ABSTRACT
The late 1950s were a crucial period in the development of Celan’s poetics. As Celan’s poetry became more widely known, so his status within the German-language literary sphere was enhanced. As a result, he began to be invited to make public statements about literature, such as in response to questionnaires from the Librairie Flinker, a German-language bookshop in Paris. Moreover, Celan was the recipient of two of the most prestigious literary prizes in Germany, firstly the Literaturpreis der freien Hansestadt Bremen (referred to here as the ‘Bremen Prize’) in January 1958, and secondly the Büchner Prize in October 1960. The speeches that Celan gave at these award ceremonies contain weighty and complex poetological considerations, and the Büchner Prize speech in particular, published afterwards as Der Meridian, has become central to the analysis of Celan’s poetics. 1
