Celan, Paul (Pseudonym of Paul Antschel) (Vol. 19) - Introduction

Celan, Paul (Pseudonym of Paul Antschel) 1920–1970

Born in Rumania of Hasidic Jewish parents, Celan is generally regarded as the finest lyric poet to write in German since Rilke. His parents were victims of the Nazi extermination, and Celan himself was interned in a forced labor camp from 1942 to 1943. The anguish of the Holocaust can be felt in his work, often manifested in dark, melancholy imagery; this is especially evident in his most famous poem, "Death Fugue." Celan's poetry is surreal, lyrical, often elusive and dreamlike. His images are unusual, his diction pure. Also a translator of French and Russian, Celan adapted the works of Mandelstam, Rimbaud, Valéry, and Char. Celan won the Georg Büchner Prize in 1960. (See also CLC, Vol. 10.)