Czeslaw Milosz

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's works are notable for insights into religion, philosophy, nature, and politics. Milosz is respected for having had the openness to eternity that enlarges a poet's vision.

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 portended.

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 tragic fate of the Poles and Jews surrounding him were deeply burned into his mind. He personally witnessed the end of the walled Jewish ghetto in Warsaw.

In response to this horror, Milosz offered “The World” (Swiat) (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. Yet Milosz remains civil, even courteous to his enemies. There is empathy for those who have been co-opted. A profound effort to truthfully understand their characters is evident.

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. OUt of this spiritual awareness, which touched almost every dimension of his life, he wrote Unattainable Earth (Nieobjeta Ziemia). The longing awakened by his intimate, pure, and unselfconscious 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.

Milosz is one of a number of Central European writers and intellectuals who clung tenatiously to the moral role of memory. This, Milosz believed, was a distinctly Central European contribution to world literature and thought. In his History of Polish Literature, Milosz speaks at length about the place of memory in cultural and moral survival.

Milosz is respected for his own prophetic insights. He not only proclaimed the coming of the catastrophe that was World War II, even foretelling the crematoriums. He prophesied that democratic movements in Central Europe, such as that forged by the Polish labor union Solidarity (Solidarnosz), would outlast tyranny.

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's 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 in Europe and America including one from Harvard (1989) where he gave the Charles Eliot Norton Lectures (1982).

Fellow Nobel Laureate, the Russian poet Joseph Brodsky wrote, "I have no hesitation whatsoever in stating that Czeslaw Milosz is one of the greatest poets of our time, perhaps the greatest."

Works

File:Herb Lubicz.jpg

Lubicz coat-of-arms.

