On April 20, 1970, the poet Paul Celan left his home in Paris, walked to a bridge over the River Seine, and jumped to his death. He left a biography of Hölderlin open on his desk, with the following words underlined: Sometimes this genius goes dark and sinks down into the bitter well of his heart. The sentence does not end there. Celan chose not to underline the rest: but mostly his apocalyptic star glitters wondrously.

— Maggie Nelson, The Red Parts: a Memoir