Paul

Celan

THE MERIDIAN

Ladies and gentlemen! has the qualities of the marionette this characteristic Furthermore?and in the story of Pygmalion and his creature?it is incapable of producing offspring. In this form art constitutes the subject of a conversation which a conversation takes place in a room, and not in the Conciergerie, as we see, could be indefinitely if nothing were which, prolonged
to intervene.

remember, -/jLRT, you will and the iambic pentameter. in mythology, is attested

But Art
in

something reappears.
where

does

intervene. in another work

as one of many

It is found
it appears

by Georg
nameless

B?chner,
charac

"Wozzek,"

livid light of a thunder Imight ters, and "in the more storm,"?if a phrase to convey be permitted coined in Moritz Heiman by to "Danton's reference Death." Art makes another appearance, the times are totally different, introduced although unchanged, by a barker. Here it has no connection with a "glowing," "surging," as it did in the conversation and "shining" creation mentioned a member above. This time art appears with of the animal king " dom and the "nothin' that this creature "has on." This time art in the form of a monkey. one and the It is, however, appears are immediately same?we able to recognize it by the "coat and 29

art is also introduced to us in a third work And by and light are here no longer "L?once and Lena." Time B?chner, "in flight to Paradise"; We find ourselves "all clocks recognized. are soon to be "destroyed" or "proscribed." and calendars" But one of each sex" are presented, first "two persons, "two world that he famous robots have arrived," and a person who announces trousers." is "perhaps the third and most remarkable of the two" challenges us in a raspy tone to gaze with at what astonishment is before our art and mechanism, but but cardboard eyes: "Nothing nothing and watch springs." a larger retinue Art appears here with than before, but we see that it is in the company own kind; it is the of its immediately same art, the same art we have seen before. Valerio is but another name for the hawker. Art, remains problem
say,

to it and with all that pertains ladies and gentlemen, as one sees, a to be applied to it, is indeed a problem, is to and transformable?that which is hardy, long-lived,

eternal.

A problem which and a person who allows a mortal, Camille, can be understood in the context of his death, Danton, to only at great length. It it easy enough to talk words string together
about art.

someone But when art is being talked about there is always listen very carefully. present who doesn't someone who hears and listens and looks . . . More precisely: was all about. But the conversation and then doesn't know what who hears the speaker, who "sees him speak," who has perceived doubt could there language and form, and at the same time?what the same time has perceived be in the world of this drama??at and fate. that is, direction breath, since she, who is?as This person you have guessed, her appearance before and rightly so, makes often quoted, is Lucile. person every year?this That which intervened during on. It arrives with us at the presses carts are driven up and stop." the ride are Those who made others. Even here they are not at a is so you

the conversation relentlessly "the Place de la R?volution,

the Camille, there, Danton, rich in words loss for words, are effectively is often and here B?chner disposed, artistry, which is talk of going-to-our There able to rely on direct quotations. to be able to die "twice over." Fabre even wants deaths-together, a couple "a few"? of voices, is in top form. Only Everyone that they've seen it all before and find nameless?"voices" observe it rather boring. 30

mo in the long drawn-out And here, as the end approaches, one who not he, not he himself, but merely ments, Camille?no, is dying a theatrical?one is almost temp rode along?this Camille two scenes later, on the basis which ted to say iambic?death, only so foreign, yet so appropriate, as to him, we recognize of a dictum his own death. As pathos and bathos surround and Camille and "wire," Lucile appears, the confirm the triumph of "puppet" one who to art, this same Lucile, is is blind for whom language once She appears perceptible. something personal, something again, with her sudden "Long live the king!" After all the words (the scaffold)? spoken on the platform what a statement! a statement It is a counterstatement, that severs the "wire," to bow before refuses and the "loiterers It is an act of freedom. It is a step. history." that parade horses of

to the To be sure, it sounds like an expression of allegiance not be a coincidence, that might in view of ancien r?gime?and to say about the subject now, today. But these what I am venturing allow one who also grew up with the writings of words?please and Gustav Landauer to emphasize Peter Kropotkin the expressly are not a celebration words of the monarchy and a point?these should be preserved. past which are a tribute to the majesty of the absurd, which bears They to mankind's witness here and now. ladies and gentlemen, has no universally That, . . . literature. name, but it is, I believe
"Alas, art." As you see, I remain entangled in these

recognized
words of

Camille. I am well aware that it is possible to read these words in one can insert different various ways, accents: the acute of the the gravis of the historical the literary histori present, (including mark the eternal. cal), the circumflex?a indicating length?of I insert?I have no choice?I insert the acute. art": it possesses, aside from its ability to trans Art?"alas, it is also found in "Lenz", and here?I form, the gift of ubiquity; must this point?as in "Danton's it is an Death," emphasize
episode in nature.

