ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I’d like to offer my deepest gratitude to the Guggenheim Foundation for the fellowship I received in 2013 – 2014; the Lannan Foundation for a marvelous residency in Marfa, Texas in 2013; and Indiana University, from which I received a Henry Remak Endowed Professorship for 2014 – 2017. This support provided the time and resources I needed to devote myself to this project over the four years it took to complete.

I also wish to thank colleagues, students, and friends for innumerable stimulating conversations that allowed me to clarify my own ideas about Mickiewicz’s magnificent poem, what it means to read it in the 21st century both in Poland and beyond, and the task of rendering it into English.

Thank you to Ned for being my first and most important reader. To Jill, my brilliant editor and dear friend, without whom this publication would not have happened. And to my wife Isabelle, for her unfailing love and support throughout.