In the light of flickering lamps

Abstract

in the light of flickering lamps Tadeusz Różewicz (bio) in the light of flickering lampsthe world appeared differently the faces of the living the deadand the sleepingfaces turned away young heads towards each otherinclined in the light of smoking lampspeople were at homemore intensely in joymore deeply in careshadows shakendeparted returned grewwords were warmershysmoke rockedand flowed away with coffin and cradle in the light of flickering lampsinfinity was finitetime was graspablespace enclosedin four wallsit sufficed to close one’s eyesto find oneselfin the fourth dimensionsufficed to open the doorto find oneselfon the road to Emmausto meet the living Jesus [End Page 63] in body blood and bonewho still unrecognizedate roasted fishbread a honeycomb life is lived throughgoing meeting in the light of oil lampswhen clocks and time were woundsigns appeared on a wallpoetry drawn by BrunoMene—Tekel—Upharsin about these lampshe knew almost everythingthe poet from Drohobych“almost”since no oneknows everythingeither about their birthor their death when I think of himand his bookI see himas if with his eyein the light of a smoking lampwith the vast shadowof a shot-through headupon the wall [End Page 64] Tadeusz Różewicz Tadeusz Różewicz (1921–2014), a poet, novelist, playwright, and screenwriter, was born in 1921 in Radomsko, Poland. He served in the underground Polish Home Army during World War II. Różewicz’s work is characterized by an uncompromising interrogation of language and life, which attempts to come to terms with existence after Auschwitz. As a playwright he was influenced by writers such as Beckett and Ionesco, as reflected in works such as Kartoteka (The Card Index). Termed by Czeslaw Milosz “a nihilistic humanitarian,” Różewicz died in Wrocław, Poland. Copyright © 2019 Middlebury College Publications