Agathos: An International Review of the Humanities and Social Sciences (May 2013)
DAS OXYMORON “LAPTE NEGRU” / “SCHWARZE MILCH” BEI VASILE VOICULESCU UND PAUL CELAN
Abstract
The surprising connection of the terms “milk” and “black”, which represents the leitmotif and structuring symbol in the poem Death Fugue by Paul Celan, also appeared in various forms, during the year 1939, in the works of two other poets, living in Chernovtsy, namely Alfred Margul Sperber and Rose Ausländer. As early as January 1939, this oxymoron has appeared in the poem More Night by Vasile Voiculescu, being published in the journal “Gândirea” / “The Thinking”, in Bucharest. In Voiculescu’s poem, the mystical significance of “black milk” - that comprises within itself two icons: the life-giving milk and the renewing wine - seems to be appropriate, considering the spiritual development of the poet. As regards Paul Celan, the understanding of this double symbol is more difficult because the current interpretation is a political one. Beyond the Holocaust black and white smoke rising as a witness of the mass killing of Hebrews, one can interpret, though, the “black milk” as an allusion to Shekinah, the flow of life that nourishes all living creatures. This interpretation becomes possible through the scales proposed by Hans-Georg Gadamer and Otto Pöggeler.
