Taming History: The Kabbalah in Czeslaw Milosz's Poetry Collection Provinces [Dalsze okolice]

Brenskott discusses Kabbalistic motifs and their relationship with Gnosticism in Czeslaw Mitosz's work. His theoretical investigation is complemented by an exemplary analysis of the poems in Mitosz's Provinces [Dalsze okolice]. The secondary literature on the subject is slim in comparison with the works dedicated to other religious traditions in Milosz's work. If is mentioned at all, Kabbalism usually appears in the context of Mitosz's relationship to Judaism and the Gnostic tradition. Gnosticism, however, is key if we hope to understand the role of the Kabbalah in Mitosz's work, since Gnosticism and the Kabbalah are closely intertwined.