My Century
The Odyssey of a Polish Intellectual
$42.98
- Paperback
448 pages
- Release Date
15 June 2004
Summary
In My Century, the great Polish poet Aleksander Wat provides a spellbinding account of life in Eastern Europe in the midst of the terrible twentieth century. Based on interviews with Nobel Prize winner Czeslaw Milosz, My Century describes the artistic, sexual, and political experimentation—in which Wat was a major participant—that followed the end of World War I: an explosion of talent and ideas which, he argues, in some ways helped to open the door to the destruction that t…
Book Details
| ISBN-13: | 9781590170656 |
|---|---|
| ISBN-10: | 1590170652 |
| Author: | Aleksander Wat, Czeslaw Milosz |
| Publisher: | New York Review Books |
| Imprint: | NYRB Classics |
| Format: | Paperback |
| Number of Pages: | 448 |
| Edition: | Main |
| Release Date: | 15 June 2004 |
| Weight: | 500g |
| Dimensions: | 130mm x 202mm |
| Series: | New York Review Books Classics |
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Critics Review
“It would be impossible for me to overstate my admiration for this book. It is a magnificent achievement, one of the most moving and powerful books I have ever read.”
Aleksander Wat
Aleksander Wat (1900-1967), born Aleksander Chwat in Warsaw, was a descendant of a distinguished Jewish family with ties to the sixteenth-century cabalist Isaac Luria. He studied philosophy, psychology, and logic at Warsaw University, where he connected with the literary avant-garde. His early works include the poetry collection Me from One Side and Me from the Other Side of My Pug Iron Stove (1920) and the story collection Lucifer Unemployed.
Wat edited influential journals, promoted the work of Mayakovsky and the futurists in Poland, and later joined the Communist Party, focusing his writing on journalism. In 1939, he fled east from the German army, becoming separated from his wife and son. The family reunited in Soviet-controlled Lw w, where Wat worked for a newspaper before his arrest.
Imprisoned in the Soviet Union for nearly two years, Wat converted from Judaism to Christianity. In 1942, he reunited with his family, who had been exiled to Kazakhstan. After the war, they returned to Poland, where Wat resumed writing poetry and served as editor for the state publishing house. In 1963, he moved to France. In 1964, he was invited to the University of California, Berkeley, where he recorded conversations about his life with Czeslaw Milosz. These conversations were published posthumously as My Century, edited by Milosz.
Czeslaw Milosz (1911-2004) was born in Lithuania. His published works include criticism (The Captive Mind), fiction (The Issa Valley), memoir (Native Realm), and numerous poetry volumes. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1980.
Richard Lourie is an acclaimed author of fiction and nonfiction, including The Autobiography of Joseph Stalin and Sakharov: A Biography. He has translated over thirty books and served as Mikhail Gorbachev’s translator for The New York Times. His writings have appeared in prominent publications such as The New York Times, The Washington Post, the New Republic, and The Nation.
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