Customer Reviews

Pan Tadeusz

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This Polish masterpiece reads in English rendition as it was written in English in the first place ! I thoroughly enjoyed over again the story, even more so than in original Polish. Kenneth McKenzie has done a superb job to keep the rhytm, rime and the emotions so close to the original. This timeless piece is a must to everyone who enjoys a great reading adventure, where the highest human values are treasured. Our contemporary writers and poets can only dream to approach the greatness of Adam Mickiewicz. To bad that this book is so little known in the world.

This is an epic poem of some ten thousand lines composed by, arguably, Poland's greatest poet. It is a bucolic tale of country life with the background of the preparations for Napoleon's invasion of Russia in 1812. It's also a love story of sorts, with undertones of "Romeo and Juliet". There are star-crossed lovers, feuding families, comical characters, loyal retainers, and a mysterious begging friar. It's all quite well done, and even though I'm not particularly into sing-songy rhyming verse, the attraction of the story, and it's thinly-veiled air of Polish patriotism, kept me reading on to the end. If you enjoy little-known Polish literature (at least little-known in this country) you will enjoy this book.

It is a masterpiece , national poem of Poland.It portrays polish society in early XIX century , its turbulant existence and longing for freedom .His other works include " Konrad Wallenrod" and "Oda do mlodosci" but You can also check other polish writers , like Henryk Sienkiewicz , author of the famous "Quo Vadis " , Czeslaw Milosz or Wladyslaw Reymont , all three, Nobel prize laureates .You will never look at Poland the same way .Enjoy reading.............r.c.

Mickiewicz's 'Pan Tadeusz' is a very well written and engaging account of Lithuanian provincial life during the Napoleonic Era. Yet, it does fall short of the level of masterpiece, and 'Pan Tadeusz' doesn't possess quite the same timeless quality as Pushkin's 'Eugene Onegin' or Goethe's and Heine's epic poetry. Yet, I highly recommend it, and it is well worth the read, both for its glimpse into a long-lost time and place and also for Mickiewicz's elegant prosy.

As the blurb says, "Pan Tadeusz" is Poland's best known literary work; it
enjoys iconic status in Poland and is a monument of European literature
as well. The Polish language text is subtle and varied and in places rises to great heights of eloquence and descriptive beauty. The blurb notes that Mackenzie's parallel version is widely regarded as the best of the three available in English. That said, while it keeps quite close to the original,it is not a literal translation, but a "poetic" version in rhymed couplets. It is consequently not a reliable "crib". Rhymed couplets work well in Polish because the grammatical inflexions make for a multiplicity of rhymes. This is much more difficult with English, especially in a long poem. Pope's "Iliad" is an exception which proves the rule. Mr Mackenzie is no Pope: An example taken at random from page 82 illustrates the problem: "But where she had been standing, he discerned/The little willow basket, overturned/And empty, which still poised upon the leaves/E'en now upon a sea of verdure heaves". An earnest effort, but the last line is a real plonker, and not untypical. Better to provide a stylish word for word prose version alongside, on the lines of Robert Fagles' translations of Homer. But Hippocrene are to be congratulated on their effort.

You'll find here a poetic rendition of Mickiewicz's brilliant epic poem about Polish life in the days of the nobles and the gentry. To retain the poetic form, the translator did not do a word-for-word translation, but he renders the spirit of the original, and offers helpful explanatory notes. The book is useful for reading the English version, as well as for help in translating the Polish.