cover image Paris, New York: 1982-1984

Paris, New York: 1982-1984

Kazimierz Brandys. Random House (NY), $17.95 (180pp) ISBN 978-0-394-54492-2

Being a Pole, a Jew, a writer, an exile and a former Communist made life tough for Brandys in 1982-1984, as he moved with his wife between New York and Paris. In his 70s, having left the Communist Party in 1966, Brandys had been forced to abandon his family, friends, country and culture. In these unhappy diary entries he reflects on the futility, pain and anonymity of exile, as well as on Poland's tragic history and present frustrations. For him, Paris was a beautiful city because he knew it, yet he was also estranged there, a situation that was, paradoxically, a source of comfort. He describes New York as ``an angry city, its ugliness is pathetic, its beauty astounding''; nowhere else had he felt so free politically, so exhausted physically. No other city inspired in him so much awe and admiration or made him feel as much a stranger. (September)