Czeslaw Milosz

File:Czeslaw Milosz 1998 by Kubik.jpg

Czeslaw Milosz in 1998.

Czeslaw Milosz (June 30, 1911—August 14, 2004), Polish poet and novelist, won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1980.

Milosz' works are notable for insights into religion, philosophy, nature, and politics. In his Nobel Prize acceptance speech, he declared that the books that linger should “deal with the most incomprehensible quality of God-created things.”

Biography

Early Years

Born to a Polish-speaking family in Lithuania, Milosz studied Polish literature and law in its capital city, Vilna, (today, Vilnius), a meeting point between East and West. In that ancient city, Lithunians, Poles, Byelorussians, and Tartars, Christians, Jews, and Muslims intermingled peacefully.

Yet Milosz, like other Central Europeans who had experienced at close range the impact of the first World War and of the rise of Communism in nearby Russia, felt a sense of foreboding, of impending catastrophe.

His first published poems, a 1933 volume entitled Poem of Frozen Time (Poemat o czasie zastyglym), deal with the imminence of yet another war and the worldwide cataclysm that it portends.

When the Nazis did invade Poland, Milosz moved to Warsaw to join the resistance. There he edited an underground anthology of Polish wartime poetry, Independent Song (Pien niepodlegla) (1942). The defeat of Poland and the tragic fate of the Poles and Jews surrounding him were deeply burned into his life. He personally witnessed the end of the walled Jewish ghetto in Warsaw.

In response to the horror, Milosz offered “The World” (Polish translation) (1943). Reaching beyond suffering, Milosz helped his readers sense divine promise within ordinary things, a presence that suggests that evil in the world is not an expression of its innermost nature and will pass.

Post-war Career

After the war, Milosz, then a socialist, joined the Polish diplomatic corps. He served in New York and Washington DC before being sent to Paris where he asked for political asylum in 1951. Stalinism had increased its hold on Poland. In France, Milosz published The Captive Mind (Zniewolony Umysl), perhaps his best-known work, a critique of the Polish Communist Party’s assault on the independence of the intelligentsia. Governments can use more than censorship to control people; they can even change the meaning of words, Milosz reminds us.

In the early 1960s, Milosz left Paris to become professor of Slavic languages and literature at the University of California at Berkeley. In 1970, he became a United States citizen. He is not often thought of as a commentator on American politics and culture, but in Visions from San Francisco Bay, he talks at length about America in the 1960s.

Milosz frequently experienced his life as one of exile; not only because of the years in which he was separated from his native land, but in the larger sense that the human condition as he knew it was one in which all humanity endures metaphysical or even religious exile. This spiritual awareness touched every dimension of his life, and he wrote of The Unattainable Earth (Nieobjeta Ziemia). The longing awakened by an intimate, pure, and unconcious childhood bond with nature that almost spontaneously identified with the entire world, could not be fulfilled.

In The Land of Ulro, Milosz wrote about good and evil using his relationship with nature:

“When my guardian angel...is triumphant, the earth looks precious to me and I live in ecstasy...surrounded by divine protection...my dreams are of magically rich landscapes, and I forget about death, because whether it comes in a month or five years it will be done as it was decreed, not by the God of the philosophers but by the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. When the Devil triumphs, I am appalled...I look at trees in bloom as they blindly repeat...what has been willed by the law of natural selection...I am oppressed by the randomness and absurdity of my individual existence...and then the terror: my life is over, I won’t get another, only death now.”

Milosz was much influenced by William Blake ("Ulro" is Blake’s creation); Emanuel Swedenborg; and Milosz’ cousin, the poet and mystic Oscar Milosz.

Throughout his life, Milosz remained deeply involved in Polish letter. In his later years, he translated the writing of Polish authors largely unknown in the West such as Alexander Wat, a man whose time in Communist concentration camps produced a profoundly honest theological and literary voice. Wat’s autobiography, My Century, was edited from conversations between Milosz and Wat.

