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Miłosz. Biografia
Najważniejsza książka o Miłoszu
Nagrodzona Nike Czytelników i Nagrodą im. Kościelskich biografia Czesława Miłosza to owoc dziesięcioletniej pracy jej autora. Andrzej Franaszek – spotykając przyjaciół Poety, badając źródła w Polsce, na Litwie, we Francji i w Ameryce – ukazał Miłosza innego niż ten, którego znamy z podręczników. Widzimy Noblistę jako człowieka pełnego namiętności, niewolnego od błędów, dokonującego dramatycznych wyborów osobistych i politycznych, ale też poznajemy jego wyobraźnię i wrażliwość poetycką. Opowieść o nim to wreszcie panorama XX wieku, wszak – jak to ujęła niegdyś Maria Janion – Miłosz przewędrował "wszystkie piekła i niektóre raje" tego stulecia.
Nagrodzona Nike Czytelników i Nagrodą im. Kościelskich biografia Czesława Miłosza to owoc dziesięcioletniej pracy jej autora. Andrzej Franaszek – spotykając przyjaciół Poety, badając źródła w Polsce, na Litwie, we Francji i w Ameryce – ukazał Miłosza innego niż ten, którego znamy z podręczników. Widzimy Noblistę jako człowieka pełnego namiętności, niewolnego od błędów, dokonującego dramatycznych wyborów osobistych i politycznych, ale też poznajemy jego wyobraźnię i wrażliwość poetycką. Opowieść o nim to wreszcie panorama XX wieku, wszak – jak to ujęła niegdyś Maria Janion – Miłosz przewędrował "wszystkie piekła i niektóre raje" tego stulecia.
992 pages, Hardcover
First published May 7, 2011
26 people are currently reading
277 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
March 3, 2020
Have I been reading this bio for years, or does it only feel that way?
I came to Milosz through his political work, The Captive Mind, a searing analysis of life in the postwar Communist Bloc that earned him a reputation for integrity. It also put him in the category of anti-Totalitarian crusaders like Hannah Arendt, George Orwell, Arthur Koestler and Ayn Rand, which was unfortunate because Milosz was far more conflicted than these writers.
He was, after all, a poet.
Here, in the poem "Dedication," he sets his guilt, over having survived World War II and its atrocities, his desire to memorialize his dead, against his urge to live.
In its meandering way, Franaszek's bio introduced me to Milosz the man and the poet. Having got through it, I am now prepared to seek out his poetry for its own sake.
I came to Milosz through his political work, The Captive Mind, a searing analysis of life in the postwar Communist Bloc that earned him a reputation for integrity. It also put him in the category of anti-Totalitarian crusaders like Hannah Arendt, George Orwell, Arthur Koestler and Ayn Rand, which was unfortunate because Milosz was far more conflicted than these writers.
He was, after all, a poet.
They used to pour millet on graves or poppy seeds
To feed the dead who would come disguised as birds.
I put this book here for you, who once lived
So that you should visit us no more.
Here, in the poem "Dedication," he sets his guilt, over having survived World War II and its atrocities, his desire to memorialize his dead, against his urge to live.
In its meandering way, Franaszek's bio introduced me to Milosz the man and the poet. Having got through it, I am now prepared to seek out his poetry for its own sake.
December 21, 2022
A deficiency in me as a reader is a chronic lack of appreciation for biography. Unfortunately, I have little taste for the genre. And yet - Franaszek's biography was simply superb, keeping my attention from beginning to end. Not only is it well-written and well-crafted, it is regularly insightful. Franaszek's clear love for Milosz and his poetry makes him a convincing reader of Milosz's work. Of course, this is to say nothing of the fact that Milosz lived and wrote during a relentlessly interesting and tumultuous century. A truly outstanding biography.
I'm glad to end 2022 reading this, as I spent much of this year reading Milosz's poetry. His desire to pierce to the Reality of things is admirable, a tendency that makes his poetry profound and luminescent.
I'm glad to end 2022 reading this, as I spent much of this year reading Milosz's poetry. His desire to pierce to the Reality of things is admirable, a tendency that makes his poetry profound and luminescent.
December 8, 2018
I spent nearly a year reading this book thoughtfully. I attended CMC so of course I had read Milosz then and he was often spoken of in class and I saw him across the way when he visited the college but that was 1994 and he was quite famous and no undergraduate students actually approached him.
