[Cz-L] Fw: Celan

From: lMiriam and Elan Lava <melava1_at_netvision.net.il>
Date: Tue, 16 May 2006 12:29:08 -0400 (EDT)
To: czernowitz2006_at_yahoogroups.com, Czernowitz-L_at_cornell.edu
Reply-to: melava1_at_netvision.net.il

   ----- Original Message -----=20
   From: =F4=F0=E9=F0=E4 =EE=E9=E6=EC=E9=F9=20
   To: pniname_at_netvision.net.il=20
   Sent: Tuesday, May 16, 2006 5:02 AM
   Subject: FW: Celan

   REMEMBERING PAUL CELAN Baruch Cohen

      On April 13, 1970, Paul Celan began to compose a poem about his =
generation of poetry=97the poetry of suffering=97titled Du Liest (=93You =
Read=94 in German).

       Du liest can also mean =93you glance=94 or =93you gather.=94 The =
poem was Celan=92s last. A week later, possibly suffering another stage =
of depression caused by his awful medical treatment for incurable wounds =
as a Holocaust survivor, Celan disappeared into the Seine River late at =
night and drowned himself. His poem=92s last words are =93Shabbat rest =
and refreshment, anticipating redemption!=94 I, therefore, assume =
Celan=92s final line, am Shabbat, can take a slight turn in translation, =
a rousing of that stone behind his mind and his heart:

   =20

   =93It knows you,

   Come

   the Shabbat!=94

   =20

      For Celan, Shabbat is the time for his eternal rest!=20

       May, 1970. This month marks the anniversaries of the funerals of =
Nelly Sachs and Paul Celan=97two great poets and Holocaust survivors.

       In the words of critic George Steiner, Celan created some of the =
most profound lyrical poetry in European literature. Celan received the =
prestigious George Behner Prize in 1960 and Nelly Sachs was awarded the =
Nobel Prize in 1966. During a 16-year correspondence, they referred to =
each other as =93Sister Nelly=94 and =93Brother Paul=94. In the New York =
Times Book Review (Sept. 30, 1984), Steiner expressed astonishment that =
Celan had not received the Nobel Prize for his work.

       Celan was born Paul Antschel in 1920 in the northern Romanian city =
of Cernovitz. He was raised in a rich cultural and intellectual milieu, =
which explains his considerable knowledge of languages: German (his =
mother tongue and the language of his poetry), Romanian, French, =
Spanish, Hebrew, and Russian. He asserted that =93only in the mother =
tongue can one speak his own truth. In a foreign tongue, the poet =
lies.=94

       Celan=92s powerful poetry was inspired by a lifelong series of =
tragic events. His parents=92 deportation by the Romanian army during =
the Second World War was an image that never ceased to haunt him. He =
also suffered humiliation, hunger, and torture in a forced labor camp. =
After the war, he learned that both his parents had been killed in =
Transnistria.

       In autumn 1945, Celan moved to Bucharest, where he stayed for two =
years. During that time, he changed his name to Celan, an anagram of =
Antschel. I remember him saying goodbye to his friends at the Bucharest =
Northway railroad station on a late autumn evening in 1947. On a short =
trip to Vienna in 1948, he discovered a newfound connection to German =
roots and culture. His arrival in Vienna meant encountering his mother =
tongue. His mother, who had exposed him to German poetry, was the =
subject of Celan=92s most tragic and most powerful poems, and such poems =
were also addressed to her explicitly or implicitly. For Celan, writing =
in German meant writing to his mother.

      His famous poem =93Todesfuge=94 became an anthology piece =
documenting the Holocaust in poetic form:

   =20

   =93Black milk of day break,

   We drink it at evening,

   We drink it at midday and morning

   We drink it at night

   We drink and we drink.=94

   =20

      Celan=92s poetry speaks to me in a very personal and direct way, as =
I too am a witness of the Nazi regime in Romania, the =93Bucharest =
Kristalnacht=94 of January 21 to 23, 1941. I feel the pain conveyed by =
Celan=92s words:=20

   =20

   =93No one=20

   witnesses=20

   for the=20

   witness.=94

   =20

      Six months before his untimely death, Celan visited Israel. In a =
letter to a relative in the Jewish State, he wrote: =93I might be among =
the few of the remnants who have been destined to live until my end to =
illuminate the greatness of Jewish spirituality in Europe.=94

      May his memory be forever blessed.

    (Baruch Cohen is Research Chairman of the Canadian Institute for =
Jewish Research)

   Quotations from: John Felstiner: Selected Poems and Prose. W.W. Norton =
& Company, New York (2001).
Received on 2006-05-16 10:51:28

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