Saturday, November 26, 2011

Finding Celan in Hamburg













http://www.antiquariat-pabel.de/en/index-en.html

I am one of those people who when I am in a city for a business trip I steal an hour or two for sheer pleasure and adventure. As a business person who moonlights as a poet it is a way for me to try to remember what matters most in my life and to reconnect with a part of me that is often dormant because of the demands of the world as it is. Last week I was in Hamburg on a business trip and Waltraud my wife came along staying with a cousin who lives in that humid but quite nice town.

Waltraud is sensible in a Teutonic way while I with my Italian sense of serendipity would just wander she researches and she found for me a transcendial moment. Waltraud found via the net an antiquarian bookstore Antiquariat Pabel right across from the great St Michael's church in Hamburg. The visit was transcendental for a few reasons. Pabel was founded by a man who was also the founder of the great Chicago Book Mart in the 1940's. This man was a Prisoner of war in the US from Germany and he turned that into one of the great bookstores in fact Chicago Book Mart was the progenitor of Guild Books (sadly dead) and Seminary Co-op (Thankfully still alive).

Our visit to this great store was in short wonderful. The store is everything that a bibliophile desires. Shelves of the finest editions. a 1589 Erasmus, a Soncino Missal, Shakespeare First edition in Germany from 1709.

But what I found made my year. A 1952 first edition of Paul Celan. Celan is a poet that challenges and frustrates. He was what the Christians call a witness. Like Perpetua standing in the middle of the circus his life was a witness to a truth and his poetry was the formation of that witness. Celan was a bridge to so much from the Austro Hungarian world of Freud and Vienna to the post war world of Nuremburg he spans it all. The edition that I bought is Mohn und Gedachtnis (Poppy and Memory). It was the book that made Celan a poet and it was published by a German publisher from Stuttgart in 1952. Surely on paper and with ink that had once been used to print Nazi books and was now publishing the greatest poet, in German, in the 20th Century.

To have found this book in Hamburg. Sold to me by a wonderful bookseller who understands as he said to me that books are transitory that they are created things and that they have memory is a good answer to the iPadization of our literature. This small volume is printed as Celan wanted to be printed. It is a created thing and it sits on my shelf right next to Ezra Pound just to make sure that it inoculates the shelves.

We are entering a world of the transitory. It is only in moments like the one I had a week ago at Antiquariat Pabel that I again can feel my toes and my fingers are not numb.

5 comments:

Mi Rincón Vintage said...

Hello! I am participating in a contest for the Lady Rebel fragrance I need the popular vote. This is a video and several collages made ​​by me.
I would be very helpful one more vote to reach the final. Thank you very much and I hope you like it!

http://www.coolhuntingexperience.com/ladyrebelrock/proyectos/ficha/de/530

qifei2012 said...

On the flip side, 'microsoft' will require a number of very helpful features and offer considerably more fully developed software that will consumers already know and we'll play much in their favor Microsoft office 2010. Windows announcement of their cloud-based locations will be more on the arranged switch office 2010. It Is prone to launch into the Master of science cloud may possibly produce a tough have difficulty involving the two companies, that have powerful competitors throughout browsers, os's look search engines together Microsoft Office 2010 Key. Office 2010 download

Unknown said...

Considering that clients are our most valuable assets, we are putting our best effort in offering them the services of our specialized franchise lawyers. The Franchise lawyers that Redchip has are experienced and well trained to take good care of your business. The franchise lawyer will act in your best interest even if it is just an advice or an entire process.
brisbane lawyers
lawyers brisbane
commercial disputes
commercial litigation
franchise lawyer
property lawyer brisbane
commercial lawyer Brisbane
dispute resolution brisbane
estate planning brisbane
asset protection brisbane
tax lawyer brisbane
business structuring brisbane
commercial disputes brisbane
franchise solicitor brisbane
commercial litigation brisbane
http://www.redchip.com.au
v

Unknown said...

Great App Regarding XMAS frames, Montages for android users download and enjoy

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.lalaappstudio.insta.christmas.frames.montage

Dr Purva Pius said...

Hello Everybody, My name is.Mrs.Juliet Quin. I live in Canada and i am a happy woman today? and i told my self that any lender that rescue my family from our poor situation, i will refer any person that is looking for loan to him, he gave me happiness to me and my family, i was in need of a loan of $ 73,000.00 to start my life all over as i am a single mother with 3 kids I met this honest and GOD fearing man loan lender that help me with a loan of $ 73,000.00 Canada Dollar, he is a GOD fearing man, if you are in need of loan and you will pay back the loan please contact him tell him that is Mrs.Juliet Quin that refer you to him. Contact Dr Purva Pius via email: reply to email (urgentloan22@gmail.com)