PAUL CELANS UNFINISHED POETICS

Paul Celan (1920-1970) is perhaps the most widely read of modern German-language poets, and yet his reputation has been constructed on a small body of primary texts. Thomas C. Connolly seeks to destabilize canonical readings of Celan&rsquo,s work by exploring the sous-oeuvre, the marginalized or unauthorized parts of a work that are traditionally eclipsed. These include fragments from Eingedunkelt, a cycle composed during Celan&rsquo,s incarceration in a psychiatric ward, as well as aphorisms, drafts, press cuttings, reading annotations, a translation of Mallarmé,, and poems from the late collections Fadensonnen and Schneepart. Engaging with theories of genetic criticism, theory of law, the history of painting, and Celan&rsquo,s poetic dialogue with Osip Mandel&rsquo,shtam, Peter Weiss, and Rembrandt, this study seeks to move discussions of Celan&rsquo,s poetry onto less familiar ground, and to propose new ways of reading and enjoying literature.Thomas C. Connolly is Assistant Professor in French at Yale University, New Haven._,