Milosz And Brodsky Have Many Things In Common

NCHU has sponsored a seminar on June 2 for the renown Taiwanese poet and NCHU alumnus, Mr. Lee Ming-Young 李敏勇 (1947-) to speak on a topic about rebuilding the Taiwan nation--A Poet's View. Mr. Lee cited two poets in his talk: Czeslaw Milosz (1911-2004) and Joselph Brodsky (1940-1996). Milosz was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1980. Brodsky received the Nobel Prize in 1987 also in literature.

Besides both being renown poets and Nobel Laureates, Milosz and Brodsky have many things in common. They were patriots to their nations; Milosz to Poland and Brodsky to Russia. Both were forced to exile under the authoritarian communist rules and both were eventually naturalized in the United States where they published their best work.

Milosz published a novel in 1953 , entitled "The Captive Mind", which attempted to explain both the intellectual allure of Stalinism in Poland and the temptation of collaboration with Stalinist regimes among intellectuals in post-war Eastern Europe.

Brodsky emphasized the power of literature to positively impact its audience and to develop the language and culture in which it is situated. According to Brodsky, the fast recovery of Western Society over the catastrophes such as Nazism was in part due to the Western literary tradition.

Here are few questions for my readers. Why great intellects like Milosz and Brodsky ran exile to escape Communism ? Why our government (Ma's administration) has tried to persuade Taiwanese to get close to communist China and eventually 'reunited' with China?