WITOLD GOMBROWICZ

WITOLD GOMBROWICZ

(1904-1969)

Having spent his early years on his family's provincial estate of Maloszyce, Witold Gombrowicz moved with his family to Warsaw, where he went to the prestigious school Gymnazjum Wielopolskiego. Though a civilized family, well in the forefront of Polish culture, the Gombrowiczes were naturally "consumers rather than creators of culture". All the children moved into a recognized profession such as law, education or medicine, even, at first, Witold.

The boy was introverted and nervous, of a sickly disposition, but he could be extremely eccentric as well. He got never tired of reminding his classmates of his aristocratic origins, and that he came from the "exotic" Kresy (eastern provinces of Poland). He felt very alienated by the nationalist-liberationist mystique that was de rigueur during his schooldays, particularly with regard to literature, and essentially rejected the cultural orthodoxy to which he should have conformed. He himself later said (perhaps tongue in cheek?) that he always preferred the company of maids, peasants and the milieu of pantry, stable and kitchen.

From 1923 to 1926 Witold read law at the University of Warsaw, and then went to Paris for a while, where he attended the Institute des Hautes Etudes Internationales. From 1928 he began his apprenticeship in Warsaw's municipal courts, but at the same time began in secret to write short stories ("Tancerz Mecenasa Kraykowskiego", "Zbrodnia z premedytacja" and "Dziewictwo") These were subsequently published as Memoirs of a Time of Immaturity (Pamienik z okresu dojrzewania ) in 1933, containing some 10 other stories. A year later, as a result of his moderate success with the public (he was attacked by most critics), he gave up law to devote himself entirely to writing. In 1935 his first play Yvonne, the Princess of Burgundy (Iwona Ksiezniczka Burgunda ) appeared in print, followed two years later by his first novel, Ferdydurke (1937).

His 'immature' period came to an end, when, having been commissioned to write a series of articles about Argentina in the summer of 1939, Gombrowicz arrived in Buenos Aires days before the Second World War broke out in Europe, and Poland was invaded. He decided to remain in Buenos Aires.

At first penniless, he sought out work on local newspapers, finally finding a permanent post in the Banco Polaco in Buenos Aires, where he worked from 1947 to 1955. His second play The Marriage appeared in Spanish translation in Buenos Aires in 1947, before the Polish original was published (by the Paris based Kultura) together with his second novel, Trans-Atlantic (Trans-Atlantyk ) in 1953. In that same year, monthly instalments of his Diary (Dziennik) began to appear also in Kultura, so that from 1955 his financial position was secure enough for him yet again to give up working to devote his energies full-time to literature.

During the brief relief from total censorship in 1956-57, Ferdydurke, Slub (The Marriage), Trans-Atlantic and "Bakakaj" (a revised version of Memoirs) were republished in a limited edition in the Polish Peoples' Republic.

There followed a period of awards and 'popularity': he was awarded the 1961 Kultura prize for his third novel, Pornography (1960). He was next awarded a Ford Foundation Fellowship in 1963, which gave him the opportunity to leave Argentia, and for a while he settled in Berlin. His fourth novel, Cosmos (Kosmos) appeared in 1965, followed by his last play (and work), Operetta (Operetka) in 1966. He died on July 24th 1969 in Vence, in the South of France, of heart failure.

Gombrowicz's cult in Poland spread and intensified especially between 1957 and the late 1980s. Soon after 1958, and especially after the political attacks on Gomrowicz in the mid 1960s, his books were banned in Poland. After the writer's death, the ban was partly lifted, but at the same time Gombrowicz's last will went into effect. His will was that his work not be published in Poland unless reprinted in its entirety. An insane situation resluted from this: Gombrowicz's work was widely read in its smuggled-in Paris editions or underground reprints. His plays were performed in various theatres throughout Poland but their texts could not be purchased in official bookstores. Critical books on Gombrowicz were published but none of his works could be reprinted. The first full edition of his works appeared officially in 1988 and his Diaries followed after then.

Major works:

Novels and Short Story Collections:

Memoirs of a Time of Immaturity (1933)

Bakakai (1937)

The Possessed (1937 or 1939)

Ferdydurke (1937)

Trans-Atlantyk (1952)

Pornography (1960)

Cosmos (1966)

Plays:

Princess Ivona (1952)

The Marriage (1947)

Operetta (1966)