lifestyle can be disconcerting and even offensive.

For Hannah Tillich to attempt an explanation can only be described as courageous. Personally, I feel this courage as it permeates through the pages of her autobiography, From Time to Time. An unorthodox woman, Hannah Tillich writes with what many readers do not expect: absolute honesty. She does not “pull any punches.” She is bold, critical, and extremely self-reflective. Her style can be eccentric, but when closely Hannah Tillich invites the reader to intimately understand her life.

Often thought of as “a biography of Paul Tillich,” From Time to Time is not centrally concerned with the life and thought of Paul Tillich. He is only a part of Hannah Tillich's story. I feel that is why reviewers and readers have unappreciated this books' insight. They are excepting to hear about who and what Paul Tillich was. However, this is a story about Hannah Tillich: a German, an artist, a wife, and a mother.

 The layout of the book is a blend of poetry, fiction, and biography that constructs the “life of Hannah Tillich,” as a play with the different acts representing the stages of her life: childhood, youth, marriage, and the United States. Each of these “acts” and their stories/memories are told as a “stream of consciousness.” This style can be incoherent; however, its movement and rhythm give insight into the personality of Hannah Tillich. Her thoughts and stories are sporadic and seemingly random, but she shows the reader, leaving out little detail, the most significant moments in her personal development. Now please, let us all be seated. The show is about to begin...

Act I: Childhood

With vivid memory, Hannah recalls the intense feelings and moments of her childhood. Her father was school administrator and minister and her mother was an American, a foreigner, who seemed to be a peculiar role model for Hannah (30-1). Her mother had an independent spirit, indifferent to criticism and convention, which seems to describe Hannah's lifestyle as well.  She discusses her parents by embodying the immaturity and naiveté of a childlike innocence. Through the lens of child, Hannah avoids the tendency of some biographers to rationalize the roles and relationships of their parents. The reader sees who her parents were from a child's perspective, which supports to the concept of the whole book as a chronological development of both her thoughts and feelings.

Hannah, progressing into her early teens, describes the sexual relationships she has with two women. She recounts, in detail, her first experiences of both giving and receiving physical pleasure (51).  These relationships may lead one to conclude that she is a lesbian; however, Hannah seems to have had a more complex understanding of her sexuality than that. There were accusations from her school mates that she was a lesbian, a taboo both then and now (65). It seems though that Hannah did not think in such polarized terms. Her attraction was to beauty, with gender being secondary. Looking at her entire life, one could frame her early sexual experiences as a sexual awakening through lesbian encounters, and sexual understanding through her heterosexual relationships.

She started art school in 1911 (63). Finding her place within in art community, there was a constant self-reflection that seems to have made people uncomfortable. Her strong personality led to many tense relationships with her professors. Perhaps it was arrogance or insecurity, but that is the gradual process of maturation. However, at this time in Germany, many young people had to cope with the change of life quickly as World War I began. Hannah claims that her “narcissism died” around this time, as she became “hungry and holy” (76). We are given a unique historical perspective in this part of the autobiography. We do not hear the details of the “front line” war and its horror, but the effects of war on common people in Germany who were depressed and starved. During the war, Hannah finished art school and was able to find a position as an art teacher for children (77). However, this did not last long as the war ended and she was married.

The war's end brought revolution to Germany. It was in this time of confusion and rebellion that Hannah met Paulus. Their first meeting at the “Fancy-dress ball” in February of 1919 was not “love at first sight” (83). Each of them was somewhat passive in their first meeting. With their intense personalities, they exchanged awkward pleasantries, but then were quickly intrigued by one another. Paulus explained how Hannah reminded him of his recently deceased sister (85). As he talked, Hannah felt connected to him, as if he was the only human being amongst the reception. 

In their following encounters, Paulus and Hannah quickly became lovers. They each had a magnetism that drew them closer and closer together. At this time, Paulus was not officially divorced yet, and Hannah was betrothed to another man (87). Pleading with her, Paulus and his friends begged Hannah to cancel her engagement, but she refused saying she still did not trust Paulus (87). However, she finally agreed to be with Paulus, but it would only be after she was married for one year. It is almost incomprehensible why Hannah did this, but it again shows her independence and strength, perhaps even obstinacy. She had committed herself to another man, and it was her responsibility to be with him, if only for a while.

Act III: Marriage

Hannah married Albert, a man she had met during her days in art school. The relationship seems to have been one Hannah could control. Albert adored her, thus beckoning to her every whim (92-3). She continued her affair with Paulus while she was married. It was finally after she became pregnant by Albert, a child that she eventually lost, that she decided to leave for Paulus and Berlin. In a cold act, Hannah left Albert with a note saying she was divorcing him (95). Why did she keep a part that made her appear so disgusting in this autobiography? Why did she not try to frame it better, as to not disgust the reader? It is yet another example of her courage. She knew what she had done was wrong and it was obviously something she had carried with her forever. It was after the World War II that Hannah visited Albert again to apologize for her terrible behavior (97). There was a soft reconciliation between the two, a realization of emotional imbalance and selfishness.

