Editing Czesław Miłosz (section)

=== University of California, Berkeley ===
[[File:Czeslaw Milosz.jpg|thumb|175px|Miłosz in mid-career]]
In 1960, Miłosz was offered a position as a visiting lecturer at the University of California, Berkeley. With this offer, and with the climate of McCarthyism abated, he was able to move to the United States.<ref>{{Cite book|oclc=982122195|title=Milosz: A Biography|last=Franaszek, Andrzej|pages=356}}</ref> He proved to be an adept and popular teacher, and was offered [[Academic tenure|tenure]] after only two months.<ref>{{Cite book|oclc=982122195|title=Milosz: A Biography|last=Franaszek, Andrzej|pages=360}}</ref> The rarity of this, and the degree to which he had impressed his colleagues, are underscored by the fact that Miłosz lacked a [[Doctor of Philosophy|PhD]] and teaching experience. Yet his deep learning was obvious, and after years of working administrative jobs that he found stifling, he told friends that he was in his element in a classroom.<ref>{{Cite book|oclc=982122195|title=Milosz: A Biography|last=Franaszek, Andrzej|pages=362}}</ref> With stable employment as a tenured professor of Slavic languages and literatures, Miłosz was able to secure American citizenship and purchase a home in [[Berkeley, California|Berkeley]].<ref>{{Cite book|oclc=982122195|title=Milosz: A Biography|last=Franaszek, Andrzej|pages=358}}</ref>{{Efn|Franaszek claims Miłosz became an American citizen in 1962.<ref name="Franaszek, Andrzej 358">{{Cite book|title=Milosz: A Biography|last=Franaszek, Andrzej|pages=358}}</ref> Haven claims he became an American citizen in 1970.<ref name="Haven, Cynthia 2006 xxvii, 147">{{Cite book|title=Czeslaw Milosz: Conversations|last=Haven, Cynthia|publisher=University Press of Mississippi|year=2006|isbn=1578068290|location=Jackson|pages=xxvii, 147}}</ref>|name=|group=lower-alpha}}

Miłosz began to publish scholarly articles in English and Polish on a variety of authors, including [[Fyodor Dostoevsky]]. But despite his successful transition to the U.S., he described his early years at Berkeley as frustrating, as he was isolated from friends and viewed as a political figure rather than a great poet. (In fact, some of his Berkeley faculty colleagues, unaware of his creative output, expressed astonishment when he won the Nobel Prize.)<ref>{{Cite book|oclc=982122195|title=Milosz: A Biography|last=Franaszek, Andrzej|pages=376–377}}</ref> His poetry was not available in English, and he was not able to publish in Poland.

As part of an effort to introduce American readers to his poetry, as well as to his fellow Polish poets' work, Miłosz conceived and edited the anthology ''{{ill|Postwar Polish Poetry|pl|Postwar Polish Poetry}}'', which was published in English in 1965. American poets like [[W. S. Merwin|W.S. Merwin]], and American scholars like [[Clare Cavanagh]], have credited it with a profound impact.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|oclc=982122195|title=Milosz: A Biography|last=Franaszek, Andrzej|pages=5}}</ref> It was many English-language readers' first exposure to Miłosz's poetry, as well as that of Polish poets like [[Wisława Szymborska]], [[Zbigniew Herbert]], and [[Tadeusz Różewicz]]. (In the same year, Miłosz's poetry also appeared in the first issue of ''Modern Poetry in Translation,'' an English-language journal founded by prominent literary figures [[Ted Hughes]] and [[Daniel Weissbort]]. The issue also featured [[Miroslav Holub]], [[Yehuda Amichai]], [[Ivan V. Lalić|Ivan Lalić]], [[Vasko Popa]], Zbigniew Herbert, and [[Andrei Voznesensky]].)<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2015/nov/14/ted-hughes-modern-poetry-in-translation-magazine-greatest-contribution|title=Modern Poetry in Translation is Ted Hughes's greatest contribution|last=Dugdale|first=Sasha|date=2015-11-14|work=The Guardian|access-date=2019-08-13|language=en-GB|issn=0261-3077}}</ref> In 1969, Miłosz's textbook ''[[The History of Polish Literature]]'' was published in English. He followed this with a volume of his own work, ''[[Selected Poems (Miłosz)|Selected Poems]]'' (1973), some of which he translated into English himself. This was his first anthology of poetry published in English language.

At the same time, Miłosz continued to publish in Polish with an émigré press in Paris. His poetry collections from this period include ''[[King Popiel and Other Poems]]'' (1962), ''[[Bobo’s Metamorphosis]]'' (1965), ''[[City Without a Name]]'' (1969), and ''[[From the Rising of the Sun]]'' (1974).

During Miłosz's time at Berkeley, the campus became a hotbed of student protest, notably as the home of the [[Free Speech Movement]], which has been credited with helping to "define a generation of student activism" across the United States.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.npr.org/2014/10/05/353849567/when-political-speech-was-banned-at-berkeley|title=Berkeley's Fight For Free Speech Fired Up Student Protest Movement|website=NPR.org|language=en|access-date=2019-04-25}}</ref> Miłosz's relationship to student protesters was sometimes antagonistic: he called them "spoiled children of the [[bourgeoisie]]"<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.sfgate.com/books/article/ESSAY-Bay-Area-finally-recognizes-Milosz-2538597.php|title=ESSAY / Bay Area finally recognizes Milosz|last=Haven|first=Cynthia|date=2006-03-26|website=SFGate|access-date=2019-04-25}}</ref> and their political zeal naïve. At one campus event in 1970, he mocked protesters who claimed to be demonstrating for peace and love: "Talk to me about love when they come into your cell one morning, line you all up, and say 'You and you, step forward—it’s your time to die—unless any of your friends loves you so much he wants to take your place!'"<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://bookhaven.stanford.edu/2016/06/happy-birthday-czeslaw-milosz-he-was-no-hero-and-he-knew-it/|title=Happy birthday, Czesław Miłosz! He was no hero, and he knew it.|website=The Book Haven|language=en-US|access-date=2019-04-25}}</ref> Comments like these were in keeping with his stance toward American [[counterculture of the 1960s]] in general. For example, in 1968, when Miłosz was listed as a signatory of an open letter of protest written by poet and counterculture figure [[Allen Ginsberg]] and published in ''[[The New York Review of Books]]'', Miłosz responded by calling the letter "dangerous nonsense" and insisting that he had not signed it.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.nybooks.com/articles/1968/11/07/poet-power/|title=Poet Power|last=Milosz|first=Czeslaw|journal=New York Review of Books|date=1968-11-07|access-date=2019-04-25|language=en|issn=0028-7504}}</ref>

After 18 years, Miłosz retired from teaching in 1978. To mark the occasion, he was awarded a "Berkeley Citation", the University of California's equivalent of an [[Honorary degree|honorary doctorate]].<ref>{{Cite book|oclc=982122195|title=Milosz: A Biography|last=Franaszek, Andrzej|pages=364}}</ref> But when his wife, Janina, fell ill and required expensive medical treatment, Miłosz returned to teaching seminars.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Milosz: A Biography|last=Franaszek, Andrzej|pages=412|oclc=982122195}}</ref> The year 1978 also marked the publication of his second English-language poetry anthology, ''Bells in Winter''.