The Witness of Poetry (The Charles Eliot Norton Lectures)

by Czesław Miłosz

Book Overview

Czeslaw Milosz, winner of the 1980 Nobel Prize for Literature, reflects upon poetry's testimony to the events of our tumultuous time. From the special perspectives of "my corner of Europe," a... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0674953835
• Release Date: January 1984
• Publisher: Harvard University Press
• Length: 128 Pages
• Weight: 0.49 lbs.
• Dimensions: 9.0" x 0.4" x 6.1"

Customer Reviews

Bad News: It Witnesses Us

"I have titled this book _The Witness of Poetry_ notbecause we witness it, but because it witnesses us," Miloszsays. This Nobel Laureate who's been around the block is believable when he says it looks like we are in big trouble. That we are a loathsome and self-loathing, despairing, cruel race isn't really news, but Milosz goes further and tells us convincingly how we got to be such [people]. If you follow him this far, you'll want to read on to see what advice he offers before it all goes up the spout (or we simply turn into zombies). So.... either read this short "poetics" and then his tiny book _Road-Side Dog_, or read _Road-Side Dog_ (maybe start with "Beautiful Girl") and then read the _Witness of Poetry_. Pretty amazing guy. -- Oh, and I don't think there'll be a movie.