"At table Lenz recaptured his good mood; literature was the in his element and he was ..." topic of conversation "... The feeling that there is life in the thing that has been created is more that these two factors. Indeed, it is the important
sole criterion in matters of art . . . ."

My

guilty

conscience

with

regard

to the gravis

forces me

to 31

I have make Above all, you aware of the passages just quoted. must for literary history. be these lines have significance They read in conjunction with the conversation from "Danton's Death" I have already cited. In them one finds a concise which formula one leaves them tion of Buchner's of aesthetics. When conception it is but a short distance and Buchner's "Lenz" fragment behind, and to Reinhold Lenz, the author of the "Notes on the Theatre," Lenz, still further back to Mercier's by way of him, the historical in the history of is of great significance l'Art," which "Elargissez it anticipates It is naturalism, vistas. literature. This maxim opens the social and politi And in it are contained Gerhart Hauptmann. cal roots of Buchner's thought. I have appeased my conscience, if only and gentlemen, this point. But at the same time it dis temporarily, by making anew?it also shows you that something quiets my conscience concern me, something that seems to be related to art. to continues am taking the liberty of am also seeking it here, in "Lenz"?I I Ladies calling this to your attention. art"?disdainful words for has?"alas, Lenz, that is, B?chner, He contrasts and its "wooden "Idealism" them?and puppets." lines about the "life of the by the unforgetable they are followed the "subtle, most humble," the "suggestions," the "movements," contrasts of their facial expressions"?he play scarcely perceptible is natural, with all living creatures. And he that which them with of art by relating a recent experience: this conception illustrates I as Iwas walking along the edge of the valley, "Yesterday, saw two girls sitting on a rock; one was putting up her hair and the and and the golden hair was hanging other was helping; down, and the black dress, and yet so young, the face, pale and serious, in helping her. The most beautiful, and the other one so absorbed School can convey of the Old German intimate pictures the most of such a scene. At times one might but the vaguest impression such a head so as to be able to transform to be a Medusa's wish into stone, and call out to the people." group like to take note: "One would Ladies and gentlemen, please is that which in order to . . . comprehend be the Medusa's head," of art! is natural, by means natural as that which like to. like to, not: I would One would Here we have stepped beyond human nature, gone outwards, that towards a mysterious and entered realm, yet one turned the robots, the monkey, the same realm in which is human, which
and, accordingly . . . alas, art, too, seem to be at home.

We 32

Lenz speaking, This is not the historical voice: even here art preserves hear Buchner's

it is Buchner's something

Lenz. mys

terious

for him.

I have inserted the acute. But we must Ladies and gentlemen, not deceive I have approached if ourselves. B?chner, consciously, not voluntarily, with my question about art and literature?one order to identify his question. among many?in question an appearance art makes But as you see, whenever Valario's tone cannot be ignored. raspy voice B?chner's leads me to the suspicion that these are the most ancient mysteries. The reason for my persistent lingering over this subject today is probably to be found in the air?in the air which we have to breathe. And Imust now ask if the works of Georg B?chner, the poet of all living beings, do not contain a perhaps muted, perhaps only half conscious, but on that account no less radical?or for precisely that reason in the most basic sense a radical calling-into-question of art, a calling-into-question A calling-into from this direction? to which all contemporary return if it is literature must question, to continue To rephrase and anticipate myself questions? posing some somewhat: from art as something may we proceed given, as is now often done; should we, in thing to be taken for granted, concrete terms, above all?let's to his logical Mallarm? say?follow conclusion? I have now I will gotten ahead of myself return to B?chner's I know), and (not far enough, to that? "Lenz," specifically Lenz re table," during which one minute,
is over, a

held "at episodic?conversation his "good mood." captured Lenz spoke for a long time, "smiling
next." And now, when the conversation

serious
statement

the
is

made about him, about the person who is concerned with prob lems of art, but also about the artist Lenz: "He had completely forgotten himself." As I read that, I find myself thinking of Lucile; I read: He, he himself. Whoever am has art before his eyes and on his mind?I now referring to the story about Lenz?has forgotten himself. Art a distance from the I. Art demands here a certain dis produces
tance, a certain path, in a certain direction.

