Arguably the most authoritative English translation of Poland’s great national poem.

Sometimes called the “last epos in world literature,” Pan Tadeusz (first published in Paris in 1834) is a classic tale of romance, mystery, war, and patriotism set in the turbulent Napoleonic era. The old Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth lies dismembered and erased from the political map of Europe by the great powers of Russia, Prussia, and Austria. A brief ray of hope rekindles national aspirations when Napoleon Bonaparte establishes the Grand Duchy of Warsaw by the terms of the Treaty of Tilsit (1807) and sets the stage for his invasion of Russia.

Adam Mickiewicz (1798-1855) is arguably Poland’s greatest poet. Born in Nowogródek in what is now Belarus, he is often compared to Goethe and Byron, and was the dominant figure in Poland’s 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 Grażyna and Konrad Wallenrod, and his sublime Crimean Sonnets. His body rests in the crypt of the Wawel Cathedral in Kraków, Poland.

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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 Barry’s Bay, Ontario. Now retired, he resides with his wife Wendy in the village of Wilno, Ontario. They have five children and nine grandchildren.

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“Truly a masterpiece! Christopher Adam Zakrzewski has accomplished the impossible: he has rendered in prose what seemed possible only in poetry. Poland’s great epic poem can now be read as a delightful historical tale replete with Romantic irony. Zakrzewski’s mastery of the English language is remarkable.”

— Ewa Thompson, Rice University

“In this extraordinarily fine prose rendering, Christopher Adam Zakrzewski brings his own prodigious gifts as a poet and translator to one of the great classics of world literature. The fruit of Zakrzewski’s decades-long labors, this book is a treasure of immeasurable value.

— Michael D. O’Brien, novelist, painter

“Perfectly smooth, highly expressive, subtly nuanced, Christopher Adam Zakrzewski’s translation does full justice to this brightest jewel in the crown of Polish literature.”

— Kazimierz Braun, Polish author, scholar, theater artist

“Christopher Adam Zakrzewski’s English prose is marvelously, not to say magically consonant with the poetical richness of Mickiewicz’s great Polish national saga.”

— Dr. Olga Glagoleva, Senior Associate, Centre for European, Russian, and Eurasian Studies, Munk School of Global Affairs & Public Policy at the University of Toronto

“Pan Tadeusz is a masterpiece of Romantic literature and a key to the heart, mind, and soul of the Polish people and nation. This new edition will, I hope, make a challenging text far more accessible to the broad audience that Adam Mickiewicz deserves.”

— Professor George Weigel, Distinguished Senior Fellow and William E. Simon Chair in Catholic Studies, Ethics and Public Policy Center

“Adam Mickiewicz was and is the dominant figure in Polish Romanticism and is seen as playing the same pivotal role in the Romantic movement in Poland as that played by Wordsworth, Coleridge, Byron, and Sir Walter Scott in the English-speaking world. As such, all lovers of the great books of western civilization will welcome this new translation of the Polish national epic, Pan Tadeusz.”

— Joseph Pearce, Visiting Professor of Literature, Ave Maria University