It is generally accepted that Paul Celan is a notoriously difficult poet to understand, yet this small collection, with an introduction by a leading expert on Holocaust poetry, and with each of the ten poems accompanied by a brief note which acts as a contextual orientation for the reader, is an excellent starting-point for anyone who is not familiar with his poems.
Jean Boase-Beier is Emeritus Professor of Literature and Translation. She founded UEAs MA in Literary Translation and ran it until 2015. Her academic work focuses particularly on translation, style and poetry, and especially on the translation of Holocaust poetry. Recent publications include A Critical Introduction to Translation Studies (2011, Bloomsbury) and Translating the Poetry of the Holocaust (2015, Bloomsbury). Current research, which follows on from a recent AHRC project Translating the Poetry of the Holocaust is on the influence of Russian Formalism and Prague Structuralism on the thinking of Benjamin, Celan, Brecht and others. Jean Boase-Beier is also a translator of poetry from and into German and is the Translations Editor for Arc Publications.
