Nelly Sachs - Nobel Prize in Literature, 1966 (2 books)

NELLY SACHS (1891-1970) was a Jewish German poet and playwright whose experiences resulting from the rise of the Nazis in World War II Europe transformed her into a poignant spokeswoman for the grief and yearnings of her fellow Jews. She was awarded the 1966 Nobel Prize in Literature -- shared with S. Y. Agnon that year -- for being the "bearer of a message of solace to all those who despair of the fate of man" and "for her outstanding lyrical and dramatic writing, which interprets Israel's destiny with touching strength." Sachs observed at the time that Agnon represented Israel whereas "I represent the tragedy of the Jewish people."

Although barely recognized as a writer during her almost fifty years of living in her German homeland, Sachs would bear witness to the victims of the Holocaust and become a voice for those figures whom she described in her poems during her twenty-year exile in Sweden -- the "rescued," the "onlookers," and also the "murderers." Writing in a letter that death had been her teacher, Sachs attributed her survival in exile to her writing. She described the "metaphors" in her poetry as "wounds" and transformed the language of mourning and memory into poetic testimonials to the dead as well as to the living. Her poetry is a lyrical form of communication that monumentalizes both the possibility of atrocities committed by humankind and the beauty of humanity. Sachs's poetry mourns yet does not despair of humankind. Her belief that remembrance provides strength for a more peaceful future permeates her work and demonstrates the relevance of her poetry for the present.

O THE CHIMNEYS (1967) contains nearly half of Sachs's verse and was the first to be published in English. It includes one of her most important poem sequences, "Glowing Enigmas, I, II, and III", written in the 1960s; poems from six other collections: "In the Habitations of Death", "Eclipse of the Stars", "And No One Knows How to Go On", "Flight and Metamorphosis", "Journey into a Dustless Realm", "Death Still Celebrates Life"; and the complete text of "Eli", a mystery play of the sufferings of Israel.

THE SEEKER & OTHER POEMS (1970) completed the publication of her poetry. The seven-part poem, "The Seeker", was her most recent work to have been published in German. The book also includes the final, fourth part of "Glowing Enigmas" and the untranslated poems from "In the Habitations of Death", "Eclipse of the Stars", "And No One Knows How to Go On", "Flight and Metamorphosis", "Journey into a Dustless Realm", and "Death Still Celebrates Life".


The following volumes are bilingual editions with German and English on facing pages, and are in PDF format:

* O THE CHIMNEYS: Selected Poems, including the verse play, Eli (FSG, 1967). Translated by Michael Hamburger, Christopher Holme, Ruth and Matthew Mead, and Michael Roloff.

* THE SEEKER & OTHER POEMS (FSG, 1970). Translated by Ruth and Matthew Mead, and Michael Hamburger.