Reading this book and learning the horrors he inflicted on women, I'm quite glad I was kept away. I was at a very fragile place in my life and a sexual assault by such an aristocrat of my newer better world would have destroyed me. It is not too much to say that it may even have killed me. The author is quite forgiving of him and as I am dragged into being forgiving too due to the greatness of his work and I am then also called to shout the reality of these horrors. You want to see at least his wisdom tainted by these acts, and I think there are places that you do.
By the end of the book, as Milosz himself responds to the awareness of what he had done that he says only grew at the end of his life, one who admires him is drawn to forgive. However the author of the biography pulls his punch, and in doing so perhaps pulls the readers willingness to grant absolution. I am reminded of the Seven Storey Mountain, where Merton bravely allows the reader to condemn him for his own life before he condemns himself. The author here is too protective of Milosz and not willing to allow that to happen. Or perhaps he too is ready to leave Milosz subtly condemned. Perhaps I should not imagine the imaginings of the author.
Yet the story of the women of Milosz's life is not the main story. As is the way of the world we are here to talk about the genius, regardless of what he has done to women. For those who are not familiar, Milosz as a poet and as a man, informed by his Catholic faith, believed profoundly in dealing with the real. His life and homeland had been wrecked by abstract idealists, first the Nazi's attempting to create their ethnostate, and then the Communists attempting to create their utopia. Attention to the real is often criticized as leading to bad faith compromises, "realpolitik" and such. Milosz's whole life was dedicated to showing that in fact the reverse is true, and in the 1990s he saw today's resurgence of authoritarianism coming and tried to share his message even more strongly and pointedly.
The breadth of Milosz's life is astonishing. The people, the places, and the years. He was friends with Robert Frost and also was there that day at CMC in my lifetime. He was tied to Lithuania and Poland in a way that people fight about to this day, and France and the United States. He wrote enormous amounts from his youth until he had lived nearly a century. The book is a well organized overview of all of that and the themes of his work. And as our world falls into new horrors, this presentation of a way out is needed now more than ever.
Reading this book and learning the horrors he inflicted on women, I'm quite glad I was kept away. I was at a very fragile place in my life and a sexual assault by such an aristocrat of my newer better world would have destroyed me. It is not too much to say that it may even have killed me. The author is quite forgiving of him and as I am dragged into being forgiving too due to the greatness of his work and I am then also called to shout the reality of these horrors. You want to see at least his wisdom tainted by these acts, and I think there are places that you do.
By the end of the book, as Milosz himself responds to the awareness of what he had done that he says only grew at the end of his life, one who admires him is drawn to forgive. However the author of the biography pulls his punch, and in doing so perhaps pulls the readers willingness to grant absolution. I am reminded of the Seven Storey Mountain, where Merton bravely allows the reader to condemn him for his own life before he condemns himself. The author here is too protective of Milosz and not willing to allow that to happen. Or perhaps he too is ready to leave Milosz subtly condemned. Perhaps I should not imagine the imaginings of the author.
Yet the story of the women of Milosz's life is not the main story. As is the way of the world we are here to talk about the genius, regardless of what he has done to women. For those who are not familiar, Milosz as a poet and as a man, informed by his Catholic faith, believed profoundly in dealing with the real. His life and homeland had been wrecked by abstract idealists, first the Nazi's attempting to create their ethnostate, and then the Communists attempting to create their utopia. Attention to the real is often criticized as leading to bad faith compromises, "realpolitik" and such. Milosz's whole life was dedicated to showing that in fact the reverse is true, and in the 1990s he saw today's resurgence of authoritarianism coming and tried to share his message even more strongly and pointedly.
The breadth of Milosz's life is astonishing. The people, the places, and the years. He was friends with Robert Frost and also was there that day at CMC in my lifetime. He was tied to Lithuania and Poland in a way that people fight about to this day, and France and the United States. He wrote enormous amounts from his youth until he had lived nearly a century. The book is a well organized overview of all of that and the themes of his work. And as our world falls into new horrors, this presentation of a way out is needed now more than ever.
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August 31, 2017"Franaszek’s biography rightly concentrates on the forces that shaped Miłosz’s poetic development. He is trying to show not only the literary figure but also the private, often desperately neurotic man 'with warts and all.'" - George Gömöri
This book was reviewed in the Sept/Oct 2017 issue of World Literature Today magazine. Read the full review by visiting our website:
https://www.worldliteraturetoday.org/...
This book was reviewed in the Sept/Oct 2017 issue of World Literature Today magazine. Read the full review by visiting our website:
https://www.worldliteraturetoday.org/...
