Witold Gombrowicz (August 4, 1904 – July 24, 1969) wrote books that stand out for their deep psychological analysis and a sense of all-encompassing absurd.
In 1937, Ferdydurke, Gombrowicz’s first novel, was published. The book introduced many of his signature themes: adolescence, personal identity within a community and ironic examination of Polish society.
In 1953, Trans-Atlantyk was published. The semi-autobiographic novel closely tracked the writer’s personal experience in the years surrounding World War II.
In 1969, Gombrowicz’s diaries were published. Entitled Diaries, 1953–1969, the book is "widely considered his masterpiece," according to the prestigious literary magazine The Paris Review.
Andrzej Franaszek, a Polish literature expert, has said: “Above everything else I admire Diaries, which in my opinion is Gombrowicz’s single most important work. He is invariably inspiring and wise when he portrays the tortured Polish soul.”
Franaszek told state news agency PAP in an interview published on Thursday that Gombrowicz is “even more [inspiring] when he writes electrifyingly about the everlasting suffering of the human kind and the whole of the living world.”
According to the New York Times, Gombrowicz’s use of radical “commentary to ridicule authority” which “opposed all party lines” resulted in his books being banned in communist-era Poland.
Gombrowicz’s works have been translated into more than 30 languages.
(jh/gs)
Source: PAP