From Library Journal
Baer's justification for juxtaposing 19th-century French poet Charles Baudelaire and 20th-century German-language lyricist Paul Celan is that together they symbolize the beginning and the end of what he terms "our modernity" in poetry. Additionally, they are significantly related to each other; Celan directly invokes Baudelaire as a precursor whose lyrics influenced him to meditate and testify to the traumas, shocks, and horrors that he personally experienced as a Holocaust survivor and amply reflected in his poems. In two separate parts, each dedicated to one of the poets, Baer (German, NYU) presents new readings of their work. His literary and sometimes philosophical approach draws on such fields as trauma studies and historical research to analyze Baudelaire's personal take on the agony of everyday life (as expressed in the lyrics of "The Stranger" and "The Flowers of Evil," for instance) and Celan's ordeals during the Holocaust ("Todesfuge," possibly Celan's most famous poem, describes the Jewish experience under Nazism). This is a great addition to literature collections and necessary for all academic libraries. [Baer is an LJ reviewer.DEd.]DAli Houissa, Cornell Univ., Ithaca, N.-DAli Houissa, Cornell Univ., Ithaca, NY Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.
About the Author
Ulrich Baer is Assistant Professor of German at New York University. He is the editor of Niemand zeugt für den Zeugen: Erinnerungskultur und historische Verantwortung nach der Shoah [No One Bears Witness for the Witness: The Culture of Memory and Historical Responsibility After the Shoah].
Remnants of Song: Trauma and the Experience of Modernity in Charles Baudelaire and Paul Celan FROM THE CRITICS
Library Journal
Baer's justification for juxtaposing 19th-century French poet Charles Baudelaire and 20th-century German-language lyricist Paul Celan is that together they symbolize the beginning and the end of what he terms "our modernity" in poetry. Additionally, they are significantly related to each other; Celan directly invokes Baudelaire as a precursor whose lyrics influenced him to meditate and testify to the traumas, shocks, and horrors that he personally experienced as a Holocaust survivor and amply reflected in his poems. In two separate parts, each dedicated to one of the poets, Baer (German, NYU) presents new readings of their work. His literary and sometimes philosophical approach draws on such fields as trauma studies and historical research to analyze Baudelaire's personal take on the agony of everyday life (as expressed in the lyrics of "The Stranger" and "The Flowers of Evil," for instance) and Celan's ordeals during the Holocaust ("Todesfuge," possibly Celan's most famous poem, describes the Jewish experience under Nazism). This is a great addition to literature collections and necessary for all academic libraries. [Baer is an LJ reviewer.--Ed.]--Ali Houissa, Cornell Univ., Ithaca, NY Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.\
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