[Andrew Mandelbaum]

Originally Posted by Michael Ferris

One more thing on this, speaking of Heidegger and his heirs: it occurred to me that several of those notes make sense in the context of Gadamer’s writings on the ‘hermeneutics’ of art, or the way art conveys meaning. In fact, apparently Gadamer has written on Celan. I think Gadamer would also see poetry as “an event”: not only a confrontation/conjunction of words, but also of worlds. Here’s a quote from Wiki on Gadamer that is applicable to poetry, and very Lit Crit-esque, but IMHO obviously true, with wide implications:

[T]he interpretation of a given text will change depending on the questions the interpreter asks of the text. The "meaning" emerges not as an object that lies in the text or in the interpreter, but rather an event that results from the interaction of the two.

I have only dabbled in Gadamer, and that, years ago, but you might find his work interesting, Andrew, if you haven’t already read it. It seems like Celan and Gadamer are simpaticos!

I have seen the Gadamer signposts with their arrows on the trees while following my breadcrumbs home. I have never had the time to turn down them yet. But oneday... There is so much writing on Celan it can be overwhelming. Mostly I am in it for my own thing, like all of us I guess. I have written poems I would imagine he would want to punch in the face for reasons in this thread. I am trying to find a trajectory out of what I believe to be true in his work into what I believe is true (if in another world compared to him in craft/excellence).