Speaking Shadows

Paul Celan is considered one of the most important§poets of the German - or any - language to emerge§from the Second World War. Born on the outskirts of§the Austro-Hungarian Empire in 1920 to Jewish§parents, Celan survived the worst catastrophe to§European Jewry as his parents and countless others§did not. Among the many issues he struggles with in§his poetry is the figure of the divine in light of§the Shoah. How are we to understand and relate to the§holy covenant between the divine and the human after§Auschwitz? And how are we equally to understand the§covenant that should exist between fellow human beings? §This book is not intended as a theological study of§faith after Auschwitz, but as an analysis following§Celan's questioning of these fundamental issues in§the lyric form. In his works, Celan exposes the§radical fragility of religious values in the wake of§unspeakable annihilation. Yet suspended in the§non-place or u-topia of the lyric poem is an equally§fragile hope. Paul Celan is considered one of the most important§poets of the German - or any - language to emerge§from the Second World War. Born on the outskirts of§the Austro-Hungarian Empire in 1920 to Jewish§parents, Celan survived the worst catastrophe to§European Jewry as his parents and countless others§did not. Among the many issues he struggles with in§his poetry is the figure of the divine in light of§the Shoah. How are we to understand and relate to the§holy covenant between the divine and the human after§Auschwitz? And how are we equally to understand the§covenant that should exist between fellow human beings? §This book is not intended as a theological study of§faith after Auschwitz, but as an analysis following§Celan''s questioning of these fundamental issues in§the lyric form. In his works, Celan exposes the§radical fragility of religious values in the wake of§unspeakable annihilation. Yet suspended in the§non-place or u-topia of the lyric poem is an equally§fragile hope.