Event
A Lyrical Poet as a Political Writer. The Captive Mind by Czeslaw Milosz - A talk by Prof. Bozena Shallcross and Prof. Andrzej Karcz
The year 2021 marks 110 years since the birth of Czesław Miłosz and 70 years since he escaped communist Poland to seek political asylum in France. Leading scholars Professors Bożena Shallcross of the University of Chicago, and Andrzej Karcz, PAN, will discuss Milosz’s “The Captive Mind” in the webinar “A Lyrical Poet as a Political Writer” held on June 25.
FRIDAY, JUNE 25, 2021, AT 2:00PM
As the author of The Captive Mind, a book of essays on politics and postwar Polish intellectuals who embraced communism, Czesław Miłosz was labeled "a political writer." While acknowledging that some of his writings were political indeed, he distanced himself from them and defied this arbitrary classification. After all, he considered himself – and he truly was – a lyrical poet. What is the place of The Captive Mind in Miłosz's literary output, then? To answer this question, the lecture will explore the work's main features and discuss some events of the poet's biography and postwar European history.
Information
See also
Vladimir Nabokov and the Fictions of Memory
Almost 40 years after Nabokov's death his texts continue to function as literary Fabergé eggs in which scholars keep finding hidden surprises and previously overlooked details. As Nabokov wrote in Conclusive Evidence, "the unravelling of a riddle is the purest and most basic act of the human mind." However, readers and critics are divided on the issue of whether Nabokov is a postmodern riddle-maker enjoying the game itself without enabling the player to reach the ultimate solution, or whether the riddles are solvable by a reader astute enough to follow all the sophisticated patterns and allusions which point to Nabokov's metaphysical convictions.
Allen Kuharski, Richard Lowe: The Digital Archiving of Performance Data: The Case of Witold Gombrowicz / Otwarte zebranie Centrum Humanistyki Cyfrowej IBL PAN
Literature in Exile Between ‘Authorship’ and ‘Translation’: The Central and Eastern European Experience
This conference aims to examine the complex relationship between ‘authorship’ and ‘translation’ in the work of the 20th-century Central and Eastern European writers in exile who were also translators. In the context of the reassessment of ‘literariness’ in the latter half of the 20th century, the conference is particularly focused on the overlapping relationship between both these concepts, which are seen as interrelated, historically variable categories of literary creativity of exiled writers in redefining themselves against the nationalist narratives. The workshop will thus contribute to the discussion on cultural translation and post-national literature in general.
Bednarczyk's Press and Feliks Topolski: Artists under Waterloo Arcades. Guided Tour
Welcome to a guided tour exploring the history of Polish art and emigration in the dynamic and vibrant context of London. This bilingual event is organised by the Research Centre on the Legacy of Polish Migration and Blue Point Art Gallery. We invite you to join us for a series of engaging conversations. Discover how the social responsibility of academic research, digital humanities and interdisciplinarity can enhance the contributions of the Polish community to London's cultural landscape.