Czesław Miłosz was a Nobel Prize-winning poet and author of Polish-Lithuanian heritage, recognized for his uncompromising clarity in voicing the exposed human condition amidst severe conflict. Writing exclusively in Polish, his work delves into the vulnerabilities of existence and the complexities of a troubled world. His literary contributions, encompassing poetry and prose, offer profound insights into the human experience. He also enriched Polish literature through his translation of the Old Testament Psalms.
After The Second World War, the author was exiled for many years from his home country of Poland. In this book, he evokes that homeland and his years away from it; how it nurtured him and how its divisions and destruction shaped a generation.
The most beautiful and powerful of Milosz's poems from across his writing lifeThis selection brings together the most beautiful and powerful of Czeslaw Milosz's poems, spanning his writing life. In verses such as 'Cafe' he considers the upheaval, revolutions and two world wars that he had witnessed, while 'My Faithful Mother Tongue' reflects the loyalty he felt to his native Polish language. He also remembers his schooldays in 'The World', and in 'Bypassing Rue Descartes' recalls the Paris streets of his student years, displaying both tenderness and tough-minded fury towards those who shaped his experiences. Writing not about abstract emotions, but about the horrors and beauty that he directly observed, Milosz opens our eyes to the joy-bringing potential of the poetry to which he gave his life. Winner of the Nobel Prize for LiteratureCzeslaw Milosz (1911-2004) won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1980. Born in Lithuania while it was still part of the Russian Empire, he lived much of his life in Poland or exiled in California. He was the author of one of the definitive books on totalitarianism, The Captive Mind, but also wrote with extraordinary vividness and moral authority on his childhood, his experiences under Nazism and on the tragedy of Central Europe.
New and Collected Poems: 1931-2001 celebrates seven decades of Czeslaw Milosz's exceptional career. Widely regarded as one of the greatest poets of our time, Milosz is a master of probing inquiry and graceful expression. His poetry is infused with a tireless spirit and penetrating insight into fundamental human dilemmas and the staggering yet simple truth that to exist on the earth is beyond any power to name.
A survey of Polish letters and culture from its beginnings to modern times.