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ix Writing a book takes a village, and I owe thanks to many people on both sides of the Atlantic. My colleagues in the Department of Slavic Languages and Literatures at Harvard have supported me academically, institutionally, and otherwise, and I would like to thank all of them here: Jonathan Bolton, Svetlana Boym, Julie Buckler, Michael Flier, George Grabowicz, John Malmstad, Stephanie Sandler, William Mills Todd III, and Justin Weir. Judy Klasson and Stuart Robbins-Butcher have offered superb administrative assistance. I am also thankful to the institutions at Harvard for their financial support during my sabbatical leaves, particularly a John F. Cogan Junior Faculty Leave Grant from the Davis Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies and the Dean’s Fund for Faculty Research. Joanna Epstein, a bibliographer responsible for the Polish collection at Harvard’s Widener Library, has been patiently responding to my bibliographic requests. Anna Sobolewska and Justyna Sobolewska years ago in Warsaw gave me copies of their private sound recordings of Białoszewski and showed me the Białoszewski memorabilia on Hoża Street. I thank them for their hospitality and for creating for me a meaningful encounter with Białoszewski’s world early in my explorations. I owe thanks to my advisors at the University of California, Los Angeles. Their teaching has remained a source of inspiration throughout the years. I am particularly grateful to Roman Koropeckyj for his stimulating perspective on Polish literature, which he conveyed with his inimitable wit; to Kenneth Reinhard, whose “theory” seminars and the Lacanian “links” and his generosity as a teacher have influenced me in more ways than he will ever know; to Samuel Weber, for his fascinating take on cultural criticism and philosophy and his attentiveness to every question asked; and to Stephen Yenser, who introduced me to American poetry and in turn influenced the way I read Polish works. Last, but not least, I owe a debt of gratitude to Katherine King and Ross Shideler. They were my unfailing supporters in academic and life matters. Without them, I would not be where I am. Acknowledgments Acknowledgments x Different parts and various drafts of this book found magnanimous readers in Bożena Shallcross, of the University of Chicago, who supported this project from its inception; Bożena Karwowska, of the University of British Columbia, who dedicated many hours to discussing its theoretical framework ; and Ryszard Nycz, of the Jagiellonian University, whose endorsement of my approach to Białoszewski provided much-needed encouragement. Two anonymous reviewers for Northwestern University Press offered extensive and insightful comments on the manuscript. I am immensely grateful to Stephanie Sandler and Jonathan Bolton for their patient and precise criticism , and for their continuous support throughout the long process of writing and revising this book. I thank Mike Levine of Northwestern University Press, for having faith in this project, and Gianna Mosser, for her diligence in getting the manuscript ready. Throughout my work, I relied on William Myers and Kristen Ebert-Wagner, whose editorial skills and dedication went a great deal beyond fixing deficiencies of my non-native English. I also would like to acknowledge Peter Schertz, who was a careful editor in the earliest stage of my work. I greatly appreciate the assistance of Philip Redko, a doctoral student at Harvard’s Slavic Department, with fine-tuning the translations of Białoszewski ’s passages incorporated in this book to better convey the colloquial flair of the original. Phil’s poetic ear and sensitivity to Białoszewski’s diction has been invaluable especially in the case of my own literal renderings of Białoszewski’s unique language. I have been fortunate to have brilliant interlocutors. Whether in academic settings or around kitchen tables, I have had a chance to discuss my work with Tamara Trojanowska, Przemysław Czapliński and Ewa GuderianCzaplin ́ska, Bożena Keff, Tomasz Bilczewski, Błażej Warkocki, Hanna Gosk, Marek Zaleski, William Martin, and many others. I cannot list them all here, but I hope that they all know the depth of my gratitude. My graduate students from the seminar “Białoszewski: The Art of Private Life” made me wish I had had a chance to teach them when I first started to work on Białoszewski. For all of them, Pamie ˛tnik z powstania warszawskiego was the first book they read in Polish from cover to cover, and accompanying them on their challenging but passionate journey through the idiosyncrasies of Białoszewski’s language generated a welcome burst of energy...

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