Polish literature is so little known in the English-speaking world,
or indeed on the continent, that only Sienkiewicz' Quo Vadis can be
said to ring any bells. No doubt this is due to the great flowering
of Russian works which seems to overshadow all other Slavic
contributions, even though, as Czeslaw Milosz points out in his
superb study, Czech and Polish writers reached maturity centuries
before their Muscovite counterparts. Milosz' survey - a sound,
lively, and exhaustive commentary - may now remedy matters,
especially for the interested college student. Certainly, activity
in poetry and drama, if not necessarily in fiction, has not been
lacking in Polish culture. Not only was there a "Golden Age" during
the late Renaissance and "a refinement of taste, which produced
lyrical poetry comparable to that of Elizabetha?? England," but
more important, at least for the reader, all the famous European
movements in philosophy, religion, politics, and the arts
reverberated throughout Warsaw. The Reformation and Romanticism
occasioned particularly fruitful debates, the first surprisingly
strengthening the Catholic hierarchy and the second setting the
wheels of modernism and/or nationalism in operation. So Milosz
deals with history in more than one sense, demonstrating how
unparochial the literary situation in Poland really was and is,
concluding with the present confrontation between Communist and
existential allegiances. A commanding work. (Kirkus Reviews)
This book is a survey of Polish letters and culture from its
beginnings to modern times. Czeslaw Milosz updated this edition in
1983 and added an epilogue to bring the discussion up to date.
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