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 Czeslaw
Milosz was born in Szetejnie, 1911 a rural town in
Lithuania .
In 1921 Czeslaw Milosz enters the Zygmunt August High School
in Wilno ,
where he had a strict Roman Catholic education. In 1929 after
graduation, Milosz matriculates in the law department of Stefan
Batory University in Wilno; he is active in the Polish Studies
Literary Club. Milosz received his master of laws degree from
the University of Vilna in 1934. In 1935 in Paris, Milosz studies
at the Alliance Francaise and audits lectures on Thomism at
L'Institut Catholique. Among other poems, he writes "Hymn"
and "Gates of the Arsenal." In 1936 after returning
from France, Milosz begins work as a literary programmer at
Polish Radio in Wilno. The Union of Polish Writers helps him
to publish his second volume of poetry, "Three Winters".
In 1938 Oskar Milosz's translation of "A Song" ("Un
Chant") appears in the French journal "Cahiers du
Sud", the first trans- lation of a poem by Czeslaw Milosz.
His short story "Reckoning" wins a prize in a competition
sponsored by the journal "Pion".1943 -
he writes "The World: A Naive Poem"(Rescuing Poetry,
Triumphal Poems) and the cycle "The Voices of Poor People"
(Rescuing Poetry, Triumphal Poems), and translates Shakespeare's
"As You Like It" on commission from the Underground
Theatre Council. He also takes part in clandestine poetry readings.
Milosz moved to Warsaw. He became a leading figure of the Zagary.
During World War II Milosz was active as a writer - OCALENIE
(1945).
In 1944 he married Janina Dluska. They had two sons.
Between 1946 and 1951 Milosz was in the Polish diplomatic service
in Washington D.C., Between the years 1951 and 1960 Milosz lived
in Paris.
During these years he published TRAKTAT POETYCKI (1957).
Milosz moved in 1960 to the United States, becoming professor
of Slavic languages and literature at University of California
at Berkeley (1960-78). Milosz's writings include essays, poetry,
autobiography, literary history, and translations from such
authors as Walt Whitman, William Shakespeare, John Milton, T.S.
Eliot, and Charles Baudelaire. He continued to write in Polish,
but published many works in English .
Milosz settled in Cracow, where his 90th birthday was widely
celebrated in 2001. He received European Literary Prize (1953),
Kister Award (1967), Neustadt International Prize (1978), National
Medal of Arts (1989). Polish-American author, translator and
critic, who was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1980.
He was also appointed member of American Academy of Arts and
Sciences, and American Institute of Arts and Letters. Milosz's
The History of Polish Literature (1969) is the best introduction
to Polish literature in English. Milosz died in Cracow on August
14, 2004. |
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