Poetry
The Revolution of Things
Obroty rzeczy
Miron Białoszewski · 1956
Synopsis
The poet's first collection, opening with cycles of ballads that reconstruct, in fragments, vanished worlds, that of the Gothic and that of the pre-war period, and then devoted to the humblest things of everyday life: a stove, a kitchen, a fairground carousel where madonnas ride in painted carriages. The poet plays there with words, sounds and syntax to bring forth the wonder of the ordinary, those eminences grises of enchantment that he celebrates in one of his cycles.
Context
The author, who could not publish under Stalinism, had written his first poems for the drawer; he appeared in 1955 in Życie Literackie, among five poets presented together, with Zbigniew Herbert. The collection, selected by Artur Sandauer, came out in 1956 from PIW. It caused a stir in the press, where the author was accused of snobbery, while Michał Głowiński saw in it a real advance for the art and Czesław Miłosz, in Kultura, hailed an authentic poet.
Who it is for
Short poems, made of wordplay that is hard to translate; in English, a selection has appeared under the title of the collection.
Prizes and reception
The book that made its author one of the major poets of the generation of 1956, and one of the most singular figures of Polish literature.
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