Diary Volume Two - Hardcover

Gombrowicz, Witold

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Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0810107163 ISBN 13: 9780810107168

Publisher: Northwestern University Press, 1989

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This is the first English translation of Witold Gombrowicz's Diary, the most Polish and the most universal of his works. Volume Two explores a more personal and intimate side of Gombrowicz in his adopted country of Argentina. Gombrowicz takes the readers into salons, homes, encounters in restaurants and theaters, dramatizing and self-dramatizing, turning the Diary into a work blending techniques of fiction and theater.

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About the Author:

Witold Marian Gombrowicz (August 4, 1904 in Maloszyce, Swietokrzyskie Voivodeship, Congress Poland, Russian Empire – July 24, 1969 in Vence, near Nice, France) was a Polish novelist and dramatist. His 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 presented many of his usual themes: the problems of immaturity and youth, the creation of identity in interactions with others, and an ironic, critical examination of class roles in Polish society and culture. He gained fame only during the last years of his life, but is now considered one of the foremost figures of Polish literature.

From Publishers Weekly:

Nearly every moment is lived at fever pitch in this dark, exhilarating masterpiece, penned by Polish novelist-playwright Gombrowicz (1904-1969) during his exile in Argentina. An uprooted aristocrat intellectual who sought to remake himself in existential fashion, he combines lacerating self-irony with bold philosophical flights, biting social satire, travel notes, literary critiques, cafe talk, personal rants. In this second, fluently translated installment of a three-volume opus, he focuses his restless mind, in no particular order, on Polish culture, the certainty of death, lawyers, Hitler, Americans' infatuation with France, Borges, Mozart, the enslavement of workers under socialism and capitalism, abstract painting and sundry other topics. A rebel with a cause--himself--Gombrowicz should gain a wider readership with this rendition of his celebrated Diary.
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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