Arguably the most authoritative English translation of Poland’s great national poem.

Sometimes called the “last epos in world literature,” Pan Tadeusz (first published in Paris in 1834) is a classic tale of romance, mystery, war, and patriotism set in the turbulent Napoleonic era. The old Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth lies dismembered and erased from the political map of Europe by the great powers of Russia, Prussia, and Austria. A brief ray of hope rekindles national aspirations when Napoleon Bonaparte establishes the Grand Duchy of Warsaw by the terms of the Treaty of Tilsit (1807) and sets the stage for his invasion of Russia.

Adam Bernard Mickiewicz was a Polish poet, dramatist, essayist, publicist, translator, professor of Slavic literature, and political activist. He is regarded as national poet in Poland, Lithuania and Belarus.

Adam Mickiewicz's profile page

Christopher Adam Zakrzewski is a literary translator, teacher, and scholar. Born in 1948 and raised in the UK and Ontario, Canada, he pursued his doctorate in Russian and Polish literature at the University of British Columbia. Zakrzewski served as a professor of languages and literature at Our Lady Seat of Wisdom College in Barry’s Bay, Ontario. Now retired, he resides with his wife Wendy in the village of Wilno, Ontario. They have five children and nine grandchildren.

Christopher Adam Zakrzewski's profile page

“Truly a masterpiece! Christopher Zakrzewski has accomplished the impossible: he has rendered in prose what seemed conveyable only in poetry. Poland’s great epic poem can now be read as a delightful historical tale replete with Romantic irony. Zakrzewski’s mastery of the English language is remarkable.”

— Ewa Thompson, Rice University

“In this extraordinarily fine prose rendering, Christopher Zakrzewski brings his own prodigious gifts as a poet and translator to one of the great classics of world literature. The fruit of Zakrzewski’s decades-long labors, this book is a treasure of immeasurable value.

— Michael D. O’Brien, novelist, painter

“Perfectly smooth, highly expressive, subtly nuanced, Christopher Zakrzewski’s translation does full justice to this brightest jewel in the crown of Polish literature.”

— Kazimierz Braun, Polish author, scholar, theater artist

“Christopher Zakrzewski’s English prose is marvelously, not to say magically consonant with the poetical richness of Mickiewicz’s great Polish national saga.”

— Dr. Olga Glagoleva, Senior Associate, Centre for European, Russian, and Eurasian Studies, Munk School of Global Affairs & Public Policy at the University of Toronto

“Pan Tadeusz is a masterpiece of Romantic literature and a key to the heart, mind, and soul of the Polish people and nation. This new edition will, I hope, make a challenging text far more accessible to the broad audience that Adam Mickiewicz deserves.”

— Professor George Weigel, Distinguished Senior Fellow and William E. Simon Chair in Catholic Studies, Ethics and Public Policy Center