Word Traces: Readings of Paul Celan

by Aris Fioretos (Editor)

Overview

Feauturing the first complete English translation of "Shibboleth for Paul Celan" by Jacques Derrida.

The cruical role of Paul Celan in postwar literature is widely recognized among European scholars, but has been addressed only scarcley in the Anglo-American academy. In World Traces Aris Fioretos attempts to redress that imbalance, bringing together thirteen expert readers in the most extensive English-language critical collection on Celan yet published.

The volume begins with the first complete English translation of Jacques Derrida's book -length essay, "Shibboleth for Paul Celan." Chapters by Otto Pöggeler, Dennis J. Schmidt, and Philippe Lacoue-Labarthe then explore the relationship of poetry and philosophy in Celan's work. Christopher Fynsk, Joel Golb, and Werner Hamacher discuss the interrelation of poetry and poetics, and Anders Olsson, Hans-Jost Frey, Thomas Pepper, and Leonard Olschner treat the implications of Celan's practice of translation.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780801847677
Publisher:	Johns Hopkins University Press
Publication date:	04/01/1994
Pages:	432
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.25(h) x (d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Aris Fioretos is a Mellon Scholar in the Department of German at the Johns Hopkins University.

What People are Saying About This

Steven Ungar

Despite a growing interest in Celan over the past twenty years, there is no collection in English which comes as close to the extended critical presentation assembled here. Word Traces will be a standard text on Celan—the variety of the essays is wide and will appeal to specialists in philosophy, German studies, modern poetry, comparative literature, and literary theory. This is an impressive collection of texts written by philosophers and critics whose concerns show the pertinence and breadth of Celan's writings for contemporary thought.

From the Publisher

Despite a growing interest in Celan over the past twenty years, there is no collection in English which comes as close to the extended critical presentation assembled here. Word Traces will be a standard text on Celan—the variety of the essays is wide and will appeal to specialists in philosophy, German studies, modern poetry, comparative literature, and literary theory. This is an impressive collection of texts written by philosophers and critics whose concerns show the pertinence and breadth of Celan's writings for contemporary thought.
—Steven Ungar, University of Iowa

Editorial Reviews

Following Celan's opposition to any attempt at comparison and insistence on the incomparable, the essays in this collection "emphasize various facets of that which eludes comparison in Celan." Containing translations of previously published essays as well as original contributions, the volume's "ambition" is to "provide an occasion to examine and pursue the literary, philosophical, and historical implications of an instance of poetic activity which has so far received scant attention in the Anglo-American academy." Includes Jacques Derrida's "Shibboleth for Paul Celan." Paper edition (unseen), $24.95. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

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