Green
Integer 111
Paperback:
296
pages
(May
1,
2006)
ISBN:
193338252X |
Breathturn
Paul
Celan
Translated
from the German
with
an Introduction by Pierre
Joris /
A
Bilingual Edition
From
Publishers Weekly
In
Europe, Celan has become
an increasingly important
poet of the second half
of the 20th century, largely
for his efforts to create
a post-Holocaust language
for German poetry. The
facts of his life seem
inseparable from his work:
his term in a Nazi work
camp, the murder of his
parents by the Nazis,
his death by suicide in
his adopted France in
1970. Joris, a poet and
professor at SUNY-Albany,
places Celan and this
work (Atemwende, originally
published in 1967) in
context for the uninitiated
American reader and discusses
the problems in translating
this poet's writing. Celan
consciously attempted
to move the German language
away from lyricism toward
a terse, charged accuracy
that could reflect the
unrepresentable: "Down
melancholy's rapids/ past
the blank/ woundmirror:/
there the forty/ stripped
lifetrees are rafted./
Single counter-/ swimmer,
you/ count them, touch
them/ all." Joris's
translations (on pages
facing the German text)
capture much of the multilingual
resonance, subtlety and
compressed power of Celan's
brilliant, difficult work,
which has absorbed the
interest of such critics
as George Steiner and
Jacques Derrida.
Copyright
1995 Reed Business Information,
Inc. --This text refers
to an out of print or
unavailable edition of
this title.
From
Library Journal
One
of the greatest German-language
poets of the century
(born in what is now Romania),
Celan has had a significant
influence on poetic trends
in the United States
as well as in Europe.
He committed suicide in
1970, having spent time
in forced labor camps
during the war. He has
been described as surrealist
because his poems use
language and draw together
images in ways that challenge
the reader to make sense
of them. "Sense" is
perhaps not intended
by this poet, noted
for creating composite
words like "eternityteeth," "desertbread," and "heartshadowcord." His
poems are possessed
of a positive energy
that is difficult to
explain, given his tragic
background. Others have
translated Celan into
English, most notably
poet Michael Hamburger
(Poems of Paul Celan,
LJ 5/1/89). Joris's
translations, offered
here in a bilingual
edition, do not differ
greatly from Hamburger's?both
translators are competent
and careful. Joris's
major contribution is
tackling the entirety
of Atemwende (1967),
bringing many previously
untranslated poems to
the attention of English-speaking
audiences. Recommended
for collections of world
poetry. Judy
Clarence, California
Copyright
1995 Reed Business Information,
Inc. --This text refers
to an out of print or
unavailable edition of
this title. |