DESPAIR AND LONGING FOR A MIRACLE – MIŁOSZ IN OPPOSITION TO ZDZIECHOWSKI
PDF (Język Polski)
EPUB (Język Polski)
MOBI (Język Polski)

Keywords

Miłosz
Zdziechowski
evil
God
miracle

How to Cite

Banowska, L. (2012). DESPAIR AND LONGING FOR A MIRACLE – MIŁOSZ IN OPPOSITION TO ZDZIECHOWSKI. Porównania, 10, 39–56. https://doi.org/10.14746/p.2012.10.11255

Abstract

The author discusses the relationship between Czesław Miłosz and Marian Zdziechowski (a historian of literature and of ideas, and a Christian thinker), on the basis of the essay Religijność Zdziechowskiego (Zdziechowski’s Religiosity, my own translation) from 1943 and of the poem Zdziechowski from the volume To (It, my own translation) from 2000. The key problem in both texts is assimilation of the philosophy of pessimism into Christianity. Having posed the eternal
question of theodicy: how is it possible for evil to exist in a world created by a good God, Miłosz presents Zdziechowski’s answer, reminiscent of Charles Secrétan and Vladimir Solovyov namely, that the world is tainted with evil, it is chaotic and irrational and, as such, could not have been made by the hand of God. However, the reality of evil, which negates the existence of the Creator and which leads to despair, is juxtaposed with the voice of inner experience, which recognizes the presence of God as love. That logical contradiction, which demands that reason transcends its own limitations, directs the thinker toward the discovery of God as an impossible but real miracle which ought to be affirmed. As he depicts the professor, Miłosz recognizes some of his own features in the portrait: the realism of experience which has its origins in sensitivity to human suffering, heroism of faith and of religious thinking, and “hunger for God” – a spiritual yearning for another dimension, which not only inspires the intellect but also stirs the imagination. 

https://doi.org/10.14746/p.2012.10.11255
PDF (Język Polski)
EPUB (Język Polski)
MOBI (Język Polski)

References

Franaszek Andrzej, Miłosz. Biografia. Kraków, Znak 2011, s. 769

Miłosz Czesław, Religijność Zdziechowskiego, w: Legendy nowoczesności. Kraków, Wydawnictwo Literackie 1996, s. 95–117

Miłosz Czesław, Zdziechowski, w: To. Kraków, Zank 2000, s. 62–65.

Skoczyński Jan, Pesymizm filozoficzny Mariana Zdziechowskiego. Wrocław – Kraków, Ossolineum 1983.

Wasilewski Witold, Marian Zdziechowski wobec myśli rosyjskiej XIX i XX wieku. Warszawa, Wydawnictwo Neriton 2005.

Skoczyński Jan, Wroński Artur (red.), Marian Zdziechowski 1861–1938 w 70. rocznicę śmierci. Kraków, Księgarnia Akademicka, 2009.

Czesława Miłosza autoportret przekorny. Rozmowy przeprowadził Aleksander Fiut. Wydawnictwo Literackie, Kraków 1994, s. 219.

Miłosz Czesław, Religijność Zdziechowskiego, w: Legendy nowoczesności. Kraków, Wydawnictwo Literackie 1996, s. 95.

Zdziechowski Marian, Pesymizm, romantyzm a podstawy chrześcijaństwa. Warszawa 1993, t. 1, s. 316.

Miłosz Czesław, Rzeczywistość, w: Ogród nauk, Lublin 1986, s. 32.

Miłosz Czesław, Inne abecadło, Wydawnictwo Literackie, Kraków 1998, s. 140.