Death and Legacy

After the Soviet empire disintegrated, Milosz was once again able to live in Poland. He eventually settled in Kracow, where his ninetieth birthday was widely celebrated. There he died in 2002 at the age of 93. Milosz' first wife, Janian Dluska, the mother of his two sons, Anthony and John Peter, had died in 1986. His second wife, Carol Thigpen, an American-born historian and Dean at Emory University, had passed away in 2001.

Milosz' funeral in the ancient catherdral church of St. Mary was a state event. Thousands lined the streets to pay their respects. He was buried in the Church of St. Michael and St. Stanislaw on the Rock (kosciol Sw. Stanislawa, na Skalce) in Krakow, beside other famous Polish cultural figures.

Milosz received many honors during his lifetime. He is listed at Israel’s Yad Vashem memorial to the holocaust as one of the “Righteous Among the Nations.” His words were placed on a monument to fallen shipyard workers in Gdansk. He received the Prix Litteraire Europeen (1953), the Marian Kister Award (1967), a Guggenheim Fellowship (1977), the Neustadt International Prize (1978), and National Medal of Arts of the U.S. Endowment for the Arts (1989). He was appointed a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (1981) and of the American Institute of Arts and Letters (1982). He was granted numerous honorary doctorates including one from Harvard (1989) where he gave the Charles Eliot Norton Lectures (1982).

Works

File:Herb Lubicz.jpg

Lubicz coat-of-arms.

