The first literary love – Czesław Miłosz on the early works of Jarosław Iwaszkiewicz

Abstract

Private and literary relations between Czesław Miłosz and Jarosław Iwaszkiewicz lasted for almost fifty years. The period between 1928 and 1929 is actually the first phase of their connections. During these years Miłosz encountered Iwaszkiewicz’s early works, which delighted him (poems as well as prose) with their atmosphere (based on the peculiar language, subject matter, fascination for
the East) and verse structure. What is more, Iwaszkiewicz was the only Polish writer who was able to match the eastern and the western type of the Modernism together. In Miłosz’s opinion in the early Iwaszkiewicz’s works the tradition of Polish poetry remained alive. For all these reasons he always believed, that his choice was right.