That Czeslaw Milosz is a commanding figure in contemporary letters goes without saying. When he received the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1980, at the age of 69, the tribute was immediately recognized as entirely appropriate. Even those who rarely read poetry applauded the Swedish Academy’s decision.
Milosz had been known for 30 years as a trusted witness of the allure and horror of totalitarianism, and The Captive Mind in particular was widely held to be a central work in the political imagination of the 20th century. Born in Szetejnie in rural Lithuania, Milosz has remained faithful to his origins in central Europe, even though extreme politics have forced him to live most of his life in exile: first in France and then, for many years in the United States. When language is controlled by the state, no poet can serve; and Stalinism was uncompromising in its hold on language in Poland. A poet above all, Milosz had to choose between the country for which he wrote and his freedom to write. It was a cruel choice. Prized for the humanity of his moral vision, as evidenced in many essays and lectures, he is more highly regarded for his verse. And had he not elected a life in exile, a life largely spent unable to speak the language in which he writes poetry, we would not have this vast body of work before us.
‘I belong to the estate of Polish literature and to no other,’ Milosz declares in the opening essay of To Begin Where I Am, and towards the end of the collection he adds, ‘Polish is my fatherland, my home, and my glass coffin. Whatever I have accomplished in it—only that will save me.’ These are forceful and honest words; and yet Milosz is revered in America as well as Poland, and the bulk of his admirers, including me, approach him solely in translation. Without a doubt, Milosz’s moral authority has lit the way to an appreciation of his poetry, especially in the United States. And once the poetry is read one must be impressed by the range and intensity of the work. Here is a massive body of writing with deep roots not only in European history but also in western philosophy, a work that responds to political horror while affirming the beautiful, a ceaseless and passionate meditation on life that is religious yet never at ease