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University Daily Kansan Wednesday, Dec. 2, 1964
Speaker Says Ravaged Land Gave Rise to Poet's Writings
Majestic mountains, turbulent streams, and lush green meadows brutally ravaged by the hand of man gave rise to the humanist poetic writings of Ondra Lysohorsky, a Czech poet, Ewald Osers said.
Osers, an authority on English translations of Czech and Slavic poetry, said last night in a soeech at the Kansas Union that in Lyso-horsky's native Silesia one dia not have to be a political revolutionary to be a social rebel.
"Indeed, it is hard to see how any creative man," Osers said, "any perceptive artist, could fail to be moved into a gesture of social protest."
OSERS SAID Lysoborsky was a poet who wrote in the 1920's and 1930's who is relatively unknown to Americans. His writings are in a foreign language and available in only a few and not always entirely adequate, English translations, he said.
Because of Osers' involvement and deep interest in the poetry written in Czechoslovakia and elsewhere in Central Europe, Lysohorsky's poetry reveals a great deal to him about the times in which Lysohorsky lived. The publication of his works gave rise to literary and political arguments and discussions, Osers said.
"In many ways Lysohorsky's poetical development is typical of the mid-European poet between the
wars, and his personal fate before, during and since the last war is, again, typical — indeed tragically typical—of the true poet in Europe today." Osers said.
IN HIS WRITINGS, Osers said Lysohorsky brought out a new concept. A note of simplicity and deep human involvement in the individual tragedy and the tragedy of his native land were emphasized in his writings.
"In his later writings," Osers said, "the sufferings of his native region and its beauty are seen as one, and reflected in the poet's personal experience."
Osers explained that when the Germans invaded Czechoslovakia Lysoborsky escaped to Poland. Later he moved to Moscow and a Central Asian republic. During this time other famous Russian poets began to notice his works and start translating them.
"ONE STRIKINGLY obvious theme in many of his wartime and postwar poems," Osers said, "is the ever-widening scope of his poetical identification. At first we saw his world widening from local, personal, individual tragedy to that of his entire native region, and now we find it becoming world-wide, and in some of his more recent writings, in a sense, cosmic."
Osers said Lysohorsky felt a
great sympathy and compassion and a note of faith in victory, in the survival, perhaps not of the individual, but of human values.
After years of escaping authority, Lysoshorsky's health was weak and it made creative writing difficult. He was labeled as a person hostile to a new social order, Osers said, and a wrecker of national unity.
Osers pointed out that Lysohorsky never belonged to a political party and never took any part in any form of direct political action.
"Through his work he has been a humanist, a man with sympathy for the oppressed and with hatred of the oppressor, whatever the oppressor's nationality or political coloring." Osers said.
P-t-P Deadline Set
A December 15 deadline for students interested in the People-to-People student ambassador program this summer has been announced.
The three plans offered are homestay, independent travel, and excursion. For further information and registration call committee members Dale Sprague at VI 3-6866 or Sondra Sellars at VI 2-2420.
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The time of Advent heralds the coming of the birth of Christ. Advent is traditional for the preparation of the celebration of Christmas.
Rev. John R. Simmons, the Disciples of Christ pastor of the Westminster Foundation, said, "Since Advent is a traditional Christian celebration, it will be celebrated in an ecumenical fashion."
Advent services will be at 4:45 p.m. today, December 9 and 16 in the Westminster Chapel, 1204 Oread Avenue.
REV. SIMMONS SAID several religious groups on the campus that are part of the National Student Christian Federation and the KU-Y will sponsor these services.
Ministers from campus religious organizations will conduct the services.
The denominations to be represented are the American Baptist Church, the Protestant Episcopal Church, the United Lutheran Council, the Methodist Church, the Christian Churches (Disc.), the United Presbyterian Church U.S.A., the United Church of Christ, the Evangelical United Bretheren Church, and the A.M.E. Zion Church.
Tom Jones and Fanny Hill were only two of the many 18th-century fictional characters who had trouble maintaining their virtue in a world that, it would seem, couldn't care less. At one time or another, most of the period's leading writers were preoccupied with the problem, and none more so than Daniel Defoe. After getting Robinson Crusoe out of his system, he introduced Moll Flanders and, in 1724, a lovely young thing named Roxana.
Although not as well known today as Fanny or Molly, Roxana had a far more splendid career and certainly deserves equal billing. Starting as a penniless 22-year-old widow with five children, she resorted to a course which, if not praiseworthy, is certainly successful. Becoming the toast of princes and lords and rich merchants, Roxana was a courtesan who was frank enough to admit the advantages of her situation and woman enough to live a life of marvelous high adventure. You will meet her in ROXANA: THE FORTUNATE MISTRESS (Dolphin, $1.25), "among the few English novels," Virginia Woolf once wrote, "which we can call indisputably great."
Turning to a more American pursuit, we commend to your attention a book entitled, with sensibly descriptive long-windedness. How To BE A CONSISTENT WINNER IN THE MOST POPULAR CARD GAMES (Dolphin, 95¢). John Crawford, one of the most successful card players of our day, doesn't pretend to have written a book for the rank beginner. But for anyone with average skill at bridge, gin rummy, poker, pinochle, blackjack, or hearts, H.T.B.A.C.W.I.T.M.P.C.G. (as it is known around the office) should prove a very sound 95¢ investment.
We introduce our final book for the month with its opening sentence: "Education is indeed the dullest of subjects and I intend to say as little about it as I can." What Jacques Barzun does talk about in TEACHER IN AMERICA (Anchor, 95c) is teaching itself—the crucial process of communication in modern life, in and out of the classroom. And, since Professor Barzun is one of our most accomplished prose stylists as well as a great teacher, his book fully lives up to praise such as that supplied by the reviewer in The Nation: "The wittiest and most amusing as well as one of the soundest and most penetrating of books upon education that I have ever read." TEACHER IN AMERICA is already widely-recognized as a classic, and it is avidly read by a larger audience every year.
The three books reviewed above are published by the sponsors of this column, Doubleday Anchor Books, 277 Park Avenue, New York City and Doubleday & Company, Inc., Garden City, New York. You'll find them all at one of the best equipped book sellers in the country - your own college store.