The Space of the Word is the title of a book on the poetry and plays by Karol Wojtyła (Pope John Paul II) which has just been published in an English translation. The volume consists of over thirty articles by Polish and foreign literary critics and theologians on various aspects of the Polish Pope’s output.
Pope John Paul II wrote six plays between 1939 and 1964, the best known of which are The Brother of Our God, The Jeweler’s Shop and The Radiation of Fatherhood. His output also includes several essays on drama and numerous poems.
The cover features a reproduction of the manuscript of the drama The Brother of Our God, which centres on the life of Adam Chmielowski (1845-1916), a Polish painter and advocate for the homeless known as Brother Albert (canonized by John Paul II in 1989).
Father Jan Machniak, the book’s co-editor, told the Polish Press Agency (PAP) that Katol Wojtyła’s literary works, which were strongly influenced by the poetry of the Young Poland and Romantic movements, reflect the process of his spiritual maturing.
“In his poetry and dramas, Karol Wojtyła probed into the basic questions relating to his own identity and faith, and to man’s relation to God and the world,” he said.
Piotr Matusiak, the director of the John Paul II Institute for Inter-Cultural Dialogue in Kraków, said that the book is not of a laudatory character but is a serious academic study.
The collection will find its way to the institutions and academic centres promoting the teaching of John Paul II and to major libraries all over the world.
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