August 10, 2024
Apie 740 puslapių poezijos, dramos, politikos, istorijos ir meilės, 194 puslapiai išnašų ir paaiškinimų.
1918 metais, kai Lietuva tik atkūrė valstybę, pasaulis neatrodė taip romantiškai kaip šimtmečio jubiliejaus dokumentikoje. Kai kurioms šeimoms teko rinktis visam gyvenimui, kurioje jos pusėje - Lietuvos ar Lenkijos. Milošo tėvai pasirinko lenkybę, gimtieji senelių iš mamos pusės Šeteniai liko Lietuvoje. Jau mokydamasis gimnazijoje Vilniuje Milošas su mama nelegaliai pereidavo sieną. ‘Ypač nemalonu, kai tave, dešimtmetį, sugauna Lietuvos sargybiniai ir tu kiaurą dieną kaip vienišas kalinys sėdi tvarte‘ - yra kažkur rašęs.
Lenkų atplėštas Vilnius, kuriame gimnazijoje mokėsi ir universitete studijavo Milošas, tarpukariu gyveno turiningą ir audringą kultūrinį gyvenimą, apie kurį neturime beveik jokio supratimo. Eidama K. Kalinausko gatve kaskart pakeliu galvą į atminimo lentą poetui ant buvusios Vilniaus Žygimanto Augusto berniukų gimnazijos sienos.
Istorija, kaip po karo Milošas buvo grąžintas iš Lenkijos ambasados JAV, kur dirbo, į komunistinę Lenkiją, kaip vėliau jam pavyko vėl ištrūkti dirbti į ambasadą Paryžiuje ir ten su Jerzy Giedroyco pagalba pabėgti nuo komunistinių spectarnybų - pamiršusiems, koks totalus mėšlas yra socializmas, totalitarizmas ir visi kiti rusijos imperijos užnešti -izmai.
Ar Milošas turėjo lietuvišką pasą? Klausimas, nedavęs ramybės lenkų nacionalistams per didelę dalį biografijos. Atrodo, kad turėjo. Tarpukariu, dar savo mokslų laikais jaunas ir biednas atsidūręs Paryžiuje, vaikščiojo ne į Lenkijos, o į Lietuvos ambasadą - pas dėdę Oskarą Milašių, bendravo su ambasadoriumi Petru Klimu. Slapčia, nes Lietuva su Lenkija tada net nepalaikė diplomatinių santykių.
„Gera yra gimti mažoje šalyje, kur gamta yra žmogiško masto, kur per šimtmečius drauge gyveno įvairios kalbos ir religijos. Aš kalbu apie Lietuvą - padavimų ir poezijos kraštą. Mano šeima jau šešioliktame amžiuje kalbėjo lenkiškai, lygiai kaip daugelis šeimų Suomijoje kalbėjo švediškai, o Airijoje - angliškai, todėl aš esu lenkų, ne lietuvių poetas. Bet Lietuvos gamtovaizdžiai, o gal ir jos dvasios manęs niekada neapleido“ - kalbėjo Milošas 1980 metų gruodžio 10 dieną Stokholme atsiimdamas Nobelio literatūros premiją.
Labai.
1918 metais, kai Lietuva tik atkūrė valstybę, pasaulis neatrodė taip romantiškai kaip šimtmečio jubiliejaus dokumentikoje. Kai kurioms šeimoms teko rinktis visam gyvenimui, kurioje jos pusėje - Lietuvos ar Lenkijos. Milošo tėvai pasirinko lenkybę, gimtieji senelių iš mamos pusės Šeteniai liko Lietuvoje. Jau mokydamasis gimnazijoje Vilniuje Milošas su mama nelegaliai pereidavo sieną. ‘Ypač nemalonu, kai tave, dešimtmetį, sugauna Lietuvos sargybiniai ir tu kiaurą dieną kaip vienišas kalinys sėdi tvarte‘ - yra kažkur rašęs.
Lenkų atplėštas Vilnius, kuriame gimnazijoje mokėsi ir universitete studijavo Milošas, tarpukariu gyveno turiningą ir audringą kultūrinį gyvenimą, apie kurį neturime beveik jokio supratimo. Eidama K. Kalinausko gatve kaskart pakeliu galvą į atminimo lentą poetui ant buvusios Vilniaus Žygimanto Augusto berniukų gimnazijos sienos.
