Although the writings of the Polish poet and essay writer CzeslawMilosz (°1911) display a strong “European consciousness”, the representationof Europe in his literary and publicistic works has a highlyambiguous character. The recognition of a common European culturearea goes along with a profound consciousness of the fault lines in theEuropean identity (East vs. West). This historically evolved split betweenEastern and Western Europe is not only perceived in relation tooppositions such as centre-periphery and universalism-provincialism,but is also closely linked to important political evolutions (WW II andthe postwar sovietisation of Eastern Europe). Interesting works whichreveal Milosz’s ambiguous perception of Europe are the collection ofessays The Captive Mind (1953), the autobiographical prose works NativeRealm (1959) and Milosz’s ABC's (1997-1998), the text of his NobelLecture (1980) and the series of Harvard lectures The Witness ofPoetry (1981-1982). Apart from that, special attention should be paid toMilosz’s contribution to the Central Europe debate of the 1980s.
