Forensic Translation Forensic Translation
Translation is not the art of failure but the art of the possible.
Apr 7, 2015 / Books & the Arts / Benjamin Paloff
Poetry and Catastrophe Poetry and Catastrophe
By privileging historical catastrophe, a new poetry anthology narrows the definition of art.
Sep 30, 2014 / Books & the Arts / Benjamin Paloff
More Than Has Met the Eye More Than Has Met the Eye
The poems of Janusz Szuber and Ewa Lipska depart from the romanticized view of Polish poetry as a witness to history.
Sep 30, 2010 / Books & the Arts / Benjamin Paloff
Cures for the Common Cold War: Postwar Polish Poetry Cures for the Common Cold War: Postwar Polish Poetry
Polish poetry has been captive to our most flattering verdicts about history.
Jul 29, 2009 / Books & the Arts / Benjamin Paloff
Personal Histories Personal Histories
New collections by Adam Zagajewski and Julia Hartwig suggest that postwar Polish verse can't be reduced to "poetry of witness."
Jun 11, 2008 / Books & the Arts / Benjamin Paloff
The Madman and the Poet The Madman and the Poet
In a new collection of poems by the mentally ill Czech dissident Ivan Blatný, the world and the poet's interpretations of it are continuously transforming.
Dec 6, 2007 / Books & the Arts / Benjamin Paloff
Infinite Jest Infinite Jest
This past March, on the closing day of an international literary conference held in Krakow, Poland, an elderly woman stood up before hundreds of scholars and admirers gathered to...
Jan 6, 2005 / Books & the Arts / Benjamin Paloff
My Dinner With Aleksander My Dinner With Aleksander
In 1964 an important if somewhat obscure Polish writer and public intellectual named Aleksander Wat arrived at the University of California, Berkeley, and began the work that wou...
Mar 4, 2004 / Books & the Arts / Benjamin Paloff