Czesław Miłosz
1911-2004
Miłosz may first and foremost be a writer, but he spreads himself across a very broad field as a translator, diplomat, literary scholar and historian, often letting others have their say rather than interpreting their thoughts himself.
Miłosz has written, among other things, an excellent anthology of Polish literature in English and a vivid introduction to the harsh realities in the interwar period.
After WWII He worked as a diplomat for the communist government in the US and Paris.
In 1951 he was granted political asylum in France, which meant that his books were not published in Poland until after 1980, when he received the Nobel Prize and the political climate in Poland loosened up.
However, he has been read in the so-called “second distribution”, which consisted of cheap illegal literary publications that passed from hand to hand.
Moved back to Poland in 1993.
The poem “Love” by Czesław Miłosz with drawings:
Please send an email to m@hardenfelt.pl if you would like an English-speaking tour guide to show you the most important places in Warsaw.