Philosopher Arendt and poet Auden were friends who were similarly affected by the philosophical challenge to humanity represented by the Nazi Holocaust. Gottlieb (English and comparative literary studies, Northwestern U.) explores Arendt's Origin of Totalitarianism and The Human Condition and Auden's Age of Anxiety and other poetry in order to demonstrate that reacted to the challenge in similar ways, questioning messianic views of human action and the nature of temporality. Annotation (c)2003 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR