The Distance between Zurich and Todtnauberg

A Anderson

doi:10.3390/rel9010011

Abstract

This paper focuses on two poems written by Paul Celan after first encounters he had with writers who held great significance for him. In 1960 Celan met fellow Jewish poet Nelly Sachs at the Stork Inn in Zurich, and afterwards recorded the event in the poem “Zürich, Zum Storchen”. Seven years later, Celan visited Martin Heidegger at his hut in the German mountains. Celan’s depiction of this encounter is found in the poem “Todtnauberg”. In this essay, I make a two-fold argument regarding the Zurich poem. First I claim that “Todtnauberg” is clearly crafted in light of the earlier Sachs text, a fact that has been overlooked by previous scholarship. As such, it is only in placing the two texts side by side that a complete understanding of “Todtnauberg” comes into view. Second I will indicate how the Zurich poem reflects key elements of an approach to the problem of evil that I term an “enestological theodicy.” Such a term needed to be coined, since this sort of theodicy does not fit in the more traditional narrative categories related to the problem of evil.

Highlights

It takes less than two hours to drive from Todtnauberg, Germany across the border to Zurich, Switzerland
Jewish poet Nelly Sachs, Celan met her for the first time in May 1960 when she came from Sweden to receive a literary award in Germany—her first return to that country since 1940 when she fled the Holocaust
Celan depicted their initial meeting at the Stork Inn in Zurich in his poem “Zürich, Zum Storchen.”

Summary

Introduction

It takes less than two hours to drive from Todtnauberg, Germany across the border to Zurich, Switzerland. Jewish poet Nelly Sachs, Celan met her for the first time in May 1960 when she came from Sweden to receive a literary award in Germany—her first return to that country since 1940 when she fled the Holocaust. Celan depicted their initial meeting at the Stork Inn in Zurich in his poem “Zürich, Zum Storchen.”. Celan ventured to Heidegger’s mountain hut, and afterwards presented his version of the interaction in “Todtnauberg.” This later poem has received extensive attention over the years, much more than “Zürich” has. Part four will provide an explanation of key aspects of the enestological type of theodicy, especially notable in the “Zürich” poem

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