On 7/3/04 9:57 AM, "Mark Weiss" <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> To add slightly to Pierre's comment, in the case of Celan and
> Jews in general terms of religion are equally terms of secular Jewish
> identity.
Yes, I quite see that. Though now I'm getting confused - how does one not
conflate religious with the spiritual? If aspects of formal religion are
integrated into poems about profound spiritual experience, how are those
poems are not (no doubt in a qualified sense) religious? Or are we only
talking about devotional books (which being a non-believer myself I find of
minimal interest...)
In another tack - RS Thomas (a priest, and so presumably a believer) has
written some interesting and anguished poems about the absence of God, and
the attentive space that absence creates, which in some ways are as negative
as Celan's. Are his religious simply by virtue of his being a believer? Or
is the religious interest in the struggles inherent in the poems?
Best
A
Alison Croggon
Editor, Masthead
http://www.masthead.net.au
Home page
http://www.alisoncroggon.com
Blog
http://alisoncroggon.blogspot.com
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