And literature? Literature, after all, must which, of art? In that case we would in fact be shown here path the Medusa's head and the robot! At

travel the the path to

I am not searching this point for a way out, I am just the same I believe, in the line line, and also, asking, along in the Lenz fragment. suggested in the company literature, Perhaps?I'm just asking?perhaps 33

of the toward where? In

I which has forgotten itself, travels the same path as art, and alien. And once again?but is mysterious that which sets itself free. but in what place? but how? but as what??it that case art would be the path travelled by literature? less. nothing more and nothing I know, there are other, shorter paths. But after all literature, too, often shoots ahead of us. La po?sie, elle aussi, br?le nos ?tapes.

Iwill take leave of the one who has forgotten himself, the one I think that I have encountered concerned with the artist. art, poetry in Lucile, and Lucile perceives language as form and direc in this work of B?chner, I am searching tion and breath. Here, too, I am I am searching for Lenz himself, for the very same thing. I am searching for his form: for the for him, as a person, searching sake of the location of literature, the setting free, the step. a frag remained ladies and gentlemen, Buchner's "Lenz," it be proper for us to search out the historical ment. Would Lenz, in order to learn which took? his existence direction his life went burden.?So "His existence was an inescapable the story breaks off. on." Here to see form in its direction; But literature, like Lucile, attempts and how it literature shoots ahead. We know where his life went,
went on.

Reinhold reads in a work about Jakob Michael "Death"?one M. N. Rosanow which academician Lenz by the Moscow appeared in 1909?"Death in Leipzig the redeemer was not slow in coming. the Lenz was found dead on one of the streets of Moscow during for his burial ex 1792. A nobleman of May 23-24, paid night penses. His final resting place is unknown." So his life had gone on. This person Lenz: the true Lenz, Buchner's Lenz, the one we were on the first page of the story, the Lenz who able to recognize on the 20th of January"?this the mountains "walked per through about and not the artist and the one concerned with questions son,
art?this person as an I.

was find the place where Can we now, perhaps, strangeness a person in setting himself succeeded the place where present, Can we find such a place, such a step? free, as an?estranged?I? a sense of uneasiness "... but now and then he experienced on his head."?That is Lenz. That because he was not able to walk Lenz and his "Long live the Lenz and his step, is, I am convinced, king!"
"... but now and then he experienced a sense of uneasiness

because 34

he was

not able

to walk

on his head."

on his head, whoever ladies and gentlemen, walks Whoever on his head has heaven beneath him as an abyss. walks to reproach it is fashionable Ladies and gentlemen, nowadays Permit me now, its "obscurity." literature with abruptly?but me hasn't something suddenly appeared on the horizon??permit a maxim now to quote a maxim that I read some time by Pascal, in Leo Schestow: "Ne nous reprochez pas le manque de clart? nous en faisons profession!" if not the That is, I believe, puisque to it for the inherent obscurity of poetry, the obscurity attributed ago
sake of an encounter?from a great distance or sense of strange

ness

possibly

of its own making. two kinds side. of strangeness, in one and the

But there are perhaps same direction?side by

Lenz?that here gone one step further than is, B?chner?has Lucile. His "Long live the king" no longer consists of words. It has a terrible It robs him?and become silence. us?of breath and
speech.

a turn-of-breath. Literature: that can signify Who knows, is also the path of art? literature travels its path?which perhaps it succeeds, for the sake of such a breath turning? Perhaps since that is, the abyss and the Medusa's the abyss head, strangeness, and the robots, seem to lie in the same direction?perhaps it suc in distinguishing between and strange strangeness at precisely this point the Medusa's head shrivels, perhaps the robots cease to function?for this unique, perhaps fleeting at this point, moment? Is perhaps with the I?with the along here ness,
estranged I, set free at this point and in a similar manner?is

ceeds

at this point
Perhaps

an Other
the poem

perhaps . . and

set free?
assumes its own identity manner? as a result.

is accordingly
again and Perhaps.