Works in Polish

Poemat o czasie zastygłym - Wilno: Kolo Polonistów Sluchaczy Uniwersytetu Stefana Batorego, 1933 Trzy zimy - Wilno: Zwiazek Zawodowy Literatów Polskich, 1936 Wiersze. - Lwów, 1939 Ocalenie - Warsaw: Czytelnik, 1945 Swiatlo dzienne - Paris: Instytut Literacki, 1953 Zniewolony umysł - Paris: Instytut Literacki, 1953 Zdobycie władzy - Paris: Instytut Literacki, 1955 Dolina Issy - Paris: Instytut Literacki, 1955 Traktat poetycki - Paris: Instytut Literacki, 1957 Kontynenty - Paris: Instytut Literacki, 1958 Rodzinna Europa - Paris: Instytut Literacki, 1959 Człowiek wśród skorpionów : studium o Stanislawie Brzozowskim - Paris: Instytut Literacki, 1962 Król Popiel i inne wiersze - Paris: Instytut Literacki, 1962 Gucio zaczarowany - Paris: Instytut Literacki, 1965 Miasto bez imienia - Paris: Instytut Literacki, 1969 Widzenia nad zatoką San Francisco - Paris: Instytut Literacki, 1969 Prywatne obowiązki - Paris: Instytut Literacki, 1972 Gdzie wschodzi słońce i kędy zapada i inne wiersze - Paris: Instytut Literacki, 1974 Utwory poetyckie - Ann Arbor: Michigan Slavic Publications, 1976 Ziemia Ulro - Paris: Instytut Literacki, 1977 Ogród nauk - Paris: Instytut Literacki, 1979 Dziela zbiorowe - 12 vol. - Paris: Instytut Literacki, 1980-1985 Wiersze zebrane - 2 vol. - Warsaw: Krag, 1980 Wybór wierszy - Warsaw: Państwowy Instytut Wydawniczy, 1980 Poezje - Warsaw: Czytelnik, 1981 Hymn o Perele - Paris: Instytut Literacki, 1982 Piesń obywatela - Kraków: Wydawnictwo Swit, 1983 Dialog o Wilnie - Warsaw: Spoleczny Instytut Wydawniczy "Mlynek," 1984 Nieobjęta ziemia - Paris: Instytut Literacki, 1984 Świadectwo poezji - Kraków: Oficyna Literacka, 1985 Poszukiwania : wybór publicystyki rozproszonej 1931-1983 - Warsaw: Wydawnictwo CDN, 1985 Zaczynajac od moich ulic - Paris: Instytut Literacki, 1985 Kroniki - Paris: Instytut Literacki, 1987 Metafizyczna pauza - Kraków: Znak, 1989 Poematy - Wroclaw: Wydawnictwo Dolnoslaskie, 1989 Swiat = The World - San Francisco: Arion Press, 1989 Kolysanka - Warsaw: Varsovia, 1990 Rok mysliwego - Paris: Instytut Literacki, 1990 Dalsze okolice - Kraków: Znak, 1991 Szukanie ojczyzny - Kraków: Znak, 1992 Wiersze - 3 vol. - Kraków: Znak, 1993 Na brzegu rzeki - Kraków: Znak, 1994 Polskie Kontrasty = On Contrasts in Poland - Kraków: Universitas, 1995 Jakiegoż to gościa mieliśmy : o Annie Świrszczyńskiej - Kraków: Znak, 1996 Legendy nowoczesności. Eseje okupacyjne. Listy-eseje Jerzego Andrzejewskiego i Czesława Miłosza - Kraków: Wydawnictwo Literackie, 1996 Poezje wybrane (Selected Poems) - Kraków: Wydawnictwo Literackie, 1996 Abecadło Miłosza - Kraków: Wydawnictwo Literackie, 1997 Piesek przydrozny - Kraków: Znak, 1997 Zycie na wyspach - Kraków : Znak, 1997 Antologia osobista : wiersze, poematy, przeklady - Warszawa : Znak, 1998 Dar (Gabe) - Kraków : Wydawn. Literackie, 1998 Inne abecadło - Kraków: Wydawnictwo Literackie, 1998 Zaraz po wojnie : korespondencja z pisarzami 1945-1950 - Kraków: Znak, 1998 Swiat : poema naiwne - Kraków : Wydawn. Literackie, 1999 Wyprawa w Dwudziestolecie - Kraków : Wyd. Literackie, 1999 To - Kraków : Znak, 2000 Wypisy z ksiag uzytecznych - Kraków : Wydawn. Znak, 2000 Wiersze T. 1 -. - Kraków : Znak, 2001 - Orfeusz i Eurydyke - Krakow: Wydwn. Literackie, 2003 Przygody młodego umysłu : publicystyka i proza 1931-1939 - Kraków : Znak, 2003 Spiżarnia literacka - Krakow : Wydwn. Literackie , 2004 Jasności promieniste i inne wiersze - Warszawa : Zeszyty, 2005