In 1924, Hannah and Paulus were married, but with the stipulation that the relationship stay “open.” This meant that they could have sexual partners inside the marriage. This is the part of their relationship that people tend to focus on the most. It seems like such a foreign idea, but it was the time and place in which they lived that brought about these ideas of marriage. Constantly pushing the social limits, their community found that though boundaries could be pushed to develop the mind; creativity could also be found in the exploration of the body. It was with the understanding that Hannah began her relationship with Heinrich, the man who “taught [her] how to make love” (119). She became romantically involved with Heinrich, who was an ethics scholar in Marberg at the time when Paulus began to teach at the university.

It is interesting to see how she describes the development in Paulus' thought at this time. She speaks of Paulus' interactions with Heidegger's philosophy in Marberg and his monumental speech at the Kant Society. She expresses Paulus' development and success with the utmost admiration and affection, calling him “the instrument of the powers of thought; he was the word” (102). And though she writes with this respect and care for Paulus, she is also committed to the physical relationship that she fosters with Heinrich (116-7). This is an example of how this open marriage worked. Though there is the physical relationship with Heinrich, one can see her loyalty and love for her husband. It expresses the complexity with which Hannah dealt with her relationships. Much in the same way that Paulus did, she strained or split herself so to accommodate the feelings and lives of those closest to her.

As the situation in Germany gradually became more confused and enraged, Paulus began openly speaking out against the rising National Socialist movement and its leader, Adolf Hitler (149). Many Germans found the situation hopeless and began to flee. Paulus, according to Hannah, was not one to flee. It seems as though he would have stayed until the end, even if it meant his death. Hannah knew this and loved him all the more for it (156). However, he realized his responsibilities to his the family and by staying any longer, he was putting them all in danger.

Act IV: The United States

The Tillich’s were able to come to the United States after Paulus was offered a teaching position at the Union Theological Seminary in New York (171). As Hannah discusses their new lives in America, it seems like the shift from German to American culture and social life was dramatic. There was superficiality about American mannerisms, like the “friendly sociability,” that annoyed Hannah (172). Becoming a seminary wife also troubled her. She was losing her sense of independence and identity in this new setting; a setting that Paulus was thriving in.

The United States was beginning to recognize the voice of Paulus and the radicalism of his work. He was catapulted into a higher level of fame and respect than he had in Germany. With this new fame came more opportunities for lectures and relationships, particularly sensual ones. Paulus would be traveling a great deal, trying to make money to support the lifestyle that Hannah and he refused to give up (184). With the increase in both of their sexual partners, the new country, and fame, Hannah began to develop an estrangement and disgust for Paulus. His own distance from the family did not help. She came close to divorcing him, but was talked out of it (190).

The “other half of fame” is never talked about publicly. Often, we see the respected figure on a pedestal and forget that this figure, Paulus, has a family and life that they trying to maintain in the wake of success. Hannah captures that side of fame in her writing, showing the difficulty that both she had to deal with alone, and in her relationship with Paulus.

It seems like their relationship came to an understanding when Paulus was offered a position as University Professor at Harvard University (197). It is towards the end of her life with Paulus. Hannah found meditative practices to help cope with her pent up emotions that had come from their long relationship. I get the sense that Hannah realizes the value of time that they have left together and it is in Boston that they begin to reconcile their complicated and unconventional life. Paulus received another professorship at the University of Chicago in 1962 and it was three years later that Paulus died. Their last days together in the hospital were ones of restoration and love. They each forgave the other for the pain that they caused. Sharing poems together and reading letters was how Hannah comforted Paulus in his last days (223).

After his death, Hannah returned to East Hampton. She remains strong through her loneliness and the last few pages of the book show how this really was a telling of her life with and without Paulus. She says, “I decided to look at my own life and try to come to an awareness of what I had lived” (243), an important quote to remember before judging the bias of this autobiography.

The curtain closes

How could a woman break so many social and cultural taboos? How can someone be so “in-touch” with who and what they are? The introspection of Hannah Tillich leaves some annoyed and nervous. Her blunt honesty is offensive. We, as the public, are used to more conservative and even Puritanical perspectives, particularly in the United States. Hannah Tillich breaks down these notions and shows you who she truly is.  

By writing down her experiences as a German who watches her country spiral out of control, an artist who views and engages the world as creative and limitless, a wife who shares a complex relationship with one of the most prolific theologians of the 20^th century, and a mother of two children, the reader should feel a sense of empowerment. These pages give strength to overcome social inconsistencies and embrace yourself for who you are. This book is about owning your guilt and your hypocrisy. This book is about courage.

Zachary Rodriguez
Boston University
Fall 2010

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