29 September 2004

In the 1980s, side by side with John Paul II and Lech Wałęsa, the name of Czesław Miłosz was a symbol of Poland around the world. An outstanding poet, essayist and Nobel Prize laureate, Miłosz died Aug. 14 leaving an enormous literary achievement and a fascinating life story, which was not free from controversy.

He was called the greatest poet of the 20th century. The writer was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1980 at the age of 69. He died at 93. Miłosz fled the Soviet rule during the war, and later returned to seek his place in the new ruling system in Poland. Years later, he escaped to the West and remained in emigration through the 1990s. Soon after his flight he wrote and published Zniewolony umysł (The Captive Mind), a literary classic devoted to totalitarianism and later a reference book for many activists of the democratic underground in the Soviet-bloc countries.

As a poet, Miłosz remained faithful to the Polish language, although for many years his works, published mainly in foreign publishing houses, were inaccessible to readers in Poland. This changed in 1980 when the Swedish Academy awarded Miłosz the Nobel Prize for literature. The poet who had achieved so much acclaim could no longer be ignored by the communist authorities and he became a symbol of the free word and free art for millions of people in Poland. Meaningfully, the words of his poem "You who wronged..." were carved in the pedestal of the famous Gdańsk monument commemorating the shipyard workers who perished in clashes with the militia in December 1970.

Voice of a nation
Although at a momentous time in history Miłosz played the role of a national poet-a significant role in Poland, where the Romantic tradition is exceptionally powerful-he was also a very controversial figure. While some considered him not only an artistic genius but also a superior authority, and not only on poetry, for others he remained a character whose life history and views raised doubts. The two things of which he was most frequently accused were postwar collaboration with the communist regime, and ambiguity concerning his national self-identification-Miłosz many times spoke of his close ties with Lithuanian culture. As early as 1951, when the poet "chose freedom," leaving his post in the Polish Embassy in Paris, a storm broke around him: he was considered a traitor not only by the communist authorities in Warsaw, but also by many anti-communist Polish émigré circles, who did not want to accept him.

Miłosz himself said that the role of a national poet did not suit him; he did not agree with the Romantic notion of the poet's mission. On the other hand, many of his poems and essays commented on important matters, those at the heart of Polish identity, becoming a conscious mouthpiece for "the nation's conscience." One example is the famous poem Campo di Fiori, which examines Polish attitudes to the extermination of Jews during the German occupation, through the image of a children's carousel on the "Aryan" side of the wall next to the Warsaw Ghetto.

Towards orthodoxy
Although the story of his life was tangled, Miłosz the artist represents a fulfilled fate, writer Antoni Libera observes. "Frequently, outstanding individuals pass away prematurely, leaving the feeling that they could have continued working and created more. In the case of Miłosz, we may speak of an absolutely rare case in the tradition of Polish literature of a fulfilled fate and a destination reached," said Libera after the poet's death. In the memories of his friends, Miłosz was a hard-working man, who remained creative throughout the last years of his life. Over his lifetime, he published about forty books-poem collections, essays, epic poems-the last of which appeared not long before his death.

One of the tasks the artist left unfinished was one that would have surpassed several individuals: in the latter years of his career, the poet's passion was a new Polish translation of the Bible. He began the venture with the publication of the Book of Psalms in 1979, followed by the Book of Job in 1980, the Pentateuch in 1982, the Gospel according to St. Mark, and Revelations in 1984.

His biblical fascination testifies to an evolution of interest of the poet, who late in his life turned increasingly to metaphysics and religion. The poet's need for a clear religious self-identification is best proved by his correspondence with Pope John Paul II. As the Holy See announced immediately after the death of Miłosz, in his last letter to the pope-incidentally, also a poet-he asked for a blessing and confessed that in recent years he had written poems "with the thought of not departing from Roman Catholic orthodoxy." He also asked the pope for words of confirmation that his aspiration was in accordance with the aim of the Holy Father, and obtained such confirmation.

Miłosz's evolution from leftist tendencies in his youth actually started much earlier. In Rodzinna Europa (Native Realm) published in 1959, he wrote about Catholicism as being the most anthropocentric religion, which as if by a surfeit of divine humanity resists the exact sciences that annihilate the individual, paradoxically then it is less endangered than other denominations by the disintegrating influence of science and technology. Even the Earth and Heaven, the Descent and Ascension, have in Catholicism the properties of relations not between worlds, but between humans, wrote Miłosz. This portion from his essay was cited in May 1981 by Polish Primate Stefan Wyszyński, known in Poland as the Primate of the Millennium, in his letter supporting the initiative to grant the Nobel laureate an honorary doctorate from the prestigious Catholic University of Lublin (KUL).

