Milosz's Quest for Affirmation and His Reflections on US-American Culture

In his article "Milosz's Quest for Affirmation and His Reflections on US-American Culture" Joel J. Janicki discusses Czeslaw Milosz's writings in exile devoted to his home in California. Milosz, a Polish Lithuanian poet, essayist, and historian of literature, after experiencing five years of the nazi regime in Warsaw and six years of Stalinized rule in post-World War II Poland, threw himself "into the abyss" of exile. Milosz's writings and translations have served as a bridge between the Polish and Anglo-Saxon cultures seldom encountered on such a scale. At the same time, his ability to look at a distance, his sensitivity to the powers of conformity present in both communist and capitalist states, the breadth of his knowledge, and multiple perspectives combine to give him a rare insight into the human condition. Janicki analyses the choices and priorities Milosz set for himself in coming to grips with US-American culture, geography, and poetry as reflected in his writings.