Dangerous Considerations: A Notebook
Introduction
"A poem is like a human face — it is at the same time an object that can be measured, catalogued, described, and also an appeal. You may hear an appeal or ignore it, but it’s difficult simply to limit yourself to checking it with a tape measure."
I won't tell you everything. Since nothing's really happening. I represent, moreover, the Eastern European school of discretion: we don't discuss divorces, we don't admit depressions. Life proceeds peacefully on all fronts; beyond the window, a gray, exceptionally warm December. A few concerts. A marvelous young singer performed recently in the lawyers' club. And last night there was a splendid concert of Dmitry Shostakovich's music (they also played a string quartet dedicated to him by his biographer, Krzysztof Meyer: Au-del
Adam Zagajewski was born in Lvov, Poland, in 1945; as an infant he was relocated with his family to western Poland. He lived in Berlin for a couple of years, moved to France in 1982, and taught at universities in the United States, including the University of Houston and the University of Chicago. Zagajewski wrote in Polish, but many of his books of poetry and essays have been translated into English…