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The History of Polish Literature by Czesław Miłosz was an attempt to introduce Polish literature to English-speaking readers. The textbook was developed on the basis of the lectures given by Miłosz at the University of California, Berkeley. Miłosz proposed an approach to literary history that differed from the syntheses available up to that time. One of the author's goals was to take a critical look at the established judgments in literary studies about individual authors, works, and phenomena. He also sought to present the history of Polish literature in such a way as to interest the audience; to this end, he endeavoured to refer to issues familiar to them, for example, from within Anglo-Saxon culture. Miłosz's textbook received a rather critical reception among Polish reviewers; among other things, the author was accused of lacking objectivity, being too selective, simplifying certain issues, and even omitting important themes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of the work is the analysis of translations of Herbert's poems into English by Miłosz with a focus on preserving the so-called roughness of his style. This term encompasses non-obvious and awkward structures, which, according to Miłosz, were one of the most important elements of Herbert's style and, therefore, needed to be present in the English versions. The text contains a comparative analysis of two poems by Herbert: "Elegy of Fortinbras" and "Apollo and Marsyas," with their translations into English. The translations were compared with the originals, taking into account their general form, the vocabulary, and the syntax. The analysis of vocabulary and syntax showed that to maintain the style of the original, the translator changed places where literary roughness was present. The translations into English were also more conventional and rooted more in European culture (while Polish contexts were moved to the background). One can thus conclude that the idea of spreading Polish literature across other cultures was more important for Miłosz than the translation of literary roughness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]