Czesław Miłosz: A California Life (Heyday Books) will be out at last on October 19. And Miłosz’s life is a California life, despite the barred “l”s in the poet’s name that stumped so many Americans and marked him as part of “the other Europe,” the half-continent that had been behind the Iron Curtain for much of his life. Hence, his American byline became Milosz, not Miłosz. (Incidentally, the diacritical signifies, in Polish, that the “ł” is pronounced like a “w” … and Polish “w”s are pronounced like “v”s.)
The Nobel poet spent more time in California than any other place during his long 93-year life. He wrote poems about the California landscape, engaged with our culture, and taught generations of students at UC-Berkeley. Some of those students became eminent translators of his work.
The Golden State is truly a state of mind as well as a place, and I was intrigued by how he embraced the land and its people – psychologically, intellectually, and as a poet. I was interested in portraying the California that sinks into us, that we never fully understand, no matter how long we live here – not the media cliché that conceals it. And I wanted to tell the story of the man who had escaped from Stalinist Poland by a miracle, and discuss his great, and often unacknowledged, good fortune to land here among us, where the poet of what he called “an unheard-of tongue” could become a poet of world renown. In California, he could champion Polish poetry, bringing poets such as Zbigniew Herbert into English and publishing the landmark History of Polish Literature and Postwar Polish Poetry. After an initially rocky reception in the United States, he lived for decades on idyllic Grizzly Peak, a literary landmark for Poles today, though little known outside Berkeley.
California Magazine named one the top picks for the fall (see below). And the current Publishers Weekly has a great review: “’The irony is that the greatest Californian poet… could well be a Pole who wrote a single poem in English,’ suggests journalist Haven (Evolution of Desire) in this detailed biography of Czesław Miłosz (1911–2004). California was crucial to Miłosz’s life and work, Haven argues, and notes that the Polish poet had a complicated relationship with the U.S.: ‘He longed for America yet loathed it, too.’”
It concludes: “Much has been written about the poet, and Haven finds new ways into his life […] her examinations of the influence of place on his poetry are insightful. Fans of Miłosz’s work should give this a look.”
As the Mamas and the Papas warbled, “California dreamin’ is becoming a reality.”
Tags: Czeslaw Milosz, Zbigniew Herbert
October 14th, 2021 at 9:19 am
Ta-Daa, indeed! Ta-Daa in letters of gold illumination lighting up the night skies. Sincere Best Wishes for a beautiful debut for your
book and many thanks to you are due from so many for adding so richly to the store of knowledge and understanding of Czeslaw Milosz.
I am looking forward so much to reading your new work so that the next few days until its appearance feel almost like a Christmas countdown to me. What a joyous occasion that will be.
October 19th, 2021 at 5:59 pm
Dear Dr. Haven, I must echo Mary Douglas and say it does feel like an early Christmas! Just recieved your book on the doorstep and am so very much looking forward to reading it. Thank you for this wonderful treasure on Milisz.
October 19th, 2021 at 7:21 pm
Dear Cynthia Haven have been reading your lovely book off and on (through kindle) since 3 a.m. this morning. I was so affected by it I had t stop and do other things to kind of ground myself from being overwhelmed.
Skipping around hunting for treasures through using the index. And it is a beautiful book. Every slice of the cake with a rose on it
so to speak. But the thing I most appreciate is the book seems to register so sensitively the inner world of Milosz in his California years
and in this way is a true homage to him. You have truly achieved something of undeniable beauty and honor. Thank You.