750 S. Spaulding Ave., Suite 112
Los Angeles, CA 90036

Essays, Manifestos, Statements, Speeches, Maxims, Epistles, Diaristic Jottings, Narratives, Natural histories, Poems, Plays, Performances, Ramblings, Revelations, and all such ephemera as may appear necessary to bring society into a slight tremolo of confusion and fright at least.

Lightduress

Paul Celan

Translated from the German with an Introduction by Pierre Joris

A Bilingual Edition

Digital Edition
A PDF file will be sent within 24 hours of payment

The last volume of poems connected with what Paul Celan described as "die Wende" ("the turn"), Lightduress was written between June and December in 1967, and appeared approximately three months after the poet's suicide in 1970. 1967, the year in which he composed most of this book, had been a difficult year for Celan, beginning with Claire Goll, the widow of poet Yvan Goll, wrongly accusing him plagiarizing her husband's poetry. Five days later, Celan attempted suicide with a knife aimed at his heart. From mid-February until mid-October he was interned at the Saint-Anne psychiatric hospital, and only in late April was allowed to travel. In the same month he and Gisèle Celan-Lestrange, after difficult discussions, concluded that a separation was necessary, and Celan started to look for an apartment in Paris. During this same period, on the other hand, Celan wrote more than half of the poems of Threadsuns and a major part of this volume, and in July he traveled to Germany, lecturing at the University of Freiburgim-Brisgau to a large audience that included the poet Martin Heidegger. By October, Breathturn began to receive its first positive reviews and Celan moved into a small apartment in the 5th arrondissement.

This long-awaited translation, by the noted poet and translator Pierre Joris, represents, along with Breathturn and Threadsuns the mature expression of one of the most important poets of the 20th century.

Green Integer is publishing several new, older, and out-of-stock Sun & Moon, Green Integer, and other archived titles online. Some of these will appear for free, others will be priced affordably low.

Donations for this service are welcome.