Witold Gombrowicz

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Witold Gombrowicz (August 4, 1904, Małoszyce, near Kielce, Poland – July 24, 1969, Vence, near Nice, France) was a Polish novelist and dramatist.

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[edit] Biography

Gombrowicz was born as the youngest of four children of Jan and Antonina (née Kotkowska), in a family of small gentry. In 1911 his family moved to Warsaw. After completing his education at the Saint Stanislaus Kostka's Gymnasium he studied law at Warsaw University from 1926 to 1932 and philosophy and economics in Paris. During his studies he was involved in Warsaw cultural life, arguing with young writers and intellectuals in the then-famous Ziemiańska and Zodiak cafés. In 1933, Gombrowicz published a collection of short stories titled Memoirs of a Time of Immaturity; it received poor reviews. His first success came with the novel Ferdydurke, which won notoriety from the virulent criticism directed at it by more nationalistic segments of the Warsaw establishment.

Several days before the outbreak of World War II, Gombrowicz bought a boat ticket for Buenos Aires, Argentina. He came there on August 21, 1939, the same day that the 8th Chess Olympiad participants arrived. After Germany invaded Poland on September 1, 1939, Gombrowicz, like many chess players of that event (Najdorf, Stahlberg, Frydman, Eliskases, etc.) decided to stay in Argentina as a freewill emigrant. He settled in Buenos Aires, where his woeful economic condition forced him to rely on others for food and aid, even attending the funerals of people he did not know in order to eat. After a number of years of struggle, in 1947 he found work as a bank officer at the Banco Polaco, the Argentinian branch office of the Polish state bank.

Gombrowicz chose not to return to communist Poland at the end of World War II. His novels and plays were banned there until the late 1970s; however, they were published in Polish-language editions by Jerzy Giedroyc, who in 1950 had established a Polish publishing house (Kultura, "Culture") in Paris, France. Gombrowicz's works have been translated into many languages. In the late 1950s, the semi-autobiographical novel Trans-Atlantyk was staged in Paris and met with interest from French theater critics. In the 1960s, Gombrowicz became internationally known. In 1963 he received a Ford Foundation residential scholarship in Berlin, and in 1964 he settled in Royaumont near Paris, where he employed Rita Labrosse, a Canadian from Montreal, as his personal secretary. Later in 1964, he married Labrosse and moved to Vence near Nice in the south of France, where he spent the rest of his life.

[edit] Style

Gombrowicz's works are characterized by deep psychological analysis, a certain sense of paradox and an absurd, anti-nationalist flavor. In 1937 he published his first novel, Ferdydurke, which presents many themes explored in his further writings: the problems of immaturity and youth, the masks taken on by men in front of others, and an ironic, critical examination of class roles in Polish society and culture, specifically among the nobility, representatives of the Catholic Church and provincal Poles. Ferdydurke provoked sharp critical reactions and immediately divided Gombrowicz's audience into rival camps of worshipers and sworn enemies.

Gombrowicz is an exceptional writer who always struggled with Polish traditions and the country's difficult history. However, this battle comprised the starting point for his stories, which remain deeply rooted in this tradition and history. Gombrowicz was always a writer and a man who would not sacrifice his imagination or his originality for any price, person, god, society, or doctrine.

[edit] Major works

[edit] Translations

Gombrowicz's novels and plays have been translated into English, French, German, Italian, Spanish, Japanese and several other languages. The recent English translation of Ferdydurke (by Danuta Borchardt) is generally considered very good, as is the interesting translation of Trans-Atlantyk (Carolyn French chose to translate it into faux 17th-century English).

  • Bacacay, Bill Johnston translator, Archipelago Books, 2004, ISBN 0-9728692-9-8.
  • Cosmos, Danuta Borchardt translator, Yale University Press, 2005, ISBN 0-300-10848-6.
  • Cosmos and Pornografia: Two Novels, Eric Mosbacher and Alastair Hamilton translators, Grove Press (reissue edition), 1994, ISBN 0-8021-5159-0.
  • Diary Volume 1, Lillian Vallee translator, Northwestern University Press, 1988, ISBN 0-8101-0715-5.
  • Ferdydurke, Danuta Borchardt translator, Yale University Press, 2000, ISBN 0-300-08240-1.
  • A Guide to Philosophy in Six Hours and Fifteen Minutes, Benjamin Ivry translator, Yale University Press, 2004, ISBN 0-300-10409-X.
  • Polish Memories, Bill Johnston translator, Yale University Press, 2004, ISBN 0-300-10410-3.
  • Possessed: The Secret of Myslotch: A Gothic Novel, Marion Boyars Publishers, Ltd. (reissue edition), 1988, ISBN 0-7145-2738-6.
  • Trans-Atlantyk, Carolyn French and Nina Karsov translators, Yale University Press (reprint edition), 1995, ISBN 0-300-06503-5.

[edit] Film adaptations

  • Ferdydurke (1991) in Polish, directed by Jerzy Skolimowski. Also known as 30 Door Key.
  • Pornografia (2003) in Polish, directed by Jan Jakub Kolski. Also known as Pornography.

[edit] External links

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