ABSTRACT
In Paul Celan's version of 'Nous avons fait la nuit' the phrase 'in eins' is central to the convergence of disparate elements and the resulting permanent difference that the poem thematizes. The phrase 'in eins' appears in three other works by Celan, and the analyses of the other poems demonstrate both the pivotal significance of 'Nous avons fait la nuit' within Celan's oeuvre and how an interpretation of that poem elucidates Celan's poetry and poetics. In Der Meridian, Celan indicates that this theory of shared poetic space is related to his exile status, in that the network of writers is substituted for the home that he has lost. Celan's use of the metaphor of communicating vessels in his poetological notes and correspondence helps to conceptualize this tension, in that it portrays the poem as the site of ongoing communication between its manifest reality and what may be considered the poem's latent reality.
