Zuhause in der Weltsprache der modernen Poesie

Abstract

Paul Celan is probably the internationally best-known poet writing in German since World War 2. Coming from the former Romanian province of Bukovina, which had previously been part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, he was originally regarded with scepticism by German literary critics who attributed the novelty of his work to his exotic Eastern European Jewish origins. This paper argues that after years of fascist isolation the critics initially failed to recognise that Celan’s work, far from being strangely exotic, actually represents mainstream modernity and should be seen in the context of a “World language of modern poetry” as defined by Hans Magnus Enzensberger with his anthology of international poetry Museum der modernen Poesie published in 1960. The anthology, to which Celan contributed with translations of Osip Mandel’štam, proved a landmark in the work of reconnecting West Germany with the international literary scene. The paper emphasises the importance of dialogue in Celan’s work and of his links to the tradition of international modernism.