On the way to these conclusions are scattered quotations, interspersed with oracular pronouncements. Here is one of the latter: "We like to reiterate that history is a teacher of life. If this is indeed true, we listen very poorly to its lessons." In the essay on Stendhal, as if suddenly recalling his main point, Michnik laments: "Why hasn't the evangelical and papal appeal ‘Fight evil with good!' convinced the deplorable organisers of consecutive witch-hunts and devotees to the truth contained in the secret service archives?"
Most of the quotations are taken not from the original source but from some book in which they appear; some are translated not from the original French but from a Polish translation, often in the form of a quote in some Polish book; some are by unknown Poles whose claim to authority remains mysterious; for some no source at all is given. Chateaubriand is identified as a "Bourbon ideologue", but Mr Andrzej Zahorski, abundantly quoted, is not identified at all.
The real mystery is that Yale University Press should have allowed such a book to appear under its imprint. Perhaps it was bought sight unseen; it does not appear to have been read, let alone edited.
The translation may be the book's redeeming feature. The hovering scoundrels in the excerpt quoted above conjure up colourful visions. But my favourite is: "Bonaparte brought Brutuses and Scaevolas to his police to lavish medals on them, to blotch them with titles . . . A new generation was growing up, the one born of blood; from that time on, they were the ones to spill blood, but only of the other ones." (No, me neither.)
The charms of the translation alone may be worth the price of the hardback, but other than that it is hard to see a reason to shell out £18.99.
Most of the quotations are taken not from the original source but from some book in which they appear; some are translated not from the original French but from a Polish translation, often in the form of a quote in some Polish book; some are by unknown Poles whose claim to authority remains mysterious; for some no source at all is given. Chateaubriand is identified as a "Bourbon ideologue", but Mr Andrzej Zahorski, abundantly quoted, is not identified at all.
The real mystery is that Yale University Press should have allowed such a book to appear under its imprint. Perhaps it was bought sight unseen; it does not appear to have been read, let alone edited.
The translation may be the book's redeeming feature. The hovering scoundrels in the excerpt quoted above conjure up colourful visions. But my favourite is: "Bonaparte brought Brutuses and Scaevolas to his police to lavish medals on them, to blotch them with titles . . . A new generation was growing up, the one born of blood; from that time on, they were the ones to spill blood, but only of the other ones." (No, me neither.)
The charms of the translation alone may be worth the price of the hardback, but other than that it is hard to see a reason to shell out £18.99.
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