Works in English and Translations into English

The Captive Mind / translated from the Polish by Jane Zielonko. - New York: Vintage, 1953 The Usurpe / translated from the Polish by Celina Wieniewska. - London: Faber, 1955 The Seizure of Power / translated from the Polish by Celina Wieniewska. - New York: Criterion Books, 1955 Native Realm: a Search for Self-Definition / translated from the Polish by Catherine S. Leach. - Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, 1968 Selected Poems / translated by Czesław Miłoszand Peter Dale Scott. - Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1968 The History of Polish Literature - London: Macmillan, 1969 Selected Poems / translated by several hands ; introduction by Kenneth Rexroth. - New York: Seabury, 1973 Emperor of the Earth : Modes of Eccentric Vision - Berkeley: Univ. of Calif. P., cop. 1977 Bells in Winter / translated by the author and Lillian Vallee. - New York: Ecco Press, 1978 Nobel Lecture - New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, cop. 1980 The Issa Valley / translated from the Polish by Louis Iribarne. - New York: Farrar, 1981 Visions from San Francisco Bay / translated by Richard Lourie. - Manchester: Carcanet, 1982 The Witness of Poetry - Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1983 The Separate Notebooks / translated by Robert Hass and Robert Pinsky with the author and Renata Gorczynski. - New York: Ecco Press, 1984 The Land of Ulro / translated by Louis Iribarne. - New York: Farrar, Straus, Giroux, 1984 The Rising of the Sun - San Francisco: Arion Press, 1985 The View - New York: Whitney Museum of American Art, cop. 1985 Unattainable Earth / translated by the author and Robert Hass. - New York: Ecco Press, 1986 The Collected Poems 1931-1987 - New York: Ecco Press, 1988 Exiles / photographs by Josef Koudelka ; essays by Czeslaw Milosz. - New York: Aperture Foundation, cop. 1988 Swiat (The World : a Sequence of Twenty Poems in Polish) / translated into English by the poet, with an introduction by Helen Vendler and a portrait of the poet in dry-point engraving by Jim Dine. - San Francisco: Arion Press, 1989 Provinces / translated by the author and Robert Hass. - Hopewell, N.J.: Ecco Press, cop. 1991 Beginning With My Streets : Essays and Recollections / translated by Madeline G. Levine. - New York: Farrar, Straus, Giroux, 1992 A Year of the Hunter / translated by Madeline G. Levine. - New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1994 Facing the River : New Poems / translated by the author and Robert Hass. - Hopewell, N.J.: Ecco Press, 1995 Polskie Kontrasty (On Contrasts in Poland) - Kraków: Universitas, 1995 Poezje wybrane (Selected Poems) - Kraków: Wydawnictwo Literackie, 1996 Striving Towards Being : the Letters of Thomas Merton and Czeslaw Milosz / edited by Robert Faggen. - New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1997 Road-Side Dog / translated by the author and Robert Hass. - New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, cop. 1998 Aleksander Hertz - Cracow: The Judaica Foundation Center for Jewish Culture, 2000 A Treatise on Poetry / translated by the author and Robert Hass. - New York Ecco Press, 2001 To Begin Where I Am : Selected Essays / edited and with an introduction by Bogdana Carpenter and Madeline G. Levine. - New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2001 New and Collected Poems 1931-2001 - London Allen Lane ; Penguin Press, 2001 Milosz's ABCs / translated from the Polish by Madeline G. Levine. - New York : Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2001 Second Space : New Poems / translated by the author and Robert Hass. - New York: Ecco, 2004 Legends of Modernity : Essays and Letters from Occupied Poland, 1942-1943 / translated from the Polish by Madeline G. Levine. - New York Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2005 Selected Poems, 1931-2004 / foreword by Seamus Heaney. - New York: Ecco, 2006

Literature (a selection) Volynska-Bogert, Rimma, Czeslaw Miłosz: an International Bibliography 1930-1980. - Ann Arbor, cop. 1983 Davie, Donald, Czeslaw Miłosz and the Insufficiency of Lyric. - Cambridge : Cambridge University Press, 1986 Between Anxiety and Hope : the Poetry and Writing of Czeslaw Miłosz / edited by Edward Możejko. - Edmonton : Alta, 1988. Dompkowski, Judith A., "Down a Spiral Staircase, Never-Ending" : Motion as Design in the Writing of Czeslaw Miłosz. - New York: Lang, 1990 Czeslav Miłosz: a Stockholm Conference : September 9-11, 1991 / editor: Nils Ake Nilsson. - Stockholm : Kungl. Vitterhets-, historie- och antikvitetsakad, 1992 Malinowska, Barbara, Dynamics of Being, Space, and Time in the Poetry of Czeslaw Milosz and John Ashbery. - New York: Lang, 2000

