ABSTRACT
The late 1950s were a crucial period in the development of Paul Celan's poetics. As Celan's poetry became more widely known, so his status within the German-language literary sphere was enhanced. This chapter explores translation by Celan of a French surrealist poem, 'Nous avons fait la nuit' by Paul Eluard. By focusing in particular on Celan's transformation of the surrealist elements of the poem the chapter shows that he has created a metapoetic text that reflects the key concerns articulated in his poetological writings of the time. The chapter therefore begins with an introduction to Celan's poetological texts during this period, to provide a theoretical context for the analysis of the translation. The intensified celebration of the love relationship in Celan's versions of 'Nous avons fait la nuit' may be interpreted in part as a result of the biographical detail that Celan, then married to Gisele Celan-Lestrange, had recently recommenced his relationship with the Austrian writer Ingeborg Bachmann.
