Pages Full text

Poetry, myths, Europe: Zbigniew Herbert

He is one of the greatest poets of the 20th century – not just from Poland but from anywhere. His poems and essays make the Gods mortal and turn the ordinary into the extraordinary. Zbigniew Herbert (1924–1998) was born in Lwów, a town caught between cultures, and died as a poet between cultures. He questioned stories and sought the truth, but in doing so seldom became bitter. The fact that he had patrons in Germany and that he loved to travel undoubtedly contributed to his international reputation.

Zbigniew Herbert, January 1976

Renate von Mangoldt

Sources

Bodin, Per‐Arne: The barbarian and the mirror. An analysis of one poem in Zbigniew Herbert’s poetical cycle Pan Cogito, in: Scando-Slavica 27 (1981), p. 15–25. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00806768108600787 (no free access)

Chojnowski, Przemysław: Herbert i jego tłumacz, in: Postcriptum polonistyczne 9 (2012), p. 235–241. http://www.postscriptum.us.edu.pl/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/ps2012_1_25.pdf

Fait, Ricarda: Zbigniew Herbert und seine liebgewonnenen Todfeinde, in: DIALOG FORUM | Themen aus Deutschland und Polen, as at: 29 May 2019, https://forumdialog.eu/2019/05/29/zbigniew-herbert-und-seine-liebgewonnenen-todfeinde/.

interia.pl / RMF.FM: Herbert i Gombrowicz nie dostali Nobla przez SB?, in: wydarzenia.interia.pl, as at: 21 January 2021, https://wydarzenia.interia.pl/polska/news-herbert-i-gombrowicz-nie-dostali-nobla-przez-sb,nId,857034.

Poetry Foundation: Zbigniew Herbert, in: Poetry Foundation. as at: 21 January 2021, https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/zbigniew-herbert.

Grünbein, Durs: An und über Zbigniew Herbert: Bei lebendiger Dichtung verschwinden, in: FAZ.NET, 21 January 2021. https://www.faz.net/1.7073998

Kraszewski, Charles, Review: Joanna Siedlecka, Pan od poezji: o Zbigniewie Herbercie [Lord of Poetry: About Zbigniew Herbert], in: The Polish Review 47 (2002), 416–420. http://www.jstor.org/stable/25779351

Levine, Madeline G. / Baranczak, Stanislaw: A Fugitive from Utopia: The Poetry of Zbigniew Herbert, in: The Slavic and East European Journal 32 (1988), p. 675. https://www.jstor.org/stable/308793 (no free access)

Literarisches Colloquium Berlin: Ontologie aus einfachen Dingen. Zbigniew Herbert wiedergelesen. With documentary footage from the sixties., in: Literarisches Colloquium Berlin, as at: 2019, https://lcb.de/programm/zbigniew-herbert-wiedergelesen-tomasz-rozycki-jan-wagner-dorota-stroinska/.

Możejko, Edward: Review: Zbigniew Herbert. Das Land, nach dem ich mich sehne. Michael Krüger, ed. Karl Dedecius et al., trs., in: World Literature Today 63 (1989), p. 131. https://www.jstor.org/stable/40145208?refreqid=excelsior%3A99859b2c44c81a9303fb7e3f131ed135 (no free access)

Sobolewska, Justyna: Polscy pisarze i ich sukcesy za granicą, in: Polityka.pl, as at: 6 September 2011, https://www.polityka.pl/tygodnikpolityka/kultura/1518984,1,polscy-pisarze-i-ich-sukcesy-za-granica.read.

Wagner, Jan: Im Königreich der Dinge. Insbesondere über Zbigniew Herbert. 3. Bamberger Poetikvortrag (Bamberger Poetikvorträge). Berlin: Literaturforum im Brecht-Haus 2021. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YpfWmJ1AAHc

Wilson, R. K.: Rezension: Zbigniew Herbert. Pan Cogito, in: Books Abroad 49 (1975), p. 355. https://www.jstor.org/stable/40129420?origin=crossref (no free access)

Zajas, Paweł: Barbarzyńca w ogrodzie Suhrkampa. Zbigniew Herbert i jego niemiecki wydawca, in: Teksty Drugie 5 (2015), p. 386–410. http://rcin.org.pl/publication/81056/edition/64953/barbarzynca-w-ogrodzie-suhrkampa-zbigniew-herbert-i-jego-niemiecki-wydawca-zajas-pawel?language=pl