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A compelling personal introduction to the life and work of Nobel Prizeâwinning writer CzesÅaw MiÅosz from his fellow Polish exile and acclaimed writer Eva Hoffman CzesÅaw MiÅosz (1911â2004) was a giant of twentieth-century literature, not least because he lived through and wrote about many of the most extreme events of that extreme century, from the world wars and the Holocaust to the Cold War. Over a seven-decade career, he produced an important body of poetry, fiction, and nonfiction, including classics such as The Captive Mind, a reflection on the hypnotic power of ideology, and Native Realm, a memoir. In this book, Eva Hoffman, like MiÅosz a Polish-born writer who immigrated to the West, presents an eloquent personal portrait of the life and work of her illustrious fellow exile. MiÅosz experienced the horrors of World War II in Warsawâthe very epicenter of the infernoâand witnessed the unfolding of the Holocaust from up close. After the war, he lived as a permanent exileâfrom Poland, communism, and mainstream American culture. Hoffman explores how exile, historical disasters, and MiÅoszâs origins in Eastern Europe shaped his vision, and she occasionally compares her own postwar trajectory with MiÅoszâs to show how the question of âthe Other Europeâ is still with us today. She also examines his later turn to the poetry of memory and loss, driven by the need to remember and honor his many friends and others killed in the Holocaust. Combining incisive personal and critical insights, On CzesÅaw MiÅosz captures the essence of the life and work of a great poet and writer. |
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