Abstract

AJENS, Andrés. Inka o data Muteness, saying and un-saying in a poem by Paul Celan. Estudios Bolivianos [online]. 2017, n.27, pp. 195-220. ISSN 2078-0362.

Abstract The textgives way to a reading ofthepoem Die Rauchschwalbe, by Paul Celan (inscribed in his book Fadensonnen, from 1967), including an unprecedented translation, based on some reading indications that Celan himself outlines in "The Meridian", his acceptance speech of the Büchnner Prize (1960). Die Rauchschwalbe is one of the few poems in which Celan refers explicitly to the events ofthe Spanish Conquest of the so-called New World and in it an "Inca alive" (lebende Inka) is unusually evoked, whose reference (historical in this case) has been subject of discussion in recentyears. The text shows thatDie Rauchschwalbe (The Smoke Swallow'), along with interweaving threads, that are not at all simple, between Conquest and Vernichtung, -or, if preferred, between extermination and extermination- emphasizes the dismantling ofthe Holderlinian tradition, initiated by Celan in the '5Os, as well as his "explanation" (neither simple dialogue ñor simple criti-cism) with the poetry of Nelly Sachs.

Keywords : Poetry; Paul Celan; Conquista; Inka; Vernichtung.