Istorija, kaip po karo Milošas buvo grąžintas iš Lenkijos ambasados JAV, kur dirbo, į komunistinę Lenkiją, kaip vėliau jam pavyko vėl ištrūkti dirbti į ambasadą Paryžiuje ir ten su Jerzy Giedroyco pagalba pabėgti nuo komunistinių spectarnybų - pamiršusiems, koks totalus mėšlas yra socializmas, totalitarizmas ir visi kiti rusijos imperijos užnešti -izmai.
Ar Milošas turėjo lietuvišką pasą? Klausimas, nedavęs ramybės lenkų nacionalistams per didelę dalį biografijos. Atrodo, kad turėjo. Tarpukariu, dar savo mokslų laikais jaunas ir biednas atsidūręs Paryžiuje, vaikščiojo ne į Lenkijos, o į Lietuvos ambasadą - pas dėdę Oskarą Milašių, bendravo su ambasadoriumi Petru Klimu. Slapčia, nes Lietuva su Lenkija tada net nepalaikė diplomatinių santykių.
„Gera yra gimti mažoje šalyje, kur gamta yra žmogiško masto, kur per šimtmečius drauge gyveno įvairios kalbos ir religijos. Aš kalbu apie Lietuvą - padavimų ir poezijos kraštą. Mano šeima jau šešioliktame amžiuje kalbėjo lenkiškai, lygiai kaip daugelis šeimų Suomijoje kalbėjo švediškai, o Airijoje - angliškai, todėl aš esu lenkų, ne lietuvių poetas. Bet Lietuvos gamtovaizdžiai, o gal ir jos dvasios manęs niekada neapleido“ - kalbėjo Milošas 1980 metų gruodžio 10 dieną Stokholme atsiimdamas Nobelio literatūros premiją.
Labai.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
June 10, 2018
The life of a great intellectual, poet, Noble prize laureate, sage and the man who did not want to be a slave to his government. It’s a complex story of a complex man, with warts and all, not unlike many of the outstanding personalities, who reached the top of their profession whilst not always being the model human beings. His personal life aside, he could be considered a genius, with wisdom to share about life, religion, politics and meaning of all this.
Quotes:
(Page 105) Many years passed before Milosz was able to accept the rites of the Catholic mass as a means to enable humankind to transcend their imperfections, their sinfulness and silliness, to be lifted up to spiritual reality, to some kind of, though perhaps uncertain, recognition of God.
(Page 456) Milosz’s warning that ‘whoever considers as normal the order of things in which the strong triumph, and the weak fail, and life ends with death accepts the devil’s rule’
(Page 459 – from ‘If There Is No God’)
“If there is no God
Not everything is permitted to man.
He is still his brother’s keeper
And his is not permitted to sadden his brother
By saying that there is no God.”
Quotes:
(Page 105) Many years passed before Milosz was able to accept the rites of the Catholic mass as a means to enable humankind to transcend their imperfections, their sinfulness and silliness, to be lifted up to spiritual reality, to some kind of, though perhaps uncertain, recognition of God.
(Page 456) Milosz’s warning that ‘whoever considers as normal the order of things in which the strong triumph, and the weak fail, and life ends with death accepts the devil’s rule’
(Page 459 – from ‘If There Is No God’)
“If there is no God
Not everything is permitted to man.
He is still his brother’s keeper
And his is not permitted to sadden his brother
By saying that there is no God.”
February 23, 2023
I've read the English translation by Aleksandra and Michael Parker. While I've long read Milosz's poetry and prose, in pieces from many different years, and knew patches of his life, this biography gave me the long overview of both his life and his writing. Remarkable.
March 5, 2021
Więcej takich biografii!
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April 19, 2025Dnf
August 8, 2025
Wybitna, szczególnie drugi tom.
October 22, 2025
Nie wiem kto jest bardziej pretensjonalny – autor czy sam Miłosz
January 5, 2019
In depth biography
Very, long and in depth biography of Polish Nobel laureate. This makes the first third fascinating with detailed descriptions of the lives of Poles in the first half of the 20th century. After that, not being Polish, I found the details of the people and events hard to wade through. With more background it is probably a 5 star book.
Very, long and in depth biography of Polish Nobel laureate. This makes the first third fascinating with detailed descriptions of the lives of Poles in the first half of the 20th century. After that, not being Polish, I found the details of the people and events hard to wade through. With more background it is probably a 5 star book.
Read
August 31, 2018Biog M661f 2017
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews