Perspective

The book is written in a mixture of first and third person perspective with the narrator being the author, Czeslaw Milosz. The author is writing from his first-hand knowledge and events of life in the Soviet bloc countries. As a writer, he understands the process that took place in other writers under a regime that suppresses literary creativity and forces a style of writing that must conform to the Method, or Party line. If a writer wants to keep working at his chosen occupation and be published, he must write in the approved manner that supports the class struggle and Party doctrine.

Since the author experienced the conflicts and the pressures of writing in a socialist regime, the use of the first person is more than appropriate for this kind of book. The author, as the narrator provides all the necessary background about history, events and doctrine to...