A Fly Trapped in Amber. On Czesław Miłosz’s America and His Imagination

This article aims to examine selected historical contexts of Miłosz’s
encounters with America. Its purpose is to demonstrate that the poet’s attitude towards
the country where he spent many years of his adulthood and creative life was full of
confl icts, paradoxes and contrasts. Early readings, a boyhood passion for discovering
the laws and secrets of nature, and Romantic and modern literary traditions signifi cantly
infl uenced both Miłosz’s perception of American landscapes and American culture,
shaping new landscapes within him. The transformations of the speaking “I,” which
the reader witnesses through Miłosz’s experiences with the New World, allow for
an understanding of how his unique spatial imagination developed. This article also
attempts to indicate areas where Miłosz searches for a solution to his disintegrated
imagination, particularly in its religious dimension, while tackling the challenges and
crises of modernity.