Corona. Selected Poems of Paul Celan Translated by Susan H.

Gillespie Paul Celan, arguably among the 20th centurys most important uropean !riters, is commonly pigeonholed as a poet of the Holocaust"a term, ho!e#er, he ne#er used. Susan H. Gillespsies Corona see$s to un!ind such facile assumptions about Celan, !hile also charting a more idiosyncratic and personal path through his large oeu#re. Here you !ill find the poets !ell% $no!n !or$s of memory and memoriali&ation in 'u(taposition !ith lo#e poems"as !ell as poems on contemporary politics, mental hospitals and the sometimes ribald comedy of life. Gillespies translations are characteri&ed by their ease of diction and their attention to the )somatic* and rhetorical aspects of Celans lines"their sound, gait, tone, and gra#ity"as !ell as to their internal and e(ternal echoes"or !hat +oman ,a$obson called their )poetic etymology.* -oticing this in Celans !riting"but applicable to her o!n"she !rites in her introduction to this #olume. )Here, poetry is not !hat gets lost in translation, it is, itself, an act of translation"of e(perience and thought"into ne! language.*

This selection presents a ne! !indo! on the !or$ of Paul Celan, !ho is arguably the 20th centurys most important poet in German. Celan"among the most difficult and most translated poets !riting in German"has been pigeonholed as a poet of the Holocaust, a term he himself ne#er used. /ndoing facile assumptions about Celan, )Corona* charts a more idiosyncratic and personal path through Celans large oeu#re, choosing 001 poems from among the more than 200 Celan published. The selection includes !or$ from all of Celans periods and genres. 3ithout ignoring the poets !ell%$no!n !or$ of memory and memoriali&ation, it see$s to open a space for ne! appreciation of Celans lo#e poems, as !ell as his poems on political e#ents, painful reflections on his stays in mental hospitals, and 4uasi%burles4ue #erse. 3ell%$no!n poems 5Tenebrae, Psalm6 stand ne(t to early, Surrealist%influenced #erse7 poems on the Spanish ci#il !ar and the 8ietnam 3ar7 ironic ballads spiced !ith coded personal references 5 ine Gauner% und Gano#en!iese, 9a Contrescarpe, Hafen67 poems that locate Celans !or$ in an intellectual landscape of other poets and historical figures and e#ents 5:n ;emoriam Paul luard7 <urich, &um Storchen7 #erything is other!ise7 Todtnauberg, =ou lie in the Great 9istening67 and"last but not least"the miraculously compressed and probing poems that record Celans ceaseless, philosophically informed, and dialogical in4uiry into the play of language and meaning. Susan H. Gillespies translations are characteri&ed by their ease of diction and their attention to the )somatic* and rhetorical aspects of Celans lines"their sound, gait, tone, and gra#ity"as !ell as to their internal and e(ternal echoes. The latter include references to other poets and to Celans !ide readings of e#erything from speciali&ed dictionaries to other !riters"!hat +oman ,a$obson called their )poetic etymology.* The order of the poems is the same as that in !hich they appeared in print, in the #olumes Poppy and ;emory, >rom Threshold to Threshold, Speech%Grille, The -o%ones +ose, ?reathturn, Threadsuns, @ar$ened :n, >orced 9ight, Sno!part, and >armstead of Time.