What would St. Stanisław say?
For some extreme circles in Poland, the authority of the Primate of the Millennium and the Polish Pope was not enough to bring Miłosz back into good graces. The solemnity of funeral preparations was disturbed by disputes concerning whether the poet deserved a burial in the Crypt of Honor in Cracow's Church on Skałka, a place for centuries connected with the worship of one of the most important Polish saints, St. Stanisław. The nationalist Catholic media, without mincing words, denied the Nobel laureate the right to a grave in the national burial place, accusing him of being anti-Polish and anti-Catholic, bringing up his cooperation with the communists and referring to him as a Lithuanian poet.

However, the Pauline monks-the caretakers of the Church on Skałka, agreed to the funeral, and accusations by the poet's adversaries met with a firm response from various communities, including a group of Jagiellonian University professors. Miłosz's funeral procession was attended by thousands of people. During the ceremony, friends read his poems aloud. After years of wandering, the artist was buried in Cracow-the city he chose because, as he used to say, it most closely resembled the Vilnius of his youth.

29 September 2004

Childhood
Czesław Miłosz was born June 30, 1911 in Szetejnie (Seteiniai), Lithuania, the first-born son of Aleksander Miłosz and Weronika (neé Kunat). The family had old roots in the gentry. Szetejnie on the Niewiaż (Nevezis) River, the inherited landed estate of the poet's mother, was an enormous influence on his creative work. He referred many times to the Lithuanian memories and landscapes from his childhood and youth.

The future poet's early childhood was already a time of unusual journeys. When in 1913 his father was drafted into the Russian army, he moved to Krasnoyarsk with his parents. In 1917, the young Miłosz saw the October Revolution close up. Scenes from that period can be found in his works, including Dolina Issy (The Issa Valley) and Rodzinna Europa (Native Realm).


Youth
In 1921, Miłosz became a student of the Zygmunt August Junior High School in Vilnius. In 1929, he entered the Department of Humanities of the local Stefan Batory University and later moved to the Department of Law and Social Sciences. After the first year, he debuted with the poems Kompozycja (Composition) and Podróż (Travel) in the university periodical Alma Mater Vilnensis.

In Vilnius, Miłosz belonged to the group of poets Żagary. In a periodical under the same title, he published more poems written in the Catastrophist tone typical of the group. The book debut of Miłosz appeared in 1933: Poemat o czasie zastygłym (A Poem on Frozen Time). One year later, he was granted an award by the Polish Writers Union (ZLP) for literary debut. After graduating in law, he went to Paris on a scholarship from the National Culture Fund (FKN).

In 1935, Miłosz started working for Polish Radio in Vilnius. One year later, however, when nationalist rightists came to the fore in Polish politics, Miłosz was fired "for liberalism."

Trzy zimy (Three Winters) appeared in 1936 in a pressing of 300 copies. The collection, provoking a range of responses from literary critics, became the first success of young Miłosz not only on a local scale in Vilnius but on a national scale in Poland. In the following year, the poet went to Italy. After returning, he moved to Warsaw and resumed work for Polish Radio.


World War II
After the outbreak of the war in September 1939, Miłosz was sent to the front as a radio correspondent. When the Red Army entered the territory of Poland, he got through to Romania, from where he decided to return to Poland. After the Soviets captured Vilnius, Miłosz fled to German-occupied Warsaw, where he actively participated in underground literary life. Among others, he published the collection Wiersze (Poems), the first clandestine poetry publication in occupied Warsaw, under the pen name Jan Syruć. In 1942 Pieśń niepodległa (Invincible Song) was published, an anthology of popular patriotic poems.


New order
After the collapse of the Warsaw Uprising in 1944, Miłosz settled in Cracow and became an editor of the new monthly Twórczość. He published Ocalenie (Rescue), a major collection of poetry from the prewar and occupation periods.

In 1945, Miłosz took up a job as a civil servant at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He was appointed cultural attaché of Poland in New York and Washington, DC, and later in Paris. In 1948, he released Traktat moralny (Moral Treatise), which remained uncensored although it openly described negative processes involving ideologization of culture and socio-political changes in Poland.


