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Falling Upwards: Paul Celan’s Poetics of the Abyss
- Partial Answers: Journal of Literature and the History of Ideas
- Johns Hopkins University Press
- Volume 10, Number 2, June 2012
- pp. 223-240
- 10.1353/pan.2012.0017
- Article
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The abyss, the German Abgrund, is a recurring concept and motif which Paul Celan addresses in both his poetics and poetry. The abyss-like quality of Celan’s poetry did not emerge unheralded, but the Abgrund topos has been little researched. This paper argues that in Celan Abgrund functions as both a thematic image and textual practice. The Abgrund topos is motivated by rich allusions to Celan’s literary sources. Celan’s abysses have a paradoxical twofold function. On the one hand the abyss is an ultimate end-point in which significance and value are doomed to collapse; on the other hand, building on that non-foundation is the source of Celan’s poetic craft.