Poems of Paul Celan
Translated by Michael Hamburger
 

The essential poet of the Holocaust, Paul Celan was one of the greatest poets to ever write in German and among the indispensable writers of the twentieth century in any language. His poems “embody a conviction that the truth of what has been broken and torn must be told with a jagged grace.” (Robert Pinsky, The New Republic).

For more than thirty years, the peerless translations of Michael Hamburger have been English speakers' truest access to Celan.  Poems of Paul Celan concludes with the compelling essay, “On Translating Celan”, in which Hamburger details his relationship with Celan’s work and with Celan himself. Through the essay, and of course through the poems, this book offers readers an immersion into the troubled genius of this crucial poet. 

“[Poems of Paul Celan] is a memorable volume and will influence our moral outlook and the practice of poetry for a long time to come.”
—J.M Cameron, New York Review of Books

A Romanian Jew, Paul Celan (1920-1970) survived the death of both of his parents at the hands of the Nazis and eighteen months in a labor camp before escaping to Paris, where he spent most of his adult life. Celan was never able to overcome his sense of loss and alienation following the Second World War, and he died, a suicide, in 1970.

For his Celan translations, Michael Hamburger (1924-2007) was awarded the Schlegel-Tieck Prize, and the prestigious Goethe medal.

Paperback / $21.95 (Can $27.00) / ISBN 978-0-89255-276-4 / 366 pages / Poetry

Also available as a hardcover