Cyprian Norwid: September 24, 1821
Turns out Cyprian Norwid, Polish Romantic Poet (1821 - 1883), has a very special birthdate: September 24. From Milosz's The History of Polish Literature we get a little glimpse of Norwid's philosophy on history and his sense of mission: A man is born on this planet to give testimony to the truth. He should, therefore, know and remember that every civilization should be considered as a means and not as an aim--thus, to sell one's soul to a civilization and at the same time to pray in church is to be a pharisee. Probably because I'm still so near (in time) to Coetzee's Elizabeth Costello Norwid's first sentence reminds me a little of Milosz's "secretary of the invisible" which Coetzee admittedly lifted (and filled with his own wind) for Costello . * From Wikipedia: On 24 September 2001, 118 years after his death in France, an urn containing soil from the collective grave where Norwid had been buried, from the Paris cemetery of Montmorency, ...