“The Thousand Darknesses”: Poetic Language after the Holocaust
Location
Janet Ayers Academic Center, Room 4094
Presentation Type
Presentation
Start Date
25-9-2024 1:00 PM
Description
Paul Celan, the most celebrated German poet of the past 75 years, wrote notoriously difficult poems. Are they challenging to readers because they reflect and refract the traumatic experiences of the Holocaust? Yes, but there's also the question of language: Celan was a polyglot poet fluent in multiple languages. Readers have reason to wonder, then, why he chose to write poems in German—the poet’s Muttersprache (mother tongue), which was also the language of his mother's murderers. I will explore this dilemma by showcasing how Celan's own poetic language underwent what he calls a "frightful muting" but nevertheless emerges, able to speak on behalf of so many silenced voices.
Recommended Citation
Remington, Blake, "“The Thousand Darknesses”: Poetic Language after the Holocaust" (2024). Humanities Symposium. 18.
https://repository.belmont.edu/humanities_symposium/2024/2024/18
“The Thousand Darknesses”: Poetic Language after the Holocaust
Janet Ayers Academic Center, Room 4094
Paul Celan, the most celebrated German poet of the past 75 years, wrote notoriously difficult poems. Are they challenging to readers because they reflect and refract the traumatic experiences of the Holocaust? Yes, but there's also the question of language: Celan was a polyglot poet fluent in multiple languages. Readers have reason to wonder, then, why he chose to write poems in German—the poet’s Muttersprache (mother tongue), which was also the language of his mother's murderers. I will explore this dilemma by showcasing how Celan's own poetic language underwent what he calls a "frightful muting" but nevertheless emerges, able to speak on behalf of so many silenced voices.
Comments
Well-Core Category: Intellectual Wellness