Rejected by those on the right, who fascinated him, and admired by those on the left, who misunderstood him: Few postwar authors reveal the fault lines of that era more clearly than Celan.
The exceptional poet wandered off the beaten track and along log trails. To this day, misunderstandings, misconceptions and heroic romanticization characterize our image of him. The poet was stylized into a Man of Sorrows and the role of the “Jewish victim,” becoming, in a complicated way, an “ideal vehicle for the general repression,” according to Helmut Böttiger; his Death Fugue became a poem read in schools, while the rest of his work receded into the background.
Helmut Böttiger paints Celan’s life and work against the background of the literary activities of his era, revealing a completely new picture of Celan.
