„almost certainly the major European poet of the period after 1945“. George Steiner Reading Paul Celan

The article examines, based on several works by cultural philosopher George Steiner, what con-ception of Europe he advocates by classifying Celan as “the major European poet of the period after 1945”. The analysis shows a convergence of poetic practices of modern poetry with basic values of a Humanist understanding of Europe, which Steiner experienced paradigmatically in Celan’s poems. This concerns not least Celan’s explicit intention of a future-oriented poetry after the rupture of history. Finally, the chapter questions the strict connection of Steiner’s aes-thetic and ethical ideas to the geographical and political space of Europe.