![[Milosz picture]](Milosz_01.JPG)
Czeslaw Milosz -- poet, writer, historian
Czeslaw Milosz was born in a small village near Wilno, Poland where he studied law and made his literary debut as a poet in 1930. From 1934 to 1935 he studied in Paris on a scholarship and then returned to Poland to work for Polish radio in Wilno and Warsaw. An outspoken critic, he was active in the Polish resistance against German occupation during World War II. He wrote some anti-Nazi poems during this period.
From 1945 to 1950 he was a Polish diplomat in Washington, D.C. and Paris. When he was recalled to Poland he refused to go, saying "I know perfectly well that my country has become a province of an empire." In 1950, with his wife and two sons, Milosz settled in Berkeley, California where he taught Slavonic languages at the University of California. He became a United States citizen in 1970.
In 1978 he was awarded the Neustadt International Prize in literature and in 1980 he was awarded the Nobel Prize in literature. In 1981 the Catholic University at Lublin, Poland gave him an Honorary Doctorate.
From: Wally West
Czeslaw Milosz
Nobel Prize Laureate for Literature in 1980
by Nancy Kellner
On a beautiful November day, l drove through the scenic Berkeley Hills to the home of Nobel Laureate, Czeslaw Milosz. When l entered his home, overlooking San Francisco and much of the Bay Area, the piles of yet unread mail confirmed that he had just returned from a trip. Only a few days before, Milosz had returned from Krakow, where he received an honorary doctorate degree from the Jagiellonian University and gave a speech and a series of lectures to the students there. He also spoke at the University of Warsaw.
Who is Czeslaw Milosz? Milosz won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1980, but has been active in the area of literature for many years. After World War II, Milosz was in the diplomatic service of Poland, and was stationed in Washington for a few years. Some years later, in 1960, he was invited by the University of California, Berkeley, to be a visiting lecturer. After a few months, he was offered a tenured position and felt that he could not decline. At this point, Milosz became a resident of California. In the late-1970's, Milosz retired, though he actually taught for three more years. Still, he finds that the University library provides excellent conditions for work.
One topic of our conversation was education. According to Milosz, high school graduates in Europe know more than high school graduates in America. However, the American students seem to make up for this during their college years. In Poland, Milosz's lectures were attended by many students, some of whom were sitting in the aisles. After each lecture, students formulated questions in writing, and presented them to the chair. These questions showed profound knowledge of Milosz's books and poetry.
Milosz spends time in Paris, where he recently gave seminars on poetry and philosophy. He divides his time between California and France, and of late, Poland. He now has a standing invitation to teach at the Jagellonian University. In Paris, a French translator worked with Milosz on his poetry, though the French language actually doesn't present him with any difficulty - he can speak and write in the language. Milosz, however, is glad to live in America. He believes that Americans are more open to poetry, which comprises the bulk of his work. At the present time, Americans seem more curious than Western Europeans.
When asked about what he feels is his best work, Milosz responded that it depends on the language in which the work is being read. In English, he believes that Collected Poems represent his best poetry. He considered as his best prose The Issa Valley and The Captive Mind. For many years, The Captive Mind was forbidden in Poland, as it was seen to be an anti-communist work. However, when in Poland this last time, Milosz received an edition of the book of which 100,000 copies had been printed. Currently, in Poland, there is no problem of freedom of writing; but, there is a problem of technical costs for paper and printing materials. For not only his own work, but also for other Central European authors, there is the problem of finding adequate translations. This is of special importance in the teaching profession.
At the University of California, Milosz gave a seminar on translating, and, with his students, created an anthology of post-war Polish poetry, available from the University of California Press. As modern Polish poetry abandons meter and rhyme, it is easier to translate. Poetry which has strictness of form requires difficult transposition, as seen in translations of Shakespeare to Polish and Russian. In addition, a lot is lost merely through the act of translating. Milosz feels that his greatest contribution to the Polish American community is his History of Polish Literature, a book which has a great following among American poets. The book was actually dictated, as it came straight from notes from classes which he taught.
Is there an overall message in the works of Czeslaw Milosz, and, if so, what is it? If the author were to reveal the answer to this question, there would be no point in writing at all. Even the inattentive reader can find the message in Milosz's works. His main goal appears to be to share something with humanity. Milosz truly enlightened me on the topics of literature and education.
From: Polish Americans in California, vol. II. National Center for Urban Ethnic Affairs & Polish American Historical Association. California 1995.