Thursday, February 24, 2000 (4:00PM)
University of California at Berkeley
Geballe Room, 220 Stephens Hall
The Croatian Academy of Arts and Sciences honors
Nobel Laureate Czeslaw Milosz with esteemed
corresponding membership (socius epistolarius)
Ladies and Gentleman,
It is a pleasure to be with you today to call your attention to the gentleman who has brought us together to honor him and his life's work.
Czeslaw Milosz was born in Polish-speaking Lithuania nearly a century
ago. Throughout his long and full life, he has had plenty of time
and plenty of opportunities to taste all of the bad things and some of
the good things of this life. But more importantly, we know that
his biography starts and ends with the act of being a poet, which means
that he was constantly dealing with the enigma of our existence, seeking
answers, yearning for the promised meadow of happiness, and enriching the
world's experience in the quest for eternal beauty. And the world
has recognized the value of his words, and accepted him as prophet of vision.
In 1980, in recognition of his far-reaching and influential works, he was
bestowed with the Nobel Prize for Literature.
The works of Czeslaw Milosz comprise an entire library, yet I will mention
just a few of them, to remind you of his contributions, including some
that have been translated into Croatian:
The Captive Mind (Zarobljeni um)
The Seizure of Power (Osvajanje vlasti)
Mediterranean Poems (Mediteranske pjesme)
Visions of San Francisco Bay
Provinces
The Noble Traveler
Unattainable Earth, among others...
Poetry is not my strength, so I will only read a few lines, a few prophetic
lines, from a poem written by a very young poet during his pilgrimage to
Paris in 1930s. The poem bears the title "Bypassing Rue Descartes,"
"...I lean on the rough granite of the embankment,
As if I had returned from travels through the underworlds
And suddenly saw in the light the reeling wheel of the seasons
Where empires have fallen and those once living are now dead.
There is no capital of the world, neither here nor anywhere else,
And the abolished customs are restored to their small fame
And now I know that the time of human generations is not like the time
of the earth."
It was with great pleasure that I was informed by the Croatian Academy of Arts and Sciences that Czeslaw Milosz has been elected a corresponding member (socius epistolarius) to this most prestigious Croatian institution.
The Croatian Academy of Arts and Sciences in Zagreb is the highest scientific and cultural institution in Croatia. It was established in 1866 thanks to Josip Juraj Strossmayer, bishop of Djakovo, and its original name was Yugoslav Academy because it was supposed to take care of cultural treasures of all South Slavs. Today, the Academy has eight departments and several institutes. Its main purpose is to foster Croatian language, cherish culture and art, and promote science.
It is really a great privilege for me, on behalf of the Croatian Embassy and on behalf of the Croatian Academy of Arts and Sciences, to be an intermediary for this event and present this diploma to you on this memorable occasion.
Congratulations, Mr. Milosz.
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Contact: John I. Vasilj
(202) 986-9479