Heart Time - Correspondence - Ingeborg Bachmann and Paul Celan

"Explain to me, love, what I cannot explain..." (Ingeborg Bachmann) In May 1948, two people meet in Vienna, a young poet and a young poetess – Paul Celan and Ingeborg Bachmann. He is 27, the student is 21 years old. They spend an intense six-week spring together, then Celan departs for Paris. "The surrealist poet Paul Celan" has "graciously" fallen in love with her, Bachmann writes to her parents.

Until 1953, the two share a romantic relationship, which is resumed from October 1957 to spring 1958. By this time, Celan is already married to Gisele Lestrange and has a son with her. During this period, Bachmann meets Max Frisch and moves in with him in October 1958.

The correspondence is a poignant testament to two people who love each other yet hurt one another, who cannot be without each other but cannot live together.