 | | Znak
Cracow 2002
© by Czesław Miłosz
155 x 233
120 pages
hardcover
ISBN 83-240-0146-8
rights available |
|
Czesław MiłoszThe Second Space
About the author
Excerpt
The Nobel Prize is commonly called the "kiss of death" as it has commonly been awarded to grey-haired and venerable writers to crown their lifetime achievement. There is no more radical exception to the rule than the person and work of Czesław Milosz. More than twenty years after receiving the Stockholm laurel wreath, the ninety-year-old poet is still in excellent form and publishes volumes of poetry, collections of essays, books of journalism and volumes of letters, each of which is better than the one before, if that is possible.
The latest example of his impressive vitality is a book of poetry called The Second Space. It consists of three long poetic sequences: Ksiądz Seweryn (Father Seweryn) (on a priest threatened with doubt and loss of faith), Czeladnik (Apprentice) (a poetic tribute to Oskar Milosz, the poet's great relative), and the unique Traktat teologiczny (Theological Tract) which, after Traktat moralny (Moral Tract) and Traktat poetycki (Poetic Tract), completes Milosz's opus with a significant coda. Apart from these sequences, the book contains several dozen poems which feature moving poetic prayers, personal confessions, meditations on the fate of the poet himself and of people who he has met in his long life. There are also tones recognisable from earlier works of the author of Metafizyczna pauza (Metaphysical Pause): the ecstatic admiration of the beauty of the world (also the beauty of the female body), the desire for sensual fulfilment, but above all, especially in the poem Późna dojrzałość (Late Maturity), the contemplation of one's final concerns, as if seen from the far bank of the river.
With a courage and sincerity not to be found in contemporary literature, Miłosz touches on the most important and, at the same time, the most difficult questions: on faith and doubt, on the omnipotence of God and His indifference to evil, on man's quest and lack of certainty, the opposite of superficial and unreflective self-satisfaction.
Jerzy Illg
Back |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
There are more than 31,000 publishers registered in Poland. However, the market is highly concentrated. The 300 largest publishing firms still hold almost 98 per cent of it. More »
|
|
|
|
