Year: 2026
Type: article
Abstract: Paul Celan’s speech the “Meridian” addresses the fundamental question of how poetry can be possible in a world “after Auschwitz.” In contrast to the Platonic aesthetic system and classical art traditions, Celan draws upon Büchner’s concept of “Hostility to Art.” Amid the paradox of “the impossibility of writing” and “the loneliest loneliness,” Celan embraces the mission of “struggling with the German language,” speaking through a wounded mouth to reclaim a lost home for art. He employs a “grayer language” that distrusts beauty and turns toward truth, approaching a “meridian” of language in a way both “art-less” and “art-free.” On this “meridian,” Celan engages in a secret dialogue of poetry and thought with Others such as Mallarmé, Adorno, Nietzsche, and Heidegger, seeking to return to a realm that is at once uncanny and oriented toward the human.
Source: Arts
DOI: 10.3390/arts15050086
Author: Shuwei Zhang
Institution: Fudan University
Language: English
Subfield: Literature and Literary Theory
Field: Arts and Humanities
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: gold
Estimated APC paid: $1,689
OpenAlex ID: W7155201363