Between Fire and Sleep: Essays on Modern Polish Poetry and Prose
Jaroslaw Anders
Abstract
Twentieth-century Polish literature is often said to be a “witness to history,” a narrative of the historical and political disasters that visited the nation. This book examines Poland's modern poetry and fiction and explains that the best Polish writing of the period 1918–89 was much more than testimony. Rather, it constantly transformed historical experience into metaphysical reflection, a philosophical or religious exploration of human existence. The book analyzes and contextualizes the work of nine modern Polish writers. These include the “three madmen” of the interwar period—Schulz, Gombr ... More
Keywords: Polish literature, twentieth century, historical disasters, metaphysics, religion, human existence, Schulz, Gombrowicz, Witkiewicz
Bibliographic Information
| Print publication date: 2009 | Print ISBN-13: 9780300111675 |
| Published to Yale Scholarship Online: October 2013 | DOI:10.12987/yale/9780300111675.001.0001 |
