by Paul Celan
Translated from the German by Lynn Dubinsky and Matthais Rosenthal
Published: Tue Jan 30 2018
Eva Lundsager, Were now like (detail), 2021, oil on canvas
AGNI 48
Print Only
The Syllable Pain
Paul Celan (1920–1970) was one of the twentieth century’s greatest German-language poets. He was born to Jewish parents in Czernowitz, then part of Romania. He lost his parents to the Nazi genocide and was himself a survivor of a forced-labor camp. After brief periods in postwar Bucharest and Vienna, he settled in Paris, where, alongside his work as a poet, he taught German at the École Normale Supérieure and translated from many languages. He died of suicide.
Lynn Dubinsky is a graduate of the Boston University Creative Writing Program and a recipient of an Academy of American Poets Prize. She teaches in Boston and translates German poetry with Matthias Rosenthal.
Matthais Rosenthal is a poet and translator who is currently working on translations of Hans Magnus Enzensberger with Lynn Dubinsky. He lives in Santa Barbara, California.