The Swedish Academy, 2006

• Kompozycja (1930)
• Podróż (1930)
• Poemat o czasie zastygłym (1933)
• Trzy zimy / Three Winters (1936)
• Obrachunki
• Wiersze / Verses (1940)
• Pieśń niepodległa (1942)
• Ocalenie / Rescue (1945)
• Traktat moralny / A Moral Treatise (1947)
• Zniewolony umysł / The Captive Mind (1953)
• Zdobycie władzy / The Seizure of Power (1953)
• Światło dzienne / The Light of Day (1953)
• Dolina Issy / The Issa Valley (1955)
• Traktat poetycki / A Poetical Treatise (1957)
• Rodzinna Europa / Native Realm (1958)
• Kontynenty (1958)
• Człowiek wśród skorpionów (1961)
• Król Popiel i inne wiersze / King Popiel and Other Poems (1961)
• Gucio zaczarowany / Gucio Enchanted (1965)
• Widzenia nad Zatoką San Francisco / Visions of San Francisco Bay (1969)
• Miasto bez imienia / City Without a Name (1969)
• The History of Polish Literature (1969)
• Prywatne obowiązki / Private Obligations (1972)
• Gdzie słońce wschodzi i kiedy zapada / Where the Sun Rises and Where It Sets (1974)
• Ziemia Ulro / The Land of Ulro (1977)
• Ogród nauk / The Garden of Learning (1979)
• Hymn o perle / The Poem of the Pearl (1982)
• The Witness of Poetry (1983)
• Nieobjęta ziemio / The Unencompassed Earth (1984)
• Kroniki / Chronicles (1987)
• Dalsze okolice / Farther Surroundings (1991)
• Zaczynając od moich ulic / Starting from My Streets (1985)
• Metafizyczna pauza / The Metaphysical Pause (1989)
• Poszukiwanie ojczyzny (1991)
• Rok myśliwego (1991)
• Na brzegu rzeki / Facing the River (1994)
• Szukanie ojczyzny / In Search of a Homeland (1992)
• Legendy nowoczesności / Modern Legends (1996)
• Życie na wyspach / Life on Islands (1997)
• Piesek przydrożny / Roadside Dog (1997)
• Abecadlo Miłosza / Milosz's Alphabet (1997)
• Inne Abecadło / A Further Alphabet (1998)
• Wyprawa w dwudziestolecie / An Excursion through the Twenties and Thirties (1999)
• To / It (2000)
• Orfeusz i Eurydyka (2003)
• O podróżach w czasie / On Time Travel (2004)
• Wiersze ostatnie / The Last Poems (2006)

References

ISBN links support NWE through referral fees

• Faggen, Robert, ed. Striving Towards Being: The Letters of Thomas Merton and Czesław Miłosz, Farrar Straus & Giroux, 1996. ISBN 978-0374271008
• Maciuszko, Jerzy J. Striving Towards Being: The Letters of Thomas Merton and Czeslaw Milosz.: An article from: World Literature Today. University of Oklahoma, September 22, 1997, v. 71, Issue n4, p 88.

External links

• Milosz.pl — official website of Czesław Miłosz (Polish)
• Interview with Czesław Miłosz (Georgia Review)
• Czesław Miłosz, Poet and Nobelist Who Wrote of Modern Cruelties, Dies at 93 (New York Times)
• Nobel laureate Czesław Miłosz dies (CBC News)
• Nobel laureate poet Miłosz dies (BBC News)
• Czesław Miłosz Obituary (The Economist)
• Czesław Miłosz memorial (San Francisco Chronicle)
• Nobel poet Czesław Miłosz of Poland and Berkeley, one of the icons of the Solidarity movement, dies (UC Berkeley Press Release)
• Open Directory Project: Czesław Miłosz
• Biography of Czesław Miłosz
• Miłosz reading his poems in English and in Polish at the Internet Poetry Archive on ibiblio.org
• Miłosz reading his poems in English at UC Berkeley, February 3, 2000 (online audio file)
• Miłosz reading his poems in English at UC Berkeley, April 4, 1983 (with Robert Hass and Robert Pinksy (online audio file)
• Information relating to Miłosz as the winner of the Official site 1980 Nobel Prize in Literature

Nobel Prize in Literature: Laureates (1976-2000)

Credits

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