Pan Tadeusz, or the Last Foray in Lithuania: A Tale of the Polish Nobility in the Years 1811 and 1812 in Twelve Books

About Adam Mickiewicz

Adam Mickiewicz (1798-1855) is arguably Polands greatest poet. Born in Nowogródek in what is now Belarus he is often compared to Goethe and Byron and was the dominant figure in Polands Romantic Movement. Banished as a political subversive to central Russia in 1824 he was welcomed into the leading literary circles of Saint Petersburg and Moscow where he became a favorite for his agreeable manners and extraordinary talent for poetic improvisation. In 1829 he left the Russian Empire for a life of perpetual exile in Italy France and Switzerland. For three years he lectured on Slavic literature at the Collège de France in Paris. He died in Constantinople while helping organize Polish and Jewish forces against Tsarism in the Crimean War of 1855. Among his great works besides Pan Tadeusz are his poetic drama Dziady (Forefathers Eve) his historical narrative poems Grayna and Konrad Wallenrod and his sublime Crimean Sonnets. His body rests in the crypt of the Wawel Cathedral in Kraków Poland.Christopher Adam Zakrzewski is a literary translator teacher and scholar. Born in 1948 and raised in the UK and Ontario Canada he pursued his doctorate in Russian and Polish literature at the University of British Columbia. Zakrzewski served as a professor of languages and literature at Our Lady Seat of Wisdom College in Barrys Bay Ontario. Now retired he resides with his wife Wendy in the village of Wilno Ontario. They have five children and nine grandchildren.