Breathing under water and other East European essays
Author(s)
Bibliographic Information
Breathing under water and other East European essays
Harvard University Press, 1990
- : [hbk]
- : pbk
- Other Title
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Breathing under water
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Note
Bibliographical notes: p. 247-251
Includes index
Description and Table of Contents
- Volume
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: [hbk] ISBN 9780674081253
Description
Stanislaw Baranczak, a Polish writer in exile, turns to his colleagues and their plights, in Poland, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, and the Soviet Union, to explain why oppressive regimes could not succeed in their attempts to transform the Eastern European into Homo sovieticus.
These superb essays focus on the role that culture, and particularly literature, has played in keeping the spirit of intellectual independence alive in Eastern and Central Europe. Exploring a variety of issues from censorship to underground poetry, Baranczak shows why, in societies where people struggle to survive under totalitarian rule, art is believed to have the power to make things happen.
He brings into sharp relief the works and personalities of many legendary figures of recent Eastern European political and cultural history from Lech Walesa and Pope John Paul II to Vaclav Havel and Adam Michnik to Czeslaw Milosz, Witold Gombrowicz, Bruno Schulz, and Joseph Brodsky--and makes vivid the context from which they spring. Some of the essays probe the sense of inarticulateness experienced by writers in exile; many represent the literary essay at its best; all reveal that Baranczak is a sophisticated, often savagely funny writer on whom nothing is lost.
This refreshing and provocative book guides us toward a clearer understanding of what has led to the present moment, in which the nations of Eastern and Central Europe, tired of striving to "breathe under water," are finally "coming up for air." It is rewarding reading for anyone interested in art's confrontation with an intractable political reality--wherever it occurs in the world.
Table of Contents
Breathing Under Water Under Eastern Eyes E.E.: The Extraterritorial From Russia with Love The New Alrightniks Pontiffs and Repairmen The Cardinal and Communism Praying and Playing Walesa: The Uncommon Common Man On Adam Michnik The Absolute Horizon Censors and Sense Big Brother's Red Pencil Renouncing the Contract The Godfather, Part III, Polish Subtitles The State Artist Despair and Order Gombrowicz: Culture and Chaos The Face of Bruno Schulz A Masterpiece of Memory The Ecstatic Pessimist Fiction and Action A Russian Roulette Science Friction Wake Up to Unreality The Polish Complex Rhyme and Time Searching for the Real The Power of Taste Solitary Solidarity Shades of Gray The Ethics of Language Alone but Not Lonely Distance and Dialogue The Confusion of Tongues Tongue-Tied Eloquence: Notes on Language, Exile, and Writing "The Revenge of a Mortal Hand" Notes Acknowledgments Index
- Volume
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: pbk ISBN 9780674081260
Description
What has really been happening in Eastern Europe in the 1980s? Stanislaw Baranczak, a Polish writer in exile, reveals that the answer lies not with the party secretaries but with artists and poets. He turns to his colleagues and their plights, in Poland, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, and the Soviet Union, to explain why oppressive regimes could not succeed in their attempts to transform the Eastern European into "homo sovieticus".
Table of Contents
- Breathing under water
- under Eastern eyes - E.E. the extraterritorial, from Russia with love, the new alrightniks
- pontifs and repairmen - the cardinal and communism, praying and playing, Walesa - the uncommon common man, on Adam Michnik, the absolute horizon
- censors and sense - big brother's red pencil, renouncing the contract, "The Godfather" - part 3 Polish subtitles, the state artist
- despair and order - Gombrowicz - culture and chaos, the face of Bruno Schulz, a masterpiece of memory, the ecstatic pessimist
- fiction and action - a Russian roulette, science friction, wake up to unreality, the Polish complex
- rhyme and time - searching for the real, the power of taste, solitary solidarity, shades of Gray, the ethics of language, alone but not lonely
- distance and dialogue - the confusion of tongues, tongue-tied eloquence - notes on language, exile and writing, "The Revenge of a Mortal Hand".
by "Nielsen BookData"
