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Review
Reviewed Work(s): Holocaust Visions: Surrealism and Existentialism in the Poetry of Paul
Celan by Clarise Samuels
Review by: Jerry Glenn
Source: Colloquia Germanica, Vol. 28, No. 1 (1995), pp. 92-93
Published by: Narr Francke Attempto Verlag GmbH Co. KG
Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/23982468
Accessed: 16-01-2020 00:34 UTC

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 92 Besprechungen / Reviews
past. Instead, the past is important as a moment in which the present recog
as the Utopian promise of a future. McCole's analysis of this hermeneutica
avoids the often mystifying language that haunts descriptions of Benjamin'
images. Instead, McCole describes a strategy that wrests historical thou
bondage to the past by using messianic language to combat the valorization
archetypal images and conservatism.
Finally, then, McCole's study fulfills itself a kind of messianic moment, r
Benjamin's work from the kind of criticism which often mystifies and obscur
nificance. By placing Benjamin firmly within the intellectual field in which
of tradition and modernism, art and political life are contested, McCole res
cidity to Benjamin's writing where others often lapse into theoretical and
esoterica. Perhaps the highest praise that can be given to McCole's study is
vites us to read Benjamin's works with renewed appreciation of the illumin
offer.

Wittenberg University Timothy A. Bennett

Clarise SAMUELS: Holocaust Visions: Surrealism and Existentialism in the Poetry of

Paul Celan. Columbia, SC: Camden House. 1993.134 pp.

The author clearly states her goals in the preface (and clarity is consistently one of the
strong points of the book): «This study of Celan's poetry attempts to make his poetry
more accessible to both students and scholars of literature. It provides a philosophical
approach to the interpretation of Celan's poetry, as well as a method for the analysis of
the motifs» (ix). It is, then designed as an introduction, not (or not primarily) written
for specialists, and it must be accepted on that basis. The first chapter, «From the Con
crete to the Abstract: A Critical Overview,» surveys the pertinent mainstreams of
Celan criticism, after clearly elaborating on the preface's statement of purpose: «it is
still possible to regard the entire body of Celan's work as a comprehensive and unified
philosophical system ... Celan's poetry can be interpreted as a multilayered system
with each layer revealing an even deeper universal meaning» (1). The top layer «is de
tailed and specific, consisting of named objects, persons, and places» (1). The middle
layer «is the ideology that supports these empirical motifs»; it «attempts to establish a
sociopolitical value system that relates to his quest for an ideal society,» and «surrealist
juxtapositions» are the characteristic stylistic feature. The bottom layer, based on «Ce
lan's existentialism,» «delineates the epistemology ... that supports his politics and his
social program» (2); the Holocaust is a constant presence. This will seem simplistic to
those few specialists familiar with the vast body of impenetrable scholarship on Ce
lan's equally impenetrable poetry, but it is not a bad starting point for the non-special
ist seeking access to works of this great poet.
Chapters two and three provide background information on surrealism and exist
entialism and place them in the necessary context. Chapter four turns to Celan:
«Searching for Authenticity: Celan's Poetics.» Is it possible to survey this topic in six
pages that strive for clarity? No. Is it possible to do so in sixty pages that strive for

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 Besprechungen / Reviews 93
profundity? My answer to this question is an even more resounding No. Sam
the highlights, not limiting herself to Der Meridian. Here, as throughout
German quotes are translated, and the way this is handled is refreshingly li
cursive prose is simply translated; when appropriate, the German is include
theses after (or, in the case of poems, immediately below) the English; but o
the idea is stated in smooth English paraphrase, followed by the original: «I
to Jean Firges, he writes that it is the ring of truth that concerns him, and no
of pleasant sounds: <Es geht mir... >» (32).
Subsequent chapters examine individual aspects of Celan's poetry: «The L
of the Imagination: Representations of Space,» «Eternity and Rememberi
sentations of Time, Persons, and Action,» «Poetic Syntax and the Surrea
«The Holocaust Universe,» and, a form of conclusion, «Where is Utopia? C
tistic Resolution.» The index lists nearly forty poems, in addition to twelve
prose (including several letters), none of which is «interpreted,» or analyzed
In many cases, the discussion provides the reader not only with an introductio
meaning, or possible frames of reference of a difficult poem, but also with
the feeling; and the other side of the coin: it is of course impossible to do j
Celan poem in the space allotted. One example which is typical of many: in l
full page of analysis, Samuels nicely addresses the basic images and feeling
jahrhunderte,» a poem that is very rarely discussed by critics, mentioning som
ambiguities and pointing to stylistic devices. On the other hand, important
the poem, relating to the numerous possible meanings of «Schalt-» and relat
cal and technological vocabulary, are not even mentioned. I do not have a n
pretation of this aspect of the poem, and it would probably be unreasonable
one in the context of «Landschaften» (the chapter in which the poem is discus
at least a brief reference to the issues would have been desirable.
Some of the judgments and summaries are convincing and effective. A sho
teresting discussion of «Huriges Sonst» leads into a fitting conclusion to th
on «Poetic Syntax and the Surreal Image»: «This universe is existentiahst in
surreal in portrayal, and thematically bases its expression on the central mo
lan's poetry, the Holocaust» (94). I find other broad summarizing statements
vincing, including the following sentence from the final chapter «Hints of
tivity in various poems belie Celan's pacifism and his confidence in the fina
triumph over the forces of evil» (123). I doubt that pacifism is the right wo
doubt that such confidence was often present; the rather pessimistic sentim
letter to Hans Bender would seem to be a better summation of Celan's
schauung, if such a summation is possible.
The translations are on the whole quite adequate, although there are a few
quacies, some of them perhaps typos (e.g., «into the dunes» for «in den Dün
«yew tree» for «Eiben» [48]). The list of works consulted (and effectively us
the brevity of the book) can serve as an excellent brief bibliography for rea
ested in sources for further study.

University of Cincinnati Jerry Glenn

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