ABSTRACT

This conclusion presents some closing thoughts on concepts discussed in preceding chapters of this book. The book investigates Celan's reception of surrealism through an examination of his encounters with surrealist works between the late 1940s and the early 1960s. It shows that the image of communicating vessels was also fundamental to Celan's conception of the 'meridian' around 1960. The book demonstrates that by 1957 this notion of a sustained tension between disparate elements, which is exemplified in Celan's version of Cesaire's poem, has become a central component of Celan's poetics. In his discussion of his translation of Esenin's poem, Celan suggests that his version has its own set of literary and historical coordinates, as well as those related to his life experience, and conceptualizes this interrelationship as akin to communicating vessels: 'communiquant a travers la vie'.