Between Anxiety and Hope

211 Pages·2011·2.81 MB·English

by  Mozejko, Edward

BETWEEN ANXIETY
AND HOPE
Bust of Czeslaw Milosz by Edmonton artist Danek Mozdzenski. A gift of
the Polish Cultural Society to the University of Alberta, it was unveiled on March 22,
1984 and is on permanent display at the Rutherford Library South, University of
Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta.
BETWEEN ANXIETY
HOPE
AND
The Poetry and
Writing of
CZESLAW MILOSZ
EDITED BY
Edward Mozejko
THE UNIVERSITY OF ALBERTA PRESS
First published by
The University of Alberta Press
Athabasca Hall
Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
1988
Copyright © The University of Alberta Press 1988
"Bells in Winter," "A Short Recess," "Over Cities," "Ars Poetica" copyright
© 1974, 1977, 1978 by Czeslaw Milosz, from Bells in Winter by Czeslaw
Milosz. Published by the Ecco Press in 1978. Reprinted with permission.
"Faith," "Veni Creator," "Osobny zesyt," "Esse," "The World (A naive
poem)," "Reading the Japanese Poet Issa," "Song" copyright © 1984 by
Czeslaw Milosz, from The Separate Notebooks by Czeslaw Milosz. Published
by The Ecco Press in 1984. Reprinted with permission.
"Dawns," "Hymn," "The Gates of Arsenal," "Slow River," "In Warsaw"
copyright © 1988 by Czeslaw Milosz from The Collected Poems, 1931-1987,
by Czeslaw Milosz. Published by The Ecco Press in 1988. Reprinted with per-
ISBN 0-88864-127-3
Canadian Cataloguing in Publication Data
Main entry under title:
Between anxiety and hope
ISBN 0-88864-127-3
1. Milosz, Czeslaw - Criticism and
interpretation. I. Mozejko, Edward.
PG7158.M5532B48 1988 891.8'517 C87-O91272-O
All rights reserved.
No part of this publication may be produced, stored in a retrieval system, or
transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopy-
ing, recording, or otherwise, without prior permission of the copyright owner.
Typesetting by Typeworks, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
Printed by John Deyell Company, Lindsay, Ontario, Canada
CONTENTS
Abbreviations vii
Preface ix
Acknowledgments xv
About the Contributors xvii
Between the Universals of Moral Sensibility and Historical Consciousness:
Notes on the Writings of Czeslaw Milosz i
EDWARD MOZEJKO
Czeslaw Milosz's Apocalypse 30
STANISLAW BERES
The Idea of Reality in the Poetry of Czeslaw Milosz 88
BOGDAN CZAYKOWSKI
Warnings to the West: Czeslaw Milosz's Political Prose of the
1950s 112
MADELINE G. LEVINE
Irony and Choice: Milosz in the Late Forties and Early Fifties 134
PAUL COATES
Milosz as Witness 141
E.D. BLODGETT
Milosz and Post-War Polish Poetry 153
EDWARD MOZEJKO
Appendix: Czeslaw Mitosz's Appearances in Canada
Milosz in Ottawa, 1984 163
ANNA BIOLIK
Milosz in Toronto, 1977, 1980, & 1982 166
MARK KLUS
Vi I CONTENTS
Milosz in Edmonton, 1972 & 1981 171
EDWARD MOZEJKO
A List of Czesiaw Milosz's Books 175
Selected Bibliography of Literary Criticism on Czesiaw Milosz 179
Indices
Subject Index 181
Name Index 183
Title Index 186
ABBREVIATIONS
The following abbreviations have been used to cite quotations of Czeslaw
Milosz's poetry and prose in the text:
MILOSZ'S BOOKS
BW Bells in Winter
CP The Collected Poems, 1931-1987
GWS Gdzie wschodzi stonce i kedy zapada
GZ Gucio zaczarowany
IV The Issa Valley
MBI Miasto bez imienia
NR Native Realm
O Ocalenie
PHI Poezje, Vol. Ill
RE Rodzinna Europa
SD Swiatio dzienne
SN The Separate Notebooks
SP Selected Poems
TP Traktat Poetycki
TZ Trzy zimy. Poezje
UP Utwory poetyckie. Poems
VSF Visions from San Francisco Bay
W(1967) Wiersze (1967)
WP The Witness of Poetry
WSF Widzenia nad zatokq San Francisco
ZU Ziemia Ulro
vii
Viii I ABBREVIATIONS
OTHER SOURCES
WLT World Literature Today 52, no. 3 (Summer 1978)
Complete bibliographic information can be found in the "List of Czeslaw
Mitosz's Books" and the "Selected Bibliography" at the end of this book.
Translations by the individual contributors are initialed.
tr. B.C. translated by Bogdan Czaykowski
tr. P.C. translated by Paul Coates
tr. M.L. translated by Madeline G. Levine
tr. E.M. translated by Edward Mozejko
tr. A.R. translated by Allan Reid
PREFACE
In the recent history of twentieth century Polish literature, Czeslaw Milosz
occupies a unique position: he is the first Polish poet to be awarded the
Nobel Prize for literature. His two other countrymen who attained the
same distinction were novelists: Henryk Sienkiewicz was honoured with
the Nobel Prize in 1905 (incidentally, he was the first Slavic author ever to
receive such a mark of preference) and Wtadyslaw S. Reymont in 1924 for
his "roman fleuve" Chiopi (The Peasants). Considering the belated emer-
gence of Polish prose on the national, and even more so, on the interna-
tional literary scene, this succinct juxtaposition of facts runs contrary to the
logic of literary evolution in Poland and suggests a paradox. For if, indeed,
we are to ask the question of what constitutes the main generic canon of
Polish literature, the answer must be unequivocal: it is poetry. Its national
tradition can be traced from as far back as the Renaissance poetry of J.
Kochanowski and the sonnets of M. Sep-Szarzynski, through the Latin
odes of M.K. Sarbiewski and the Baroque lyrics of the Morsztyn brothers
to nineteenth century Romanticism with its most prominent representa-
tives —A Mickiewicz, J. Slowacki, Z. Krasinski and C.K. Norwid. It is ex-
actly this tradition that brought the literature of Poland into the broader
realm of European culture.
In view of such an evolution, the legitimacy of which can be hardly ques-
tioned, the distinction bestowed on Czeslaw Mitosz seems to carry a partic-
ular weight and as such deserves a closer examination. Realizing the signif-
icance of Milosz's poetry, it should be also noted that this collection of es-
says is not an empty glorification—on the contrary, it is composed of a
series of analytical, in some instances even polemical statements which in
ix