Paul Celan and Martin Heidegger: An Unresolved Conversation, 1951–1970

by James K. Lyon

This work explores the troubled relationship and unfinished intellectual dialogue between Paul Celan, regarded by many as the most important European poet after 1945, and Martin Heidegger, perhaps the most influential figure in twentieth-century philosophy. It centers on the persistent ambivalence Celan, a Holocaust survivor, felt toward a thinker who respected him and at times promoted his poetry. Celan, although strongly affected by Heidegger's writings, struggled to reconcile his admiration of Heidegger's ideas on literature with his revulsion at the thinker's Nazi past. That Celan and Heidegger communicated with each other over a number of years, and in a controversial encounter, met in 1967, is well known. The full duration, extent, and nature of their exchanges and their impact on Celan's poetics has been less understood, however. In the first systematic analysis of their relationship between 1951 and 1970, James K. Lyon describes how the poet and the philosopher read and responded to each other's work throughout the period. He offers new information about their interactions before, during, and after their famous 1967 meeting at Todtnauberg. He suggests that Celan, who changed his account of that meeting, may have contributed to misreadings of his poem "Todtnauberg." Finally, Lyon discusses their two last meetings after 1967 before the poet's death three years later. Drawing heavily on documentary material―including Celan's reading notes on more than two dozen works by Heidegger, the philosopher's written response to the poet's "Meridian" speech, and references to Heidegger in Celan's letters―Lyon presents a focused perspective on this critical aspect of the poet's intellectual development and provides important insights into his relationship with Heidegger, transforming previous conceptions of it.

Genres: Philosophy, Poetry

264 pages, Hardcover

First published January 18, 2006

Reviews

[Christopher]

One of Paul Celan's most widely-known works is "Todtnauberg", which enigmatically documents the poet and Holocaust survivor's meeting with the philosopher and unrepentant Nazi supporter Martin Heidegger. But Celan's engagement with Heidegger was much vaster than his 1967 visit to the philosopher's estate. Celan had been reading Heidegger since the early 1950s, they met more than once, and their correspondence lasted until Celan's suicide in 1970. James K. Lyon documents this uneasy relationship in his monograph PAUL CELAN AND MARTIN HEIDEGGER: An Unresolved Conversation.

Charting Celan's reading of Heidegger is a task made easy by the poet's habit of scribbling in the margins of books he owned, including such details as the date he finished reading them. The basic chronology for Celan's study is thus established. Lyon's interpretation of many of Celan's markings is highly speculative. Nonetheless, it is clear that Celan's poetic language and thematics were enormously influenced by what he read in Heidegger. A poem in Celan's difficult late collection FADENSONNEN, one that had long baffled me, is readily made clear by one passage in Heidegger.

By the end of the 1950s, a correspondence had been established between Celan and Heidegger. Only a couple of letters survive, but contact between the two is attested by mutual acquaintances like Otto Pöggeler. Lyon exhaustively documents Heiddeger's influence on Celan's poetics. It is not only the poetry that shows the profound traces of Heidegger's thought, but also Celan's 1961 speech "The Meridian" benefits from a knowledge of the philosopher's work. That said, Lyon notes that many of Celan's ideas predate his discovery of Heidegger, but the poet did find the philosopher's unique language helpful for expressing those ideas.

Lyon also does much to overturn the established reading of "Todtnauberg", which has the poem expressing Celan's disappointment at their encounter. In fact, over the following week, Celan was in unusually high spirits and the meeting seems to have reinvigorated him. It wasn't until his return to Paris, after he had written the poem, that his memories of the meeting turned to regret.

This is an informative book, even if discussion can be abtruse for those without a philosophical background. Lyon nonetheless attempts to make it accessible by translating all quotations (with the German original following). I found it hardgoing at times, but I did gain a better understanding of Celan's hermetic late poetry (the volumes "Atemwende", "Faddensonnen" and "Lichtzwang"), and therefore I can recommend it to passionate fans of the poet.

[Aidan Raudenbush]

A relationship between these great minds is inherently interesting, and Lyon does a great job of pulling up every bit of information that there is on it. This means, however, that much of the book is speculation on the reading and annotation habits of two guys. This is understandable as Lyon is working with what's available, but wow the speculation is so annoying. He constantly says that Celan's actions "defy logic" when it's something like he took a break from reading Heidegger for a year then went back to reading him. This book does NOT need to be 200 pages, it only is because it attempts to attach meaning to every little thing but never develops overarching arguments that make it worth the time. Credit to the author for putting the information in one place but boy this was such a slog to read.

[Mandel]

A detailed history of Celan's reading of and engagement with Heidegger, and vice versa, including accounts of their small handful of personal meetings based on what little archival evidence is available. Lyon takes a light interpretive touch, but by poring over Celan's notes in and about the many of Heidegger's texts he read over the years, correspondence, and testimony by people who know one or both of them, Lyon is able to reconstruct a gripping story - of Heidegger's admiration for the great poet, yes, but especially of Celan's ambivalence about Heidegger, whose thought he was entranced by, but whose Nazi past repulsed and angered him.

[Cerys]

Informative and well-structured.

[Hannah]

I thought this book was great--lots of critics will talk about Celan's negative feelings towards Heidegger, especially in relation to "Todtnauberg," but I have not read anything else which so obviously shows Celan's deep and complicated debt toward Heidegger.

Lyon talks through Celan's entire relationship with Martin Heidegger, beginning with his early readings of Heidegger's work and how these strongly affected the development of Celan's own poetics...both through agreement/appreciation and through resistance to Heidegger's politics. As Celan becomes more visible to Heidegger, and eventually meets with him several times in the years before his suicide, Lyon further explores the complexity of the Celan/Heidegger dialogue, with Celan's desire for Heidegger to "confess" and "refute" his past coming to the forefront of their communication. He also acknowledges the way in which Celan's mental and emotional breakdown, over these years, further complicated the communication between the two men.

Probably in lieu of surviving evidence of dialogue between the two (if there even was much) Lyon spends a lot of time talking about the annotations that each author made in the books of the other. It's somewhat interesting, I guess, but since we really don't know the significance of the symbols or annotations, mostly, page after page of talking about which phrases Celan "swirled" next to and which he underlined...meh.

[Paul Toth]

Though necessarily filled with conjecture due to lack of historical documentary, a fascinating study of two minds half at one with the other and half directly opposed to the other, with the latter of course mainly involving Celan. Touching, agitating, yet ultimately a revelation of how anyone's "real" character becomes obscure in proportion to the degree of their logical and/or imaginative complexity/depth. Read for the illuminations. Expect shadows.

[Sinclair von Sinclair]

The scope and detail of the research varies from excellent (discussions of Paul Celan's margin notations, writing of The Meridian) to bracingly shallow (the endless reliance upon George Steiner to testify as to the significance of Celan's poetry).