[Cz-L] Todtnauberg

Dear Czernowitzers,

Last Friday (20th January) the BBC broadcast an interesting play on "Radio
4" (one of the main domestic radio channels in the UK).

Todtnauberg
Friday 20 January 2006 14:15-15:00 (Radio 4 FM)

By John Banville.

A fictional drama inspired by the meeting between the poet and holocaust
survivor, Paul Celan, with the Nazi philosopher Martin Heidegger, at
Heidegger's mountain retreat in 1967. No record was kept of this momentous
meeting in the mountains, and the only mention is an obscure poem by Celan,
"Todtnauberg", which is the name of Heidegger's place.

It troubled Celan that the man he saw as one of the greatest of modern
thinkers, so close to his own work, was a Nazi. One cannot even say 'had
been a Nazi' because he never said anything that amounted to a renunciation.
Late in life, Heidegger became interested in Celan's work. He attended
public readings given by the poet, and in 1967 invited him to his famous
Black Forest retreat at Todtnauberg.

Heidegger ...... Joss Ackland
Paul Celan ...... Nicholas Farrell
Hannah Arendt ...... Jemma Redgrave
Gerhart Baumann ...... James Greene
Karl Jaspers ...... Gerard Murphy
Secretary ...... Michelle Simms

Producer/Director Gemma Mcmullan.

Celan was of course from Czernowitz, and is regarded as one of the greatest
German-language poets of the 20th century.

I haven't listened to this play yet, but my mother did, and she found it
interesting.

If you would like to listen to it, click on the following link

http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/afternoonplay/pip/zqxfx/

and then on "listen again to this programme". You will need to download
some software, called Real Player. The web page gives instructions.

However, you need to do this soon. I think these BBC programmes can only be
replayed for a week after the broadcast, so I think it will only be there
until Thursday this week. My apologies for not having let you know sooner!

Best regards,

David
Received on 2006-01-24 08:16:51