External Reviews
correspondence with nobody is a project in notarikon with the twenty-one sonnets of Shakespeare translated into German by Paul Celan.
“Blonstein’s text is thus produced by a double process like the one that transcribes DNA into RNA and translates RNA into protein – the stuff of life. This double process can be seen as analogous to the Kabbalistic transformation of thought into word, and the Christian doctrine of Word become Flesh. correspondence with nobody begins with the expression «words and silences». If we track this back to Celan, we find that the first word of his Einundzwanzig Sonette is «Was», German for «What». . . . Interpreted not word-for-word, but word-for-letter, W-A-S gives «words and silences». This, then, is the end product of Blonstein’s formula; it is also an apt beginning for her latest sequence.”
Diana Collecott
Cover image: Sonja Sekula, Grace (1952)
Red and black ink wash (scratchboard) 33.5 X 27.9 cm
Courtesy of kaba roessler / margrit schmid
Note from the editor
I chose to publish Anne Blonstein's correspondence with nobody as the first single-author book published by ellectrique press as I believe Blonstein to be one of the innovative poets writing in English in Europe today.
Blonstein is the author of four full-length collections, the blue pearl, worked on screen, memory's morning, correspondence with nobody and butterflies and the burnings forthcoming (by dusie press).
Blonstein works in sequences so that each of her books has its own unique identity. The identity of correspondence with nobody is linked to notarikon, one of several rabbinical and kabbalistic methods used to interpret the Hebrew Scriptures. With notarikon—a form of reverse acronym—Blonstein interprets Shakespear’s sonnets through Celan’s translation to create her own poetic language.
Reading correspondence with nobody is not reading as usual. When reading, listen to how Blonstein's interpretive approach to notarikon opens up space for new meaning possibilities. Listen to the words behind the words. Listen for word creations, word games and hybrid vocabularies.
The key to notarikon is experiencing it.