Adam Zagajewski

Clare Cavanagh

I love to swim in the sea, which keeps talking to itself in the monotone of a vagabond who no longer recalls exactly how long he’s been on the road. Swimming is like prayer: palms join and part, join and part, almost without end. --from "On Swimming" Without End draws from each of Adam Zagajewski's English-language collections, both in and out of print--Tremor, Canvas, and Mysticism for Beginners--and features new work that is among his most refreshing and rewarding. These poems, lucidly translated, share the vocation that allows us, in Zagajewski's words, "to experience astonishment and to stop still in that astonishment for a long moment or two."

New and Selected Poems

Without End

An Essay

Slight Exaggeration

En la belleza ajena

A selection of literary essays from the celebrated poet covers a wide range of topics, from living in exile from the Soviet Union and his memories of reading Nietzsche in Communist Poland to his musings on various cities and his summary of Polish poetry.

Essays

A Defense of Ardor

A stunning new collection from Poland’s 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 he’s 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.

Poems

Asymmetry

True Life

Substancja nieuporządkowana

Eternal Enemies

Solidarity, Solitude

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 history's 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 career—moving meditations on place, language, and history. Unseen Hand is a luminous meeting of art and everyday life.

Unseen Hand

«Fervor», «inspiración» o «sublime» son términos frecuentemente maltratados por la crítica literaria. Nadie mejor que uno de los mejores poetas de nuestros días, un apologeta del poder de aquella iluminación que distingue a la mejor poesía, para restituir sus virtudes a la cultura contemporánea. En los trece ensayos recogidos en el presente libro, Adam Zagajewski llama a defender la serenidad, la valentía, la pasión crítica, la belleza y la seriedad metafísica de la ironía con elocuencia, erudición y punzante sentido del humor.

En defensa del fervor

Adam Zagajewski es un poeta de la claridad. En sus versos asoman inviernos infinitos, sabor de hojas, arboledas y sonidos, casas como un bolsillo en un abrigo, violonchelos, aeropuertos, los vivos y los muertos, un anhelo, la memoria y, a veces, el tiempo circular. Zagajewski es asimismo un poeta visual, de palabras que son celebración del mundo y sus imágenes. Es el canto de un instante que se expande, que involucra, y en el que converge la realidad toda, epifánica y plural, siempre presente. Poeta exiliado, la suya no es, sin embargo, una poesía del exilio. Se le considera una de las figuras más relevantes y con más repercusión internacional de la nueva generación de poetas polacos y, con el libro que hoy presentamos, Acantilado empieza la publicación de su obra poética.

Tierra del fuego

Releer a Rilke

Selected Poems

Tremor

Thomas Chatterton Williams

Leon Wieseltier

David Thomson

Ramachandra Guha

Michael Ignatieff

Joshua Bennett

Mark Lilla

Sean Wilentz

Louise Glück

David Grossman

Sally Satel

Hannah Sullivan

Laura Kipnis

Helen Vendler

Andrea Marcolongo

James Wolcott

Clara Collier

Celeste Marcus

Eli Lake

Moshe Halbertal

Julius Margolin

Shawn McCreesh

Liberties - A Journal of Culture and Politics is a quarterly of essays and poetry from some of the world's most celebrated independent thinkers, leading artists, and up-and-coming literary voices.

Volume I, Issue 1

Liberties Journal of Culture and Politics

This brilliant memoir is Adam Zagajewski's recollection of 1960s and 1970s communist Poland, where he was a fledgling writer, student of philosophy, and vocal dissident at the university in Krakow, Poland's most beautiful and ancient city.

Another Beauty

First published in the United States in 1995 by Farrar, Strauss and Giroux.

On Exile, History, and the Imagination

Two Cities

The third of the Polish poet's collections to appear in English offers delicate, meditative investigations into the mysteries hiding in life's experiences, in nature, in art, and in the pulsations of cities.

Mysticism for Beginners

The highway became the Red Sea. We moved through the storm like a sheer valley. You drove; I looked at you with love. —from "Storm" One of the most gifted and readable poets of his time, Adam Zagajewski is proving to be a contemporary classic. Few writers in either poetry or prose can be said to have attained the lucid intelligence and limpid economy of style that have become a matter of course with Zagajewski. It is these qualities, combined with his wry humor, gentle skepticism, and perpetual sense of history's dark possibilities, that have earned him a devoted international following. This collection, gracefully translated by Clare Cavanagh, finds the poet reflecting on place, language, and history. Especially moving here are his tributes to writers, friends known in person or in books—people such as Milosz and Sebald, Brodsky and Blake—which intermingle naturally with portraits of family members and loved ones. Eternal Enemies is a luminous meeting of art and everyday life.

Adam Zagajewski

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