Works in Polish

Poemat o czasie zastygłym. (Poem of Frozen Time.) Wilno: Kolo Polonistów Sluchaczy Uniwersytetu Stefana Batorego, 1933
Trzy zimy. (Three Winters.) Wilno: Zwiazek Zawodowy Literatów Polskich, 1936
Wiersze. (Verses.) Lwów, 1939
Ocalenie. (Rescue.) Warsaw: Czytelnik, 1945
Swiatlo dzienne. Paris: Instytut Literacki, 1953
Zniewolony umysł. (The Captive Mind.) Paris: Instytut Literacki, 1953
Zdobycie władzy. (The Seizure of Power.) Paris: Instytut Literacki, 1955
Dolina Issy. (The Issa Valley.)Paris: Instytut Literacki, 1955
Traktat poetycki. (A Poetical Treatise.)Paris: Instytut Literacki, 1957
Kontynenty. Paris: Instytut Literacki, 1958
Rodzinna Europa. (Native Realm.) Paris: Instytut Literacki, 1959
Człowiek wśród skorpionów : studium o Stanislawie Brzozowskim. Paris: Instytut Literacki, 1962
Król Popiel i inne wiersze. (King Popiel and Other Poems.) Paris: Instytut Literacki, 1962
Gucio zaczarowany. (Gucio Enchanted.)Paris: Instytut Literacki, 1965
Miasto bez imienia. (City Without a Name.) Paris: Instytut Literacki, 1969
Widzenia nad zatoką San Francisco. (Visions of San Francisco Bay.) Paris: Instytut Literacki, 1969
Prywatne obowiązki. (Private Obligations.) Paris: Instytut Literacki, 1972
Gdzie wschodzi słońce i kędy zapada i inne wiersze. (Where the Sun Rises and Where It Sets.) Paris: Instytut Literacki, 1974
Utwory poetyckie. Ann Arbor, MI: Slavic Publications, 1976
Ziemia Ulro. (The Land of Ulro.) Paris: Instytut Literacki, 1977
Ogród nauk. (The Garden of Learning.) 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. (The Poem of the Pearl.) Paris: Instytut Literacki, 1982
Piesń obywatela. Kraków: Wydawnictwo Swit, 1983
Dialog o Wilnie. Warsaw: Spoleczny Instytut Wydawniczy "Mlynek," 1984
Nieobjęta ziemia. (Unattainable Earth.) 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. (Chronicles.)Paris: Instytut Literacki, 1987
Metafizyczna pauza. (The Metaphysical Pause.) 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. (Facing the River.) 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. (Modern Legends.) Kraków: Wydawnictwo Literackie, 1996
Poezje wybrane. (Selected Poems.) Kraków: Wydawnictwo Literackie, 1996
Abecadło Miłosza. (Milosz's Alphabet.) Kraków: Wydawnictwo Literackie, 1997
Piesek przydrozny. (Road-Side Dog.) Kraków: Znak, 1997
Zycie na wyspach. (Life on Islands.) Kraków : Znak, 1997
Antologia osobista : wiersze, poematy, przeklady. Warszawa : Znak, 1998
Dar. (Gabe.) Kraków : Wydawn. Literackie, 1998
Inne abecadło. (A Further Alphabet.) 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. (An Excursion through the Twenties and Thirties.) Kraków : Wyd. Literackie, 1999
To. ('It.) Kraków : Znak, 2000
Wypisy z ksiag uzytecznych. Kraków : Wydawn. Znak, 2000
Wiersze. 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 by Jane Zielonko. New York: Vintage, 1953. ISBN: 978-0141186764
The Usurpe. Translated by Celina Wieniewska. London: Faber, 1955
Native Realm: a Search for Self-Definition. Translated by Catherine S. Leach. Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1968. ISBN: 978-0374528300
Selected Poems. Translated by Czesław Miłosz and Peter Dale Scott. Harmondsworth, UK: Penguin, 1968.
Bells in Winter. Translated by the author and Lillian Vallee. New York: Ecco Press, 1978. ISBN: 978-0880014564
Nobel Lecture. New York: Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 1980. ISBN: 978-0374516543
Emperor of the Earth : Modes of Eccentric Vision. Berkeley: Univ. of Calif. P., cop. 1981. ISBN: 978-0520045033
The Issa Valley. Translated by Louis Iribarne. New York: Farrar, Straus & Girous, 1981. ISBN: 978-0374516956
The Seizure of Power. Translated by Celina Wieniewska. New York: Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 1982. ISBN: 987-0374257880
Visions from San Francisco Bay. Translated by Richard Lourie. New York: Farrar, Strauss & Giroux, 1982. ISBN: 978-0374517632
The History of Polish Literature. University of California Press, 1983. ISBN: 978-0520044777
The Witness of Poetry. Cambridge, MA.: Harvard University Press, 1983. ISBN: 978-0674953833
The Separate Notebooks. Translated by Robert Hass and Robert Pinsky with the author and Renata Gorczynski. New York: Ecco Press, 1984. ISBN: 978-0880011167
The Land of Ulro. Translated by Louis Iribarne. New York: Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 1984. ISBN: 978-0374519377
The Rising of the Sun. San Francisco: Arion Press, 1985.
The View. New York: Whitney Museum of American Art, 1985.
Unattainable Earth. Translated by the author and Robert Hass. New York: Ecco Press, 1986. ISBN: 978-0880011020
Conversations with Czeslaw Milosz. Czeslaw Milosz speaks with Ewa Czarnecka, Alexander Fiut, Renata Gorczynski, and Richard Lourie. New York: Harcourt, Brace, Jovanovich, 1987. ISBN: 978-0151225910
Exiles. Photographs by Josef Koudelka ; Essays by Czeslaw Milosz. New York: Aperture Foundation, 1988. ISBN: 978-0500541456
Swiat. (The World.) Translated by the author. Introduction by Helen Vendler. 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, NJ: Ecco Press, 1991. ISBN: 978-0880013178
Beginning With My Streets : Essays and Recollections. Translated by Madeline G. Levine. New York: Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 1992. ISBN: 978-0374110109
A Year of the Hunter. Translated by Madeline G. Levine. New York: Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 1994. ISBN: 978-0374524449
Facing the River : New Poems. Translated by the author and Robert Hass. Hopewell, NJ: Ecco Press, 1995. ISBN: 978-0880014540
Striving Towards Being : the Letters of Thomas Merton and Czeslaw Milosz. Edited by Robert Faggen. New York: Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 1997. ISBN: 978-0374271008
Road-Side Dog. Translated by the author and Robert Hass. New York: Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 1998. ISBN: 978-0374526238
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. ISBN: 978-0060185244
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. ISBN: 978-0374528591
New and Collected Poems 1931-2001. London: Penguin Press, 2001. ISBN: 978-0060514488
Milosz's ABCs. Translated by Madeline G. Levine. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2001. ISBN: 978-0374527952
Second Space : New Poems. Translated by the author and Robert Hass. New York: Ecco, 2004. ISBN: 978-0060755249
Legends of Modernity : Essays and Letters from Occupied Poland, 1942-1943. Translated by Madeline G. Levine. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2005. ISBN: 978-0374530464
Selected Poems, 1931-2004. Foreword by Seamus Heaney. New York: Ecco, 2006. ISBN: 978-0060188672

Literature on Milosz

Volynska-Bogert, Rimma, Czeslaw Miłosz: an International Bibliography 1930-1980. Ann Arbor, MI., 1983. ISBN: 978-0930042523
Davie, Donald, Czeslaw Miłosz and the Insufficiency of Lyric. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1986. ISBN: 978-0521322645
Between Anxiety and Hope: the Poetry and Writing of Czeslaw Miłosz. Edited by Edward Możejko. Edmonton: Alta, 1988. ISBN: 978-0888641274
Dompkowski, Judith A., Down a Spiral Staircase, Never-Ending : Motion as Design in the Writing of Czeslaw Miłosz. New York: Lang, 1990. ISBN: 978-0820409795
Fiut, Alexander, The Eternal Moment: The Poetry of Czeslaw Milosz. Translated by Alexander Fiut and Theodosia S. Robertson. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1990. ISBN: 978-0520066892
Nathan, Leonard and Quinn, Arthur, The Poet's Work: An Introduction to Czeslaw Milosz. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1991. ISBN: 978-0674689701
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. ISBN: 978-0820434643

External links

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to:

Czeslaw Milosz

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