Poet Paul Celan And The Black Fugue

Paul Celan wasn’t born Paul Celan. The name sounds catchier, easier to pen. He was born Paul Antschel to a Jewish family in the early twentieth century. Originally intending to practice medicine, Paul went to medical school in France and then eventually went back to Romania to study what he really loved, literature and the romance languages. As Paul grew, his landscape started to change, not just the landscape that forms as a boy becomes a man, but all around him, the world was changing and not for the better.

In 1941, Paul, along with the rest of the Jews in Cernăuţi, Romania, were forced into ghettos and harsh living environments. Still Paul translated Shakespearian sonnets and wrote poetry amidst the social maelstrom that was unfolding all around him. Conditions worsened and he was forced into a labor camp, until 1944 when the Red Army forced Romanians to abandon their camps. This was already after he was estranged from his parents who were taken to an internment camp and died shortly thereafter. He fled to Bucharest and eventually to Vienna. He continued to write, travel, and meet people who were able to inspire and appreciate his work.

The speakers in the poem are Jewish prisoners, much like Paul and his parents. The ‘black milk’ is representative of the poisonous and malnourished conditions of the camps. The fugue is like a dance; the poem is a dance with death. The repetition doesn’t just keep the poem in flow, but it creates an almost melodic code of macabre. Fugue also refers to a period of time in psychiatric terms, where someone temporarily loses their identity. The complex weaving of haunting imagery, rhythmic language, and careful representation of agony make this piece unforgettable. Scholars could dissect it to pieces if desired, but the message is quite clear without too much introspection. To capture horror is an easy game, but to retell it in a way that is contagious in its rhythm and hollowing in its verse is poetic acumen.