Language Behind Bars [Paperback]

Poetry. Bilingual Edition. Translated from the German by David Young. Cover art by the author's wife, Gisele Celan-Lestrange. Celan's English language readers, and readers to come, will be deeply grateful for this new translation of his second book. I admire David Young's clear and respectful introduction, generous to his colleagues in Celan translation, and helpful in providing a broad context for this poetry; and I admire, especially, his faithfulness in spirit as he becomes a 'water-diviner' of Celan's work. Young is a subtle, trusting reader of the ways this poet of poets took—as he had to—to create a completely new poetry. —Jean Valentine

This collection is the second of three by Celan that David Young is undertaking to present in their entirety. He works at present as an editor at Oberlin College Press.