Paul Celan
Paul Antschel, who wrote under the pseudonym Paul Celan, was born in
Czernovitz, in Romania, on November 23, 1920. The son of German-speaking Jews,
Celan grew up speaking several languages, including Romanian, Russian, and
French. He also understood Yiddish. He studied medicine in Paris in 1938, but
returned to Romania shortly before the outbreak of World War II. His parents
were deported and eventually died in Nazi labor camps; Celan himself was
interned for eighteen months before escaping to the Red Army.
In 1945, he moved to Bucharest and became friends with many of the leading
Romanian writers of the time. He worked as a reader in a publishing house and
as a translator. He also began to publish his own poems and translations under
a series of pseudonyms. In 1947 he settled on the pseudonym Celan—an anagram of
Ancel, the Romanian form of his surname. He lived briefly in Vienna before
settling in Paris in 1948 to study German philology and literature. He took his
Licence des Lettres in 1950, and in 1952 he married the graphic artist Gisele
de Lestrange. They had a son, Eric, in 1955.
Celan's first book was published in 1947; it received very little critical
attention. His second book, Mohn und Gedaechtnis (Poppy and
Memory), however, garnered tremendous acclaim and helped to establish his
reputation. Among his most well-known and often-anthologized poems from this
time is "Fugue of Death." The poem opens with the words "Black milk of daybreak
we drink it at evening / we drink it at midday and morning we drink it at
night" and it goes on to offer a stark evocation of life in the Nazi death
camps.
In 1959, Celan took a job as a reader in German Language and Literature at
L'École Normal Superieure of the University of Paris, a position he would hold
until his death in 1970. His poems from this period grew shorter, more
fragmented and broken in their syntax and perceptions. In 1960 he received a
Georg Buchner Prize. During the 1960s he published more than six books of
poetry and gained international fame. In addition to his own poems, he remained
active as a translator, bringing out works from writers such as Henri Michaux,
Osip
Mandelstam, Rene Char, Paul
Valéry, and Fernando
Pessoa. In 1970, Celan committed suicide. He is regarded as one
of the most important poets to emerge from post-World War II Europe.
Czernovitz, in Romania, on November 23, 1920. The son of German-speaking Jews,
Celan grew up speaking several languages, including Romanian, Russian, and
French. He also understood Yiddish. He studied medicine in Paris in 1938, but
returned to Romania shortly before the outbreak of World War II. His parents
were deported and eventually died in Nazi labor camps; Celan himself was
interned for eighteen months before escaping to the Red Army.
In 1945, he moved to Bucharest and became friends with many of the leading
Romanian writers of the time. He worked as a reader in a publishing house and
as a translator. He also began to publish his own poems and translations under
a series of pseudonyms. In 1947 he settled on the pseudonym Celan—an anagram of
Ancel, the Romanian form of his surname. He lived briefly in Vienna before
settling in Paris in 1948 to study German philology and literature. He took his
Licence des Lettres in 1950, and in 1952 he married the graphic artist Gisele
de Lestrange. They had a son, Eric, in 1955.
Celan's first book was published in 1947; it received very little critical
attention. His second book, Mohn und Gedaechtnis (Poppy and
Memory), however, garnered tremendous acclaim and helped to establish his
reputation. Among his most well-known and often-anthologized poems from this
time is "Fugue of Death." The poem opens with the words "Black milk of daybreak
we drink it at evening / we drink it at midday and morning we drink it at
night" and it goes on to offer a stark evocation of life in the Nazi death
camps.
In 1959, Celan took a job as a reader in German Language and Literature at
L'École Normal Superieure of the University of Paris, a position he would hold
until his death in 1970. His poems from this period grew shorter, more
fragmented and broken in their syntax and perceptions. In 1960 he received a
Georg Buchner Prize. During the 1960s he published more than six books of
poetry and gained international fame. In addition to his own poems, he remained
active as a translator, bringing out works from writers such as Henri Michaux,
Osip
Mandelstam, Rene Char, Paul
Valéry, and Fernando
Pessoa. In 1970, Celan committed suicide. He is regarded as one
of the most important poets to emerge from post-World War II Europe.