The Abyss of the Soul: Two Jewels in the Crown of Polish Verse - Paperback

by Christopher Adam Zakrzewski (Translator), Adam Mickiewicz (Author), Jan Kochanowski (Author)

This book features new translations of two iconic works of the Polish literary canon; namely, the Laments (1583) of Poland's great Renaissance poet Jan Kochanowski, and the lauded Crimean Sonnets of the Romantic poet Adam Mickiewicz, which have been retranslated here to celebrate the bicentennial of the work's first publication in Russia. Both works describe a journey into what has been called "the abyss of the soul"--the former chronicling the poet's profound grief over the sudden death of his small daughter, and the latter the exiled poet's rapture over the beauty of an unexplored exotic land.

Author Biography

Christopher Adam Zakrzewski is a literary translator, teacher, and scholar. Born in 1948 and raised in the UK and Ontario, Canada, he pursued his doctorate in Russian and Polish literature at the University of British Columbia. Zakrzewski served as a professor of languages and literature at Our Lady Seat of Wisdom College in Barry's Bay, Ontario. His previous translations include Adam Mickiewicz's Pan Tadeusz and Maria Konopnicka's The Fair Folk and Little Orphan Mary (both recently published by Academic Studies Press). Now retired, he resides with his wife Wendy in the village of Wilno, Ontario. They have five children and nine grandchildren.