| About the book
Since the envoys had brought news of the arrival of the Emperor, Bolesław’s kingdom had been overwhelmed by an all-encompassing state of commotion. Aside from the settlers living deep within the deepest forests, there was probably no one who did not, in some way or other, (...)
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| | About the book
8
The phones are always going wrong, so my parents aren’t upset when there’s no dialling tone. They’re at the fortieth birthday party of a female friend from their class at high school. They say they’re going downstairs to the phone booth for a (...)
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Zbigniew Herbert89 Poems
The distinguished work of Zbigniew Herbert has brought world-wide recognition to Poland. He has been unanimously and rightfully recognized as a great, perhaps the greatest Polish poet of the twentieth century; a universal poet who is at the same time very much rooted in the realities of his own country. It would be impossible to get to know and completely understand Poland's fortunes and its soul over the course of the twentieth century without Herbert's subtle and classically lucid work. Thanks to it, many people (not just in Poland) have been made aware of a choice that is theirs to make - between conformism and the responsibility to higher values and human dignity, wherever it is threatened. In our countries there is and has been a great number of talented artists, but not many of them are deep thinkers. Herbert not only wrote exquisite poems, but developed his own system of thought, too, which treats of the individual and of the collectivity known as the Nation. As an imperative of everyday life and immediate experience, he invoked the foundational values of European culture; revived the ancient kalokagatia - the unity of beauty, truth, and goodness; kindled chivalry; and, with his stoic attitude, perceived values that could save humans in the throes of chaos. In his struggle with utilitarianism and pragmatism, he showed that "the knight's reward is his virtue; the sage's reward is his wisdom; and the reward of the artist is the beauty of his creations and the inner beauty that comes as their result." It is to these profoundly considered values that Herbert's poetry owes its international popularity. Nowadays, anyone who feels responsible for anything beyond his own well-being runs the risk of being ridiculed. Herbert's well-known invention, the simultaneously heroic and ironic character Mr. Cogito, teaches us, in our standstill at the precipice, how to fight the monster. But what sort of monster? The monster of the generation of this century's latter half has had one kind of countenance. For the generations to come in ten, twenty years, it will have another. But what enslaves mankind will always need to be resisted, and the "Herbertian attitude" will never vanish from the horizon of the world to come. Herbert's poetry can be labeled with his own characterizations of his favorite Polish poets, which he read aloud at his last reading: "
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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 »
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