Celan is the author of the most famous poem written after the war, "Fugue of Death," which treats the atrocities of the concentration camps in a remarkable montage technique that seems to transcend the possibilities of linguistic expression. His early volumes, Mohn und Gedächtnis (Poppy and Memory, 1952) and Von Schwelle zu Schwelle (From Threshold to Threshold, 1955), capture impressions of his chassidic background and reveal the influence of French surrealism on his poetry. The untranslatable titles of the next volumes, Sprachgitter (1959), Die Niemandsrose (1963), Atemwende (1967), and Fadensonnen (1968), show Celan's attempt to dissociate his poetry from conventional imagery. Bold oxymora and daring catachreses characterize his pursuit of new linguistic tools. His images often seem to be ciphers of his complex existence rather than mere visual impressions. (p. 396)

Diether H. Haenicke, in The Challenge of German Literature, edited by Horst S. Daemmrich and Diether H. Haenicke (reprinted by permission of the...