Juliusz Tadeusz Kroński — “Hegelian bite”
Juliusz Tadeusz Kroński — “Hegelian bite” examines intellectual relations between Czesław Miłosz, a poet, and Juliusz Tadeusz Kroński, a Hegelian, relations that influenced the poet’s historical sense. The poet was fascinated by his friend who in 1943 was by no means a “ritual mourner” and whose political attitude was different from the one imposed by Polish society during the Second World War. Kroński taught Miłosz to be ironic and distant, but this fascination changed into rejection when he became a follower of the New Faith. Kroński’s attempts to persuade Miłosz to accept the new political system and abandon reactionary beliefs only deepened the conflict between the two friends. However, thanks to Kroński and his theories Miłosz was able to look critically at the ahistoric America and its capitalist temptations. He looked for his own path between movement and persistence, and confronted the historical perspective with the perspective of individual self.