Alexander Benedict, a poet and scholar focused on German poetry and American counterculture, shares fascinating insights on the connections between Rainer Maria Rilke, Paul Celan, and Cleveland's DA Levy. They discuss how Levy's work mirrors Rilke’s mystical use of angels and confronts themes of mortality and beauty. The conversation highlights the complexity of translating poetry and how Buddhist influences shape Levy's identity, revealing ties to literary figures like Gary Snyder rather than the Beat poets. It's a deep dive into poetic traditions that defy cultural boundaries.
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question_answer ANECDOTE
Levy's Indirect German Influence
D.A. Levy read German poetry in translation and studied German in high school but has no documented direct literary connection to Rilke or Salon.
His influences were more broad and international, including French poetry and other local poets.
insights INSIGHT
Rilke's Personal Address Style
Rilke's poem "Requiem for a Woman Friend" is a key work showing his approach to poetry as address to individuals, a style reflected in his Duino Elegies.
This mode of personal address and use of mythology with angels also resonates in Levy's poetry.
insights INSIGHT
Angels as Myth, Not Symbol
Angels in Rilke's poetry are not mere symbols but complex mythological figures tied to death and beauty coexisting with terror.
Levy similarly uses angelic imagery, especially the Hebrew angel of death, to engage with mortality and transformation.
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What happens when we trace the unexpected influences between seemingly unrelated poetic traditions? In this exploration of German poetry's impact on American counterculture, we discover the fascinating connections between renowned German-language poets Rainer Maria Rilke and Paul Salon with Cleveland's underground literary icon DA Levy.
Levy, a Cleveland poet and publisher active in the 1960s who faced obscenity trials and ultimately committed suicide, created work that resonates with Rilke's mystical poetics in surprising ways. Both poets use angels not as mere symbols but as modes of address to readers – inviting us into a space where beauty and terror coexist, where mortality is acknowledged as the very thing that gives life its meaning.
As we examine Rilke's "Requiem for a Friend" alongside his more famous Duino Elegies, we see how his approach to mythology established patterns that would later emerge in Levy's work, despite their vastly different cultural contexts. The conversation expands to include translation theory, with insights from contemporary translators Pierre Joris and Johannes Göransson who understand translation not as equivalence but as transformation – every act of writing being itself a translation of experience into language.
We also examine how Levy's Buddhist influences connect him more meaningfully to Gary Snyder than to the Beat poets with whom he's often categorized, revealing the complexity of his literary lineage. From Federico García Lorca's concept of duende to the rich ethnic diversity of Cleveland's literary scene, this discussion illuminates how poetry transcends borders while remaining deeply rooted in specific geographies and experiences.
Have you discovered DA Levy yet? His work, much of it being republished through Between the Highway Press, offers a portal into a uniquely American poetic vision that draws from international traditions while speaking directly to readers with urgent, transformative power.
Links mentioned in the video: https://periodicityjournal.blogspot.com/2025/01/alexander-hammond-benedict-from.html?m=1 https://rilkepoetry.com/duino-elegies/first-duino-elegy/ http://homestar.org/bryannan/duino.html https://herhalfofhistory.com/2023/07/13/requiem-for-paula-modersohn-becker-by-rainer-maria-rilke/ https://abovegroundpress.blogspot.com/2024/10/new-from-aboveground-press-fragments-of.html https://betweenthehighway.org/
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