Sam Jacoby

A Reading for Group 47

I first stumbled on “Todesfuge” while working in Nicaragau—and before I could read German. It was shocking, brutal, powerful. I read it in English, then in Spanish translation—parsing through the German as best I could. I’ve since learned German—or at least, learned German well enough to stumble through these.

A Reading for Group 47 reprints “Todesfuge”, and three other poems in Celan’s original German, facing John Felstiner’s powerful English translations. A frontispiece by the California artist Dirk Hagner finishes the deal.

Printed in Eric Gill’s Sans and Joanna on mouldmade Zerkall book papers.