able

to travel other
this art-less,

paths,
art-free

that is, the paths

of art,

again?in

one can say that every poem has its "20th of Janu Perhaps the novelty of poems that are written ary"? Perhaps today is to be found in precisely this point: that here the attempt is most clearly to remain mindful made of such dates? But are we all not descended from such dates? And to which dates do we attribute ourselves? But the poem does of its dates, speak! It remains mindful but?it to be sure, it speaks only in its own, its own, speaks, cause. individual But I think?and this thought can scarcely come as a surprise to you?I think that it has always belonged to the expectations of 35

in precisely to speak in the cause of the this manner I can no longer use this word?in this man strange?no, precisely ner to speak in the cause of an Other-who in the knows, perhaps cause of a wholely Other. at which I see I have arrived, This "who knows," is the only I can add?on the old expectations. my own, here, today?to thing I must now say tomyself?and at this point I am mak Perhaps, use of a well-known it is now possible to ing term?perhaps a meeting conceive of this "wholly Other" and an "other" which is not far removed, which is very near. a creature when The poem tarries, stops to catch a scent?like confronted with such thoughts. in breath?the No one can say how long the pause thought and the stopping to catch the scent?will last. The "Something has always been "outside," has gained quick," which speed; the tomake for that "Other," which knows but it continues this; poem it considers to be attainable, set free, and, of being capable attuned?like Lucile, one perhaps, unoccupied?and, accordingly, the poem, might say?attuned To be sure, to it, to the poem. there can be no doubt that the poem?the poem a strong inclination towards falling silent. And this, today?shows I believe, to the difficulties has only an indirect relationship of word the more selection (which should not be underestimated), of syntax, or the more finely tuned sense of pronounced vagrancies ellipsis. so many It takes its position?after radical formulations, per at the edge of mit me to use one more?the poem takes its position calls and itself; in order to be able to exist, it without interruption back into its as-always. fetches itself from its now-no-longer more can be nothing But than verbal this as-always then, the abstract concept of speech?and communication?not, a "correspondence this is to," and not only because presumably a "correspondence form of communication, by another suggested
with."

set free under the sign But language become reality, language which of an individuation is radical, yet at the same time remains of the mindful for it by language, of the boundaries established laid open for it by language. possibilities of the poem can, to be sure, only be found in This as-always the poem of that person who does not forget that he speaks from the angle of inclina of his existence, under the angle of inclination tion of his position among all living creatures. more clearly than before?the be?even Then the poem would an individual which has taken on form; and, in keep language of 36

ing with
here and

its innermost
now.

nature,

it would

also be

the present,

the

Whoever writes The poem is alone. It is alone and underway. it must remain in its company. But doesn't that reason, at this point the poem, for precisely in an encounter?in the mystery participate of an encounter? it needs to reach the Other, it this Other, The poem wants a vis ? vis. It searches it out and addresses it. for the poem, as Each thing, each person is a form of the Other it makes for this Other. to pay careful attention to everything it The poem attempts it has a finer sense of detail, of outline, of structure, of encounters; and the "suggestions." These color, and also of the "movements" an eye competing not qualities are, I believe, (or by gained are continually with mechanical devices which being cooperating) to a higher degree of perfection. No, it is a concentration brought which remains aware of all of our dates. needs a maxim me at this point to quote of "Attention"?permit on Kafka: occurs in Walter which Malebranche essay Benjamin's is the natural prayer of the soul." "Attention The poem becomes?and under what conditions!?a poem of one who?as who faces that which appears. before?perceives, it. It becomes and addresses Who this appearing questions is often despairing dialogue?it dialogue. in the realm of this dialogue that which does is ad Only is addressing dressed take form and gather around the Iwho and it. But the one who has been addressed and who, naming by a thou, also virtue of having been named, has, as itwere, become its otherness into this present.?In brings along into the present, the here and now of the poem it is still possible?the poem itself, after all, has only this one, unique, limited present?only in this it allow the most and proximity does immediacy idiosyncratic its time, to participate in the dialogue. quality of the Other, in this manner we always find When we speak with things a ourselves faced with the question of their whence and whither: which and "does not come to an end," "remains question open" are outside, which into openness, freedom?we emptiness, points at a considerable distance. The poem, I believe, also seeks this place.

The poem? The poem with

its images

and

tropes? am I really

Ladies

and gentlemen,

what

speaking

of, when, 37

in this direction, I speak of with from this direction, these words, of the poem? the poem?no, I am speaking exist! of the poem which doesn't it doesn't The absolute exist, it cannot exist. poem?no, even the least pretentious, But each real poem, contains this inescapable question, this incredible demand. And what, the images be? then, would one time, That which is perceived and to be perceived time over and over again, and only now and only here. And all tropes and metaphors then be the place where poem would ad absurdum. developed Topos study? But in light of that which Certainly!
u-topia.

one the are

is to be studied: creatures?

in light of

And human beings? In this light.

