Adam Zagajewski

Presents a collection of poems dealing with freedom, fate, history, genius, knowledge, art, consciousness, betrayal, mortality, evil, and politics.

"One of Poland's most important poets, Adam Zagajewski left his childhood home in Gliwice to study philosophy in the ancient city of Krakow. Another Beauty is the retelling of this stage in the development of his poetic sensibility, a period of double liberation: first from the official lies and imposed political collectivism of the regime and later from the imposed intellectual collectivism of the opposition. It is also the story of how he strayed from the straight and scholarly path into reveries of music and poetry." "In this memoir he observes the eccentricities of his professors and student peers, wrestles with the absurdity and hovering menace of Communist politics, and illuminates the strange byways of literary history; from Ovid to Saint Augustine to Czeslaw Milosz."--BOOK JACKET.

A stunning new collection from Polands leading poet Give me back my childhood, republic of loquacious sparrows, measureless thickets of nettles and the timid wood owl's nightly sobs. One of the most vibrant voices of our time, Adam Zagajewski is a modern master of the poetic form. In Asymmetry , his first collection of poems in five years, he revisits the themes that have long concerned him: the enduring imprint of history, the beauty of nature, the place of the exile. Though as sanguine as ever, Zagajewski often turns to elegy in this deeply powerful collection, remembering loved ones hes lost: a hairdresser, the philosopher Krzystzof Michalski, and, most poignantly, his parents. A moving reflection on family, the sublimity of everyday life, death, and happiness, Asymmetry is a magnificent distillation of an astounding poetic voice.

"A new essay collection by the noted Polish poet For Adam Zagajewski--one of Poland's great poets--the project of writing, whether it be poetry or prose, is an occasion to advance what David Wojahn has characterized as his "restless and quizzical quest for self-knowledge." Slight Exaggeration is an autobiographical portrait of the poet, arranged not chronologically but with that same luminous quality that distinguishes Zagajewski's spellbinding poetry--an affinity for the invisible. In a mosaic-like blend of criticism, reflections, European history, and aphoristic musings, Zagajewski tells the stories of his life in glimpses and reveries--from the Second World War and the occupation of Poland that left his family dispossessed to Joseph Brodsky's funeral on the Venetian island of San Michele--interspersed with intellectual interrogations of the writers and poets (D.H. Lawrence, Giorgos Seferis, Zbigniew Herbert, Paul Valéry), composers and painters (Brahms, Rembrandt), and modern heroes (Helmuth James Graf von Moltke) who have influenced his work. A wry and philosophical defense of mystery, Slight Exaggeration recalls Zagajewski's poetry in its delicate negotiation between the earthbound and the ethereal, "between brief explosions of meaning and patient wandering through the plains of ordinary days." With an enduring inclination to marvel, Zagajewski restores the world to us--necessarily incomplete and utterly astonishing. An analysis, in book-length essay form, of the condition and nature of exile"--

One of the most gifted poets of our time, Adam Zagajewski is a contemporary classic. Few writers in poetry or prose have attained the lucid intelligence and limpid economy of style that are the trademarks of his work. His wry humor, gentle skepticism, and perpetual sense of historys dark possibilities have earned him a devoted international following. This collection, gracefully translated by Clare Cavanagh, finds the poet returning to the themes that have defined his careermoving meditations on place, language, and history. Unseen Hand is a luminous meeting of art and everyday life.