TO PAY TRIBUTE to an exceptionally worthy man is to realize once more that there is no equality in the republic of arts and letters. Its structure is strictly hierarchical. The first-rate is not equal to the second-rate, daring is not equal to cowardice, generosity of mind cannot be put on the same level as self-interest. Uncertainties that are obvious when we try to assess what is first- rate in art or writing constantly undermine the very notion of hierarchy. And yet life brings again and again the confirmation of its existence.
Mr. Milosz, who won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1980, delivered this tribute at a dinner given by the Independent Institute in San Francisco.
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