Małgorzata Mosakowska
Public Health and Governance, Volume 9, Issue 1, 2011, pp. 156-158
https://doi.org/10.4467/20842627OZ.11.012.0349Małgorzata Mosakowska
Konteksty Kultury, Volume 10, Issue 3, 2013, pp. 412-424
https://doi.org/10.4467/23531991KK.13.012.1770Rok ognistego smoka [The Year of the Fire Dragon] by Ewa Sonnenberg is a tome original not only in comparison with her own poetry, but against the background of the newest Polish poetry as a whole. It has originated from the poetess’s inspiration by the Far East, particularly by Japan and the philosophy of Zen Buddhism, and focuses on the figure of Matsuo Bashō, a 17th-century Japanese poet, master of the poetic form of haiku. The tome has been built as a collection of Sonnenberg’s letters to Bashō and Bashō’s letters to Sonnenberg. It is a dialogue between the values of the European culture and the Far Eastern sensitivity and philosophy. The poetess puts herself in the position of a disciple learning from the master. She learns, above all, the attitude of sacrifice, as understood in many ways. In her tome, Sonnenberg often references Far Eastern, particularly Japanese, metaphors and symbolism, creating a colourful, almost fabulous poetic landscape, yet it is only a background for important considerations of existential and philosophic nature.