Synopses & Reviews
The autobiography of the Nobel laureateBefore he emigrated to the United States, Czeslaw Milosz lived through many of the social upheavals that defined the first half of the twentieth century. Here, in this compelling account of his early life, the author sketches his moral and intellectual history from childhood to the early fifties, providing the reader with a glimpse into a way of life that was radically different from anything an American or even a Western European could know.
Using the events of his life as a starting point, Native Realm sets out to explore the consciousness of a writer and a man, examining the possibility of finding glimmers of meaning in the midst of chaos while remaining true to oneself.
In this beautifully written and elegantly translated work, Milosz is at his very best.
Czeslaw Milosz was awarded the 1978 Neustadt International Prize in Literature and the 1980 Nobel Prize in Literature. Since 1962 he has been a professor, now emeritus, of Slavic Languages and Literatures at the University of California, Berkeley. Among his recent publications are Striving Towards Being: The Letters of Czeslaw Milosz and Thomas Merton and Road-side Dog. He lives in Berkeley, California, and Krakow, Poland. In his compelling autobiography, Native Realm, Nobel laureate Czeslaw Milosz offers a vivid account of his early life in his homeland and elsewhere in Europe, from his childhood days to the early 1950s. As a witness to immense social and political upheaval, Milosz examines the development of his own moral and intellectual history against the backdrop of many of the defining events of the twentieth century. These reflections lead him to question the possibility of finding glimmers of meaning in the mist of chaos while, at the same time, remaining true to oneself.
Native Realm: A Search for Self-Definition traces the inimitable efforts of one of the twentieth century's greatest literary figures to define himself, his work, and the world around him. Elegant and eloquent, this vibrant autobiography stands as one of Milosz's most important work. "Amazingly creative . . . Native Realm is an ambitious attempt at an autobiography told as social history."George Gomöri, World Literature Today
"Lucid, graceful and not lacking a sense of the absurd . . . [A] brilliant memoir."Robert Taylor, The Boston Globe
Review
"Powerful . . .
Native Realm is a sinewy, joyful book." --
Newsweek
Synopsis
The autobiography of the Nobel laureateBefore he emigrated to the United States, Czeslaw Milosz lived through many of the social upheavals that defined the first half of the twentieth century. Here, in this compelling account of his early life, the author sketches his moral and intellectual history from childhood to the early fifties, providing the reader with a glimpse into a way of life that was radically different from anything an American or even a Western European could know.
Using the events of his life as a starting point, Native Realm sets out to explore the consciousness of a writer and a man, examining the possibility of finding glimmers of meaning in the midst of chaos while remaining true to oneself.
In this beautifully written and elegantly translated work, Milosz is at his very best.
About the Author
Czeslaw Milosz received the 1978 Neustadt International Prize for Literature and the 1980 Nobel Prize in Literature. He is the author, most recently, of
Road-side Dog and
Milosz's ABC's. He lives in Berkeley, California, and Cracow, Poland.