Re: [Cz-L] The Genesis of Paul Celan's "Todesfuge"?

I came to know Dr. Felstiner through my late mother, Pearl Spiegel
Fichman. Felstiner carried on a long correspondence with my mother once
he learned that Paul and Pearl were good friends in high school. She
shared with Felstiner what she could and she is quoted / cited in
Felstiner's writings on Celan. I learned from my mother of a lecture
Dr. Felstiner was planning to give at Harvard, attended, introduced
myself and had a chance to meet with him the following day to talk
more. He was very kind and it was a great pleasure to speak with him.

After my mother's death he sent to us all the letters she had written
to him and we already had many, perhaps all, of the letters he had
written to her.

It was of course a pleasure to have the chance to provide Edgar the
introduction.

My mother had some thoughts about what she believed was guilt Celan may
have felt for not saving his mother during the war; that somehow, if
he'd done things differently, maybe she could have survived. I think
that when my mother read Todesfugue and some other poems by Celan, she
associated certain imagery with Celan's lost mother. Perhaps, in my
mother's reading, as best I remember it, including the ashen hair . . .

Sincerely,
Eytan

Eytan Fichman
B.Arch., M.Arch., Ed.M.
 
42 / 11 Tran Binh Trong,
Hai Phong, Viet Nam

-----Original Message-----
From: Edgar Hauster <bconcept_at_hotmail.com>
To: Czernowitz Discussion Group <czernowitz-l_at_cornell.edu>
Cc: Berti Glaubach <berti.glaubach_at_gmail.com>; Catherine Darley
<catherine.darley_at_wanadoo.fr>; Eytan Fichman <fichblue_at_aol.com>; info
<info_at_studiolum.com>
Sent: Fri, May 24, 2013 1:10 am
Subject: The Genesis of Paul Celan's "Todesfuge"?

Czernowitzers... It is our fellow member Eytan Fichman, who facilitate
my first contact to John Felstiner, Professor Emeritus of English at
Stanford University, author of many standard works on Paul Celan and of
the renowned biography "Paul Celan: Poet, Survivor,
Jew" http://amzn.to/14CuD08%c2%a0from which (p. 28) we learn on the genesis
of Paul Celan's "Todesfuge" as follows: "Celan once remarked, that
'Todesfuge' arose from something he read about Jews playing dance tunes
in a Nazi camp. He might have seen a pamphlet dated 29 August 1944, on
'The Lublin Extermination Camp' (Maidanek). In July 1944 the Red Army
took Maidanek, and what they discovered was publicized worldwide, as
propaganda. This pamphlet, issued by Moscow's Foreign Languages
Publishing House, appeared in various cities and languages. Written by
Konstantin Simonov, it reports that tangos and fox-trots were played
during camp functions, and it contains other details suggestive of
'Todesfuge'. The earliest notice of Celan's poem may connect it to the
Simonov pamphlet. 'Todesfuge' first appeared not in German but in
Romanian (it was Celan's first published poem and his first under the
name "Celan"). In May 1947, the Bucharest magazine Contemporanul
printed Petre Solomon's translation, prefacing it with the note: 'The
poem whose translation we are publishing is built upon the evocation of
a real fact. In Lublin, as in many other 'Nazi death camps,' one group
of the condemned were forced to sing nostalgic songs while others dug
graves.'" Reasons enough for me to track Konstantin Simonov and -
Eureka! - I succeeded in September 2011 to figure out, that Konstantin
Simonov visited Czernowitz while touring the fronts in June 1944. I've
released his report, dated June 21, 1944 (JTA) and headlined "ONLY
ONE-THIRD OF CZERNOWITZ' 80,000 JEWS REMAIN ALIVE, RUSSIAN
CORRESPONDENT REPORTS"
at: http://bit.ly/11fmqzWhttp://bit.ly/16VvKMN%c2%a0Is it to keen to assume
a possible personal meeting between Paul Celan and Konstantin Simonov
during his visit in June 1944? John Felstiner wrote: "I'm grateful for
your sharing the news of his visit, and yes, it's certainly *possible*
they met. But who can confirm it? [...] If you look at the Preface of
my Celan anthology (Norton), you'll see he wrote to a Czernowitz exile
friend in Russia on July 1st, '44: 'I've come to Kiev for two
days..." http://www.amazon.com/dp/0300089228/ref=rdr_ext_tmb%c2%a0So at
least it appears he may have been in Czernowitz a week earlier. A bit
later in my book I mention PC translating Simonov. What a story in the
making!" Just imagine how exciting it was for me, to get such an
encouraging feedback! Provided that my guess is correct, we might have
identified another small piece of the puzzle related to the genesis of
Paul Celan's "Todesfuge"! "But who can confirm it?" - Back to you,
Czernowitzers!     Edgar Hauster • MacBookLent • The Netherlands  P.S.:
In addition, this posting is to be understood as a "reward" for both,
Berti and Catherine, for their sensitive and enlightening comments on
Paul Celan's "Zwiegestalt - Twishape - Figure double" - "Let your
eyes...": http://bit.ly/16V86jh
  

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Received on 2013-05-23 11:47:54