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an evening with Adam Zagajewski by marysia pilatowicz April 20, 2002
Mysticism For Beginners; translated by Clare Cavanagh) |
Poetry dwells in rhythmically measured hours of our daily existence. In parks, waiting room, trains and train stations, in subways, hotel rooms and deserted military barracks. It furtively stalks us every hour of every day. It can be found even in a rearview mirror of your car:
In April 2002 he was featured as a guest speaker at H. Modjeska Art and Culture Club in Los Angeles. Zagajewski (born in Lwow in 1945) is a poet of the post WWII generation, whose work is known and enjoyed on both shores of the Atlantic puddle. Since 1983 he has resided in Paris and has lead, like us, the life of an emigrant. Beginning with 1988, each spring he has taught Creative Writing at the University of Houston. In the U.S. he published four poetry collections: Tremor, Canvas, Mysticism for Beginners, and Without End (in February of 2002). His essays Solidarity and Solitude, Two Cities, Another Beauty (with an introduction by Susan Sontag) were also published in English. In his early poems published during the seventies we discover the landscape of our youth; the reality warped and often burdened by the heritage of WWII and earlier conflicts. In the eighties his verses record the experiences of an emigrant, the process of assimilation and acceptance of the role of solitary wonderer and spectator. Prominent literary critic, Maciej Krassowski in the magazine Wiadomosci Kulturalne wrote that after emigrating, like many other poets, Adam Zagajewski suddenly grew wings. The article in question appeared in November 1994 as a result of exceptional circumstance. That year, the name of Adam Zagajewski was entered on the list of candidates for the Noble Prize in literature. Zagajewski was unwittingly competing against Gunter Grass, Milan Kundera, Marguerite Duras, and the eventual recipient of the prize, Kenzaburo Oe. In Poland, at the time of his nomination, he was not associated with any specific published title in his native language by the wider polish readership - an extraordinary feat for a poet. The fact that Zagajewski’s work was translated and easily accessible mainly outside of Poland surely had something to do with it. For many of us, who emigrated many years ago, the encounter with the poetry of Adam Zagajewski was a kind of revelation. When asked about the influence of the "emigration experience" on his work, Zagajewski insisted, that he never considered himself an emigrant because he had left Poland for personal not political reasons. However, after setting individual motives aside, the universal "emigration experience" seems to have certain immutable characteristics. The speaker in Zagajewski’s poems such as Song of an Émigré, In Strange Cities, Traveler, or Postcards observes surrounding reality from a great distance. Cultural alienation, which is normally a consequence of emigration, undoubtedly contributed to such a poetic stance. In those and other poems we find feelings familiar to most emigrants: frustration relating to language barrier, alienation, isolation, homelessness and emotional indifference, even animosity, towards the foreign world. For many among us these symptoms remain incurable, despite the passage of time. In the fall of 2002 Adam Zagajewski and his wife decided to permanently move their residence to Krakow. It will certainly be interesting to observe how this change of milieu will influence his characteristic distance between the speaker in his poems and the observable world. Another literary critic, Jaroslaw Klejnocki, recently cited one of Zagajewski’s latest poems, Autoportret in the magazine Polityka:
During his meeting with members of H. Modjeska Art and Culture Club Adam Zagajewski read poems in Polish from the Pozne Swieta collection (1998). Several were followed by their English translations. He also shared with the audience his latest work; new poems, which he said were still warm like freshly baked rolls, because they were born during his journey to Los Angeles. After the reading Zagajewski answered questions regarding the "emigration motifs" in his work and critical papers concerning this aspect of his poetry. He also shared with the audience his impressions from the extraordinary evening of Polish contemporary poetry organized in New York by the Institute for Humanities and Poetry Society of America. Following the meeting Zagajewski patiently signed books and chatted with enthusiasts of his poetry for many hours. Despite the efforts of the Board of the Modjeska Club to purchase Zagajewski’s poetry books for the Club members the Board was able to acquire only a few copies of each Canvas and Mysticism for Beginners collections. All copies were snatched up by the participants immediately after the meeting. It is an interesting phenomenon that while English translation’s of Zagajewski’s poetry and prose may be ordered through any larger bookstore (Borders or Barnes and Noble, as well as on-line), their polish versions are not available in any of the five Polish bookstores in the U.S. All five were contacted prior to the meeting by Jolanta Zych, the president of the Modjeska Klub. If similar situation exists in bookstores in Poland the literary recognition that may come to Adam Zagajewski abroad may be a great surprise to his countrymen. For those Interested: Adam Zagajewski published four poetry collections in the U.S.: Tremor, Canvas, Mysticism for Beginners, and Without End. His essays, reflections and recollections were also translated and appeared under the following titles: Solidarity and Solitude, Two Cities and Another Beauty (with an introduction by Susan Sontag). |
