830 Literaturen germanischer Sprachen; Deutsche Literatur
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The poetic language of the Nobel Prize winner Nelly Sachs has already been examined from several points of view. Nelly Sachs has often been mentioned in connection with Klopstock and Hölderlin owing to her 'high tone' (cf. e.g. Paul Hoffmann's article 'On Nelly Sachs' Pathos' from 1994).
However, even earlier than the style which Hoffmann characterized as the "seed of the concise, hermetic late style with a more moderate pathos", literary techniques other than pathetic speech can be found in the work of Nelly Sachs. In the poems 'WE ARE SO sore', 'SOMEONE COMES', 'A PUNCH' behind a hedge, there is a laconic style, far removed from all hermeticism, which is able precisely to depict the impact of the Shoah on its survivors. This style seems to be cognate with Kaschnitz's late elliptical works, Celan's "greyer language", and Bachmann's laconic poems, all from the 1960s. It is this particular style that is examined in this article.
The poem "Zurich, zum Storchen" by Paul Celan is often read as a document on the tension between Celan and Nelly Sachs, which resulted particularly from their different attitudes to the Shoah. However if the poem is read in connection with the cycle "Die Niemandsrose" and with Celan’s poetological thinking at this time, Celan’s opposite standpoint means much more than a theological discussion: it serves for the affirmation of human presence.
The article studies the German-speaking poetess Nelly Sachs, who received the Nobel-Prize for literature in 1966, together with Shmuel Agnon. In order to shed light upon the behind the decision of the jury, an overview on life and work of the author will be given and a number of poems will be analyzed.