Ich schwebe über Krakau

Memory Images

Summary:
Born in Lviv and raised in Gliwice, Adam Zagajewski spends his youth in 1960s Krakow. He recounts his search for forbidden books in second-hand bookstores, the neglected former Jewish quarter of Kazimierz, and a young clergyman named Karol Wojtyła, who frequently visited his aunt. Casually, the memories coalesce into the personal coming-of-age story of one of the most important contemporary Polish poets.

About the Author:
Adam Zagajewski, born in Lviv in 1945, studied psychology and philosophy in Krakow, where he still resides today. Since 2007, he has regularly taught at the University of Chicago. He is the author of numerous volumes of poetry and essays, as well as several novels, and has received many awards for his work, most recently the Eichendorff Literature Prize (2014), the Heinrich Mann Prize from the Berlin Academy of Arts (2015), the Leopold Lucas Prize (2016), the Jean Améry Prize for Essay Writing (2016), and the Princess of Asturias Award in the Literature category (2017). Since 2015, Adam Zagajewski has been a member of the German Academy for Language and Poetry. His recent works published by Hanser include Defense of Passion (Essays, 2008), Invisible Hand (Poems, 2012), The Little Eternity of Art (Undated Diary, 2014), and Asymmetry (Poems, 2017).