RIß, Riss, rift, le trait, fissura, hendidura, rotura

Vamos traduzir Riß por ‘fenda’, ‘traço’ e traço-fenda’. A ideia central do uso deste termo parece ser aqui a do desenhar, fendendo (aufreißen), de uma forina — é a partir daqui que se devem entender os termos Grundriß, ‘plano’, Aufriß, ‘esboço’, Umriß, ‘contorno’ — que assim se torna patente. Essa forma é assim inscrita num material, mas forma e matéria, como mundo e terra, têm tensões antagônicas. E por isso que o traçar da forma na matéria, o fazer uma fenda nesta, constitui ao mesmo tempo a manifestação da sua tensão de separação e o mantê-las unidas (zusammenreißen). (GA5PT)

The rift is a “design” that unifies the strife between world and earth and is manifest through the figure (Gestalt) of a work of art. Heidegger’s analysis of the rift (Riß), in turn, plays an important role in his account of what is required in order for truth to happen in art and for a work to be created.

Heidegger discusses the notion of “rift” in “The Origin of the Work of Art” in the context of discussing the strife between world and earth. In this essay, he characterizes a world as what belongs to a historical people, e.g., the world of ancient Greece or the Middle Ages, and he claims that it is what “opens” or “clears” the “relations and paths” for that people, which give their lives meaning and shape their destiny (GA5:28/21). As he makes this point, “the world is the self-opening openness of the broad paths of simple and essential decisions in the destiny of a historical people” (GA5:35/26). By contrast, Heidegger maintains that the earth is not dependent upon us, but rather is something that arises out of itself. Indeed, he claims that it is something that is closed off to human understanding: “it shows itself only when it remains undisclosed and unexplained. Earth shatters every attempt to penetrate it” (GA5:34/25). For this reason, he describes earth as something that is “self-closing” and “self-secluding” (GA5:35/ 26, 34/25). (CHL)