And

all living

Such questions! Such demands! It is time to turn back. I have reached the conclusion?I have Ladies and gentlemen, to the beginning. returned comes to us with its mysteries, l'Art! This question Elargissez new and old. I approached I believed in its company?I B?chner once again find it there. would I I also had an answer ready, a "Lucilean" counterstatement; to be there in opposition, Iwanted to establish wanted something with my contradiction. Expand art? art into your own unique No. But accompany place of no And set yourself free. escape. I have travelled this path. too, in your presence, Here,
It was a circle.

one must also include the Medusa's head, mechani and in the end robots; the mysterious, indistinguishable, lives on. the only strangeness?art perhaps in Lucile's "Long live the king" and as heaven opened Twice, up under Lenz as an abyss, the breath turning seemed to be there. to make for that distant but oc I attempted also, when Perhaps Art?and zation, became visible realm which only in the form of Lucile. cupiable to things and all from the attention devoted And once, proceeding of something the vicinity creatures, we even reached open living of utopia. and free. And finally the vicinity Poetry, 38 ladies and gentlemen?: this pronouncement of the

infinitude

of mere

mortality

and

futility.

now that I am again at the beginning, Ladies and gentlemen, me once more?briefly, and from a different direction?to permit old question. pose my a few years ago I a little quatrain wrote Ladies and gentlemen, on your from the path of the nettles:/corae which reads: "Voices is alone with hands to us./Whoever the lamp/has only his palm to
read from."

encounter in of a proposed last year, in commemoration came to naught, a little story in which I composed which Engadine I had a person walk, "like Lenz," through the mountains. In each instance I started to write from a "20th of January," from my "20th of January." And
I encountered . . . myself.

one travel such one thinks of poems?does Does one, when with poems? Are these paths but circuitous paths paths, circuitous from thou to thou? There are, however, among possible paths a voice; these are en paths, paths on which acquires language a voice's to a perceiving counters, thou, creaturely paths paths, a sending oneself ahead to oneself, sketches of existence perhaps, ... A kind of in the process of searching for oneself. homecoming. I am approaching Ladies and gentlemen, the conclusion. With I inserted, I am approaching the acute, which the conclusion of
. . . "L?once and Lena."

And here, with Imust pay the final two words of the drama, careful attention, like Karl Emil Franzos, the editor of that lest, "First Complete of Georg B?chner's Critical Edition Collected and Posthumous Press Works which the Sauerl?nder Papers," in Frankfurt am Main eighty-one must pay years ago?I published careful attention, lest, like my countryman Karl Emil Franzos, whom I have here found again, I read "coming" for "accommodating," is now the accepted variant. which But on second aren't there quotation marks present thought: in "L?once and Lena," quotation marks with an invisible smile in the direction of the words? And perhaps these are to be under stood not as mere punctuation scratches, but rather as rabbit ears, and the words? in, somewhat listening timidly, on themselves From this point, that is, from "accomodating," but also in Iwill now embark upon the study of topoi: of utopia, light Iwill search for the region from which Reinhold Lenz and Karl me on the path I have Emil Franzos came, they who encountered 39

I am also seek taken today, as well as in Georg Buchner's works. the place of my own origin, since I have once again arrived at ing my point of departure. a finger which I am seeking is all of that on the map with a child's map, as I readily because it is restless?on uncertain,
confess.

None of these places is to be found, they do not exist, but I all at the present know where have to exist?above would they ... I find something! time?and I find something which Ladies and gentlemen, offers me some consolation for having travelled the impossible path, this path of in your presence. the impossible, I find something which like the poem, binds and which, leads
to an encounter.

like language, abstract, something, traverses both circular, which rial, something am happy to report?even itself, thereby?I and tropes. I find ... a meridian. and With you and Georg B?chner it again. that I have just now touched Ladies me

I find

terrest yet earthly, and returns to poles the tropics crossing I believe

the state of Hesse

a great honor has been bestowed and gentlemen, upon an honor Iwill remember. Together with people whose today, an encounter I am contact and works constitute for me, personal commemorates B?chner. the recipient of a prize which Georg I extend my sincerest for this thanks to you for this honor,
and for this encounter.

moment,

I extend my and the German I extend my and of Language Thank Ladies

to the state of Hesse, the city of Darmstadt, and Literature. of Language Academy of the Germany Academy thanks to the president to you, my dear Hermann Kasack. Literature, thanks dear Marie Luise Kaschnitz. for your ?translated presence. by Jerry Glenn I thank you

you, my

and gentlemen,

40