Milosz's Abc's - by Czeslaw Milosz (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

Memories, dreams and reflections from the Nobel Laureate

The ABC book is a polish genre-a loose form related to a hypertext novel-composed of short, alphabetically arranged entries. In Milosz's conception, the ABC book becomes a sort of autobiographical reference book, combining entries concerning characters from his earlier work with references to some of his memory poems. He also writes of real, historical figures like Camus who were particularly influential during his formative years, and of broader topics such as "The City," "Unhappiness," and "Money." Another fascinating entry in Milosz's bold opus, Milosz's ABCs is an engaging tribute to a brilliant mind.

Review Quotes

"Fascinating and charming--The web woven here, in the wisest and most charming of styles, is intricate indeed." --Kirkus Reviews

"Lyrically poetic . . . The tone is intimate but the content - which includes politics, history, art, poetry, and religion - is impressively broad and rich." --Dana Gioia, San Francisco Magazine

"Splendid . . . Milosz's ABC's is a benedictory text, an alphabetical rescue operation, a testimonial to those who have suffered and gone before us, a hymn to the everlasting marvel and mystery of human existence--Milosz [is] arguably the greatest living poet." --Edward Hirsch, The New York Times Book Review

"Eloquent . . . A remarkable fusion of passion and balance." --Richard Eder, The New York Times

"The book captures what is perhaps most characteristic and attractive in Milosz's entire literary output. His writing can be simultaneously a protest against the disappearance of people, objects and images from the physical world, and a celebration of time's unstoppable forward motion . . . Few writers in our time can rival Milosz's ability to render justice to the strange spectacle of the world. We should be grateful for the wisdom of his extraordinary life." --Jaroslaw Anders, Los Angeles Times Book Review

"A remarkable testament to the place of memory in the definition of a conscious self . . . As the two brief entries 'truth' and 'time' eloquently suggest, a life shaped by the terror of political instability and institutionalized brutality relentlessly goes on seeking that order which is the natural desire of every human mind." --Harold Isbell, Commonweal

About the Author

Czeslaw Milosz is the winner of the 1978 Neustadt International Prize in Literature and the 1980 Nobel Prize in Literature. Since 1962 he has been a professor, now emeritus, of Slavic Languages and Literatures at the University of California, Berkeley. His most recent publications are Striving Towards Being: The Letters of Czeslaw Milosz and Thomas Merton (FSG, 1997)and Road-side Dog (FSG, 1998). He lives in Berkeley, California and Krakow, Poland.