Virtual ink for An Invisible Rope at Words Without Borders
Tuesday, April 12th, 2011
Words Without Borders has included a nice summary of the Czesław Miłosz centenary events by Iza Wojciechowska – just when we thought we were the only ones keeping track of the celebrations (with articles here and here and here and here). But nicest of all, WWB gave price of pride to An Invisible Rope, and particularly to the Columbia University launch for the book.
The piece concludes:
The title of the book, An Invisible Rope, comes also from “A Magic Mountain,” a refutation of defeat, perhaps apt for a poet who dealt with political tensions, who was banned in his own country, and yet who became Poland’s best-known poet:
Until it passed. What passed? Life.
Now I am not ashamed of my defeat.
One murky island with its barking seals
Or a parched desert is enough
To make us say: yes, oui, si.
“Even asleep we partake in the becoming of the world.”
Endurance comes only from enduring.
With a flick of the wrist I fashioned an invisible rope,
And climbed it and it held me.Anna Frajlich, one of the contributors to An Invisible Rope and a panelist, recalled running after Miłosz the first time she met him with a copy of his Man Among Scorpions to tell him, “I want to thank you for writing this book.” In a way, An Invisible Rope—and the entire year-long celebration of the poet’s life—is a means for both the people who knew Miłosz and for those who simply admire him, to thank him for writing his books, which contributed much to the canon of Polish and worldwide literature.
