Adam Czerniawski is a noted poet, critic, and translator who has also published several collections of short fiction and a fine memoir of his "disturbed" childhood. He has published many English translations of contemporary Polish poetry, drama, and philosophy, as well as his essays in English on poetry. His writings are part of the notable body of work produced by the writers known as the Kontynenty (Continents) group, who, as a consequence of World War II, left Poland early in life (Czerniawski at age seven), came to maturity mainly in Britain, and declined to return to their homeland but still chose to write in their native tongue. Deeply influenced by their disparate international, multicultural, and bilingual experiences, Czerniawski and these other writers have brought to their work an unusually profound concern with problems of language, consciousness, experience, identity, and culture, as well as considerable knowledge of other European...