Non-elective affinities : Józef Czapski i Czesław Miłosz

Józef Czapski and Czesław Miłosz differ by: generation (the former was born in 1896, the latter in 1910), social background (Czapski was the descendant of an European aristocratic family, Miłosz of the petty Lithuanian gentry); historical experience (Czapski fought in the Polish-Bolshevik war and in September 1939, was a soldier of General Anders’ army, while Miłosz spent the years of WWII in Warsaw under the Nazi occupation); and finally, artistic achievements (one of them was an acclaimed painter and writer, the other a great poet). Despite these differences, they shared many interests and passions: admiration of Russian literature and culture, along with strong opposition to the Soviet system; various readings (Stanisław Brzozowski, Fyodor Dostoevsky, Simone Weil); sensitivity to religious matters; and a common fate as émigrés. They met for the first time in Paris in 1935, and then in the USA in 1950. Their acquaintance evolved into a close friendship from the time of Miłosz’s arrival in hand, the texts reveal the discrepancy between their perceptions of religious phenomena: Czapski’s mysticism and Miłosz’s Manichaeism. The two writers also differ in their views on the Polish pre-war intelligentsia, as can be seen in their commentaries on Tomasz Staliński’s (Stefan Kisielewski’s) Shadows in the Cave.Maisons-Laffitte in February 1951. The best evidence of their mutual relations are their letters (unpublished except for three) as well as many references in essays. On the one hand, these texts clearly testify to their moral attitudes, compassion for the victims of totalitarianism, antinationalism, multicultural vision of Europe, attachment to the idea of the “little homeland,” and the epiphanic character of their work. On the other