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.