Fatality and Identity: Milosz Reads Faulkner
Karol Stefańczyk (University of Warsaw)
The full version of this article is available in Polish in the printed version of Tekstualia and in the on-line subscription.
The article highlights the infl uence of William Faulkner’s on Czeslaw Milosz’s writing. The starting point in such an investigation is Milosz’s article written for a Polish journal, while the poet stayed in United States shortly after the Second World War. Titled simply „Faulkner”, it underlines those crucial features of Faulkner’s prose which Milosz himself found symptomatic and inspiring. Two works by Milosz appear to have been particularly infl uenced by Faulkner’s novels: The Issa Valley (Dolina Issy) and Native Realm (Rodzinna Europa). Both focus on the search for identity and the tragic fatality which leads characters onto the brink of madness.
The sample of Polish version of this article is available here: https://tekstualia.pl/files/dfcd6516/stefanczyk_k-tozsamosc_i_koniecznosc.pdf