Emigration, Paris
In 1951, Miłosz decided to remain in the West. He soon established cooperation with the émigré Literary Institute and the periodical Kultura headed by Jerzy Giedroyc in Paris. Miłosz stayed in France through 1960. His works from this period include Zniewolony umysł (The Captive Mind)-a collection of essays that long paved Miłosz's way to European and American readers. The book, analyzing historical changes in the contemporary Europe, was perceived as an attack on communism. In Paris the collection of poems Światło dzienne (The Light of Day), the political novel Zdobycie władzy (The Seizure of Power), a novel of early memories, Dolina Issy (The Issa Valley), and Traktat poetycki (A Poetical Treatise), which was granted a literary award from Kultura, were published.

During the "thaw" in communist Poland after 1956, Miłosz's poems were also published in the country. For a long time his books were only available in underground publications. In 1958-the year Native Realm appeared in print-Miłosz became a laureate of the Award of the Union of Polish Writers in Exile.


The United States
At the invitation of the University of California and Indiana University, in 1960 Miłosz went to the United States. He joined the faculty at the Department of Slavonic Languages and Literature at the University of California Berkeley, which opened the way to a promotion of Polish literature, especially poetry. In 1965 the anthology Postwar Polish Poetry, collected and translated into English by Miłosz, was released. In this way, he blazed the trail for poets such as Zbigniew Herbert to Western readers. Somewhat later, Miłosz published a significant academic study: The History of Polish Literature.

Miłosz's image in the West as a writer-essayist changed in 1973, when Selected Poems appeared: his first English-language poetry collection, followed by Poems in 1977 and Bells in Winter in 1978.

Miłosz gained increasingly wider recognition. In 1974, the Polish PEN Club awarded him for Polish poetry translations into English. His international acclaim was reinforced by a Guggenheim Fellowship in 1976, an honorary doctorate from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, the Neustadt International Prize for Literature, and Berkeley Citation-the top distinction of the University of California.


Laureate's Return
The Nobel Prize for Literature awarded to Miłosz in 1980 finally brought his work back to the Polish reader. The publishing house Znak officially published the collection of poems Gdzie wschodzi słońce I kędy zapada (Where the Sun Rises and Where It Sets), and the State Publishing Institute (PIW) publishing house launched Dzieła zbiorowe (Collected Works). A number of studies on the writer's work appeared.

In 1981, after many years' absence, Miłosz visited Poland for the first time. Against the background of the Solidarity movement, his was a triumphant homecoming. Miłosz received an honorary doctorate from the Catholic University of Lublin (KUL). However, he returned to America. The following years brought numerous editions of his works in many languages. New works also appeared: Hymn o Perle (The Poem of the Pearl) in 1982 and Nieobjęta ziemia (The Unattainable Earth) in 1984. Kroniki (Chronicles), published in 1988 by Znak, was the first edition-after many years-by Miłosz to appear in Poland.

The poet's first wife Janina died in 1986.
In 1989, Miłosz visited Poland again, once more at a time of momentous changes. He received an honorary doctorate from Jagiellonian University. After that time he returned to Poland with greater frequency. In the same year, he received another honorary doctorate: this time, from Harvard University.

Another important event in the poet's life was his visit after 52 years to Lithuania in 1992. He received an honorary doctorate from the Vytautas the Great University in Kaunas. The Lithuanian edition of Szukanie ojczyzny (In Search of a Homeland) became another success with readers. For his services to Lithuania, Miłosz received the Grand Duke of Lithuania Gediminas Order from President Algirdas Brazauskas.


Cracow
In 1993, Miłosz received honorary citizenship in Cracow, and soon obtained official citizenship, after leaving his home in Berkeley. In 1994, he received the top Polish distinction: the Order of the White Eagle.

His last decade was a period of intense creativity. Every new publication by Miłosz became an event and marked a success on the Polish publishing market, the crowning of which in 1998 was the Nike award for his book Piesek przydrożny (Roadside Dog), combining elements of prose, essay and poetry.
Miłosz died in Cracow Aug. 14, 2004.


So Little

I said so little.
Days were short.

Short days.
Short nights.
Short years.

I said so little.
I couldn't keep up.

My heart grew weary
From joy,
Despair,
Ardour,
Hope.

The jaws of Leviathan
Were closing upon me.
Naked, I lay on the shores
Of desert islands.

The white whale of the world
Hauled me down to its pit.

And now I don't know
What in all that was real.

Translated by Czesław Miłosz
and Lillian Vallee]