The Kosciuszko Foundation online programs present a lecture A Lyrical Poet as a Political Writer: The Captive Mind by Czesław Miłosz by Prof. Bozena Shallcross and Prof. Andrzej Karcz.

Milosz is of course the 1980 Nobel Prize winner for Literature and is known predominantly for his poetry. He has also translated into English many works by other Polish poets.

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.

More: KF online page with the program and registration info, Milosz bio

This is a free public event.