Szene im Kirschgarten: Zu einem Gedicht von Paul Celan, mit einem methodologischen Exkurs

Abstract The reconstruction of the creation of Paul Celan’s posthumous poem “In meinem zerschossenen Knie” enables an examination of the complex network of elements of his own biography – the traces of formative readings, his identity questions projected in his positions towards Judaism and Zionism, the obsessional poetic motives etc. – from which the poet lets the lyrical text ‘coagulate.’ The relationship between the author’s genetically anticipated ‘message’ and the hermeneutic freedom in the interpretation of Celan’s poetry is also considered.