Barbarian in the Garden by Zbigniew Herbert
"Barbarian in the Garden" by Zbigniew Herbert is a distinctive work that blends travel writing, history, and art analysis, offering a personal exploration of European cultural artifacts. Through his journeys across various towns, Herbert provides insights into the historical narratives that shape the places he visits. Unlike traditional academic approaches, Herbert’s perspective is deeply emotive and engaging, often challenging established views on art and history. The book traces a rough historical timeline, beginning with prehistoric cave drawings and concluding with the late Renaissance, reflecting his preference for thematic over chronological organization. Notably, Herbert favors Eastern and ancient art over Western innovations, advocating for the recognition of artists like Duccio di Buoninsegna over more widely celebrated figures such as Michelangelo. His writing encapsulates a tension between aesthetic appreciation and the somber realities of historical suffering, as he juxtaposes beautiful descriptions of art with poignant reflections on moral and historical tragedies. This duality makes "Barbarian in the Garden" a compelling invitation for readers interested in the intersections of art, history, and personal reflection.
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Barbarian in the Garden by Zbigniew Herbert
First published:Barbarzynca w ogrodzie, 1962 (English translation, 1985)
Type of work: History/art history/travel writing
Form and Content
Zbigniew Herbert, one of the finest poets of the twentieth century, was born in Poland and writes in Polish; yet he has also taught in and written about Western Europe and America. In Barbarian in the Garden, he comments on the meaning and significance of a wide range of European cultural artifacts and history. Though it is not a work of poetry, the perception that Herbert brings to the places and works of art he contemplates is truly poetic. That perception is very personal, and he often challenges academic views as sterile, removed from life. He may pose as a “barbarian” in the “garden” of European art, but his involvement with art and history is passionate, precise, and enlightening at all times.
Barbarian in the Garden is an unusual combination of travel writing, history, and art history. Each section is devoted to a town or an area in which Herbert walks, looks, and eats as the usual tourist does, but he soon begins commenting and speculating on the significant historical events that formed the place he is visiting. After sorting out the history, he proceeds in each chapter to the core of his search: a work of art, a ruin, a cathedral, or an artist. His immediate and sympathetic response to works of art and the history and society behind them is what makes the book continually fascinating and enlightening.
There is a rough historical design to the book: Herbert proceeds from the prehistoric cave drawings at Lascaux through classical Greek works and artifacts of the Middle Ages, closing with the late Renaissance. Herbert seems to respond most fully to the vision within the work rather than its artistic polish, and with that perspective he frequently overturns the academic or received notion and ranking of a work. For example, he considers Duccio di Buoninsegna a greater artist than Michelangelo. In addition, Herbert favors the East and the ancient rather than the West with its demand for innovation and evolution in art. He often prefers the Byzantine artistic style to the more “realistic” Renaissance one.
Critical Context
Zbigniew Herbert is described by Czesaw Miosz as “the most representative” of the “young poets of the second postwar decade.” As a result of his special historical situation, Herbert’s subjects tend to be historical and philosophical rather than polemical. He tends to take a long view of history and to place the present in the context of earlier centuries. As Miosz states, “The tragedies of our century pervade his crystalline, intellectual, and ironic poetry, but they are counterbalanced by his reflections on historical situations from other ages.” Thus, Herbert addresses the problem of military rule in the context of Hamlet in his “Elegy to Fortinbras,” and the terrors of the Nazis in his treatment of the Templars or the Albigensians.
Another theme that is common to his poetry and prose is the conflict between aesthetic contemplation of an object or work of art and the suffering in the world. Barbarian in the Garden contains wonderful descriptions of forms and aesthetic effects of paintings and cathedrals, but it also contains an impassioned denunciation of the tragedy of the Templars. Some chapters are permeated by this dual perspective. Herbert does not attempt to resolve this dichotomy permanently but to maintain a tension between the two poles.
Bibliography
Alvarez, Alfred. “Noble Poet,” in The New York Review of Books. XXXII (July 18, 1985), p. 7.
Baranczak, Stanisaw. A Fugitive from Utopia: The Poetry of Zbigniew Herbert, 1987.
Carpenter, Bogdana. “The Barbarian and the Garden: Zbigniew Herbert’s Reevaluations,” in World Literature Today. LVII (Summer, 1983), pp. 388-393.
Carpenter, Bogdana. “Zbigniew Herbert’s Attack Against Myth,” in Cross Currents: A Yearbook of Central European Culture. III (1983), pp. 221-233.
Gillon, Adam, and Ludwik Krzyanowsky, eds. Introduction to Modern Polish Literature: An Anthology of Fiction and Poetry, 1964.
Kimball, Roger. “Poet’s Pilgrimage,” in The Times Literary Supplement. September 19, 1986, p. 1020.
Miosz, Czesaw. The History of Polish Literature, 1969.