Abstract
I propose in this article a reading of the poem “Engführung” (1958), by the poet Paul Celan, with the essay Cascas (2011 [2017]), by the French art historian Georges Didi-Huberman, taking as a starting point the idea of path that crosses both works. To do this, I rely on Joachim Seng's readings of Celan's poem (1992SENG, Joachim. „... geh mit der Kunst in deine allereigenste Enge. Und setze dich frei.“ - Paul Celans Gedicht „Engführung“ und seine Beziehung zu dem Film „Nacht und Nebel“ von Alain Resnais. Abschlußarbeit zur Erlangung des Magister Artium (Fachbereich: Neuere Philologien) - Institut für Deutsche Sprache und Literatur II, Johann Wolfgang Goethe-Universität, Frankfurt am Main, 1992.; 1998SENG, Joachim. Das zyklische Gedicht “ENGFÜHRUNG”. In: SENG, Joachim. Auf den Kreis-Wegen der Dichtung - Zyklische Komposition bei Paul Celan am Beispiel der Gedichtbände bis „Sprachgitter“. Heidelberg: UniversitätsverlagWinter, 1998, 257-283.), in which he sees “Engführung” as a route of the lyrical subject through the concentration camp (Auschwitz) which is, at the same time, a field of memory and language. In Cascas, Didi-Huberman recounts the route of a visit to Auschwitz, focusing on the role of the eye in the realization of the work of memory. In this sense, when placing the poem and the essay side by side, they seem to point out ways of looking and saying Auschwitz that offer to the reader the tensions inherent in this movement, ways that do not neglect this ethical task and reflect critically the individual and collective stance before the testimony gap and what still remains of the concentration camp.
Keywords:
Paul Celan; Georges Didi-Huberman; Poetry; Memory; Language