Witold Gombrowicz
Polish
Born in Poland 1904
On port in Argentina, upon invasion of Poland in 1939, chose exile
Books banned in Poland until 1956, banned again soon after
Moved to Berlin in 1963, France in 1964
His novel Cosmos won the International Prize for Literature in 1967.
Died in France in 1969


Published Works

NOVELS

1966   Pornografia [Calder & Boyars],[Grove]
1965   Cosmos [Kultura],[Grove]
1952   Trans-Atlantyk [1970: Institute Litéraire SARL],[Yale University]
1939   the Possessed, or the Secret of Myslotch - serialized under pseudonym Nienaski [newspaper Express Wieczorny]
1937   Ferdydurke

SHORT FICTION

1957   Bakakaj
1933   Memoirs of a Time of Immaturity

PLAYS

1966   Operetta
1952   Princess Ivona
1947   the Marriage

DIARIES

1966   (Diary Three) [Northwestern University Press]
1962   (Diary Two) [Northwestern University Press]
1957   Dziennik (Diary One) [Instytut Literacki],[Northwestern University Press]



Excerpt

From Cosmos:

'Well, my young friend, we are beginning to understand each other, as you see. It's really very simple. Men like... men like... what? They like love-making. They like berg.'
'Berg.'
'I beg your pardon?'
'Berg.'
'What do you mean?'
'Berg.'
'Oh no, that's enough. Stop it.'
'Berg.'
'Ha ha ha ha! So you've bamberged me. You're a deep one. You're a sly one. Who would have imagined that? You're a double, triple, superberger. That's the spirit. That's the spirit. Three cheers for berg.'
I looked at the ground. Again I found myself absorbed in the ground, the grass, and little clumps of earth. How many thousands and millions of them were there?
'Lick.'
'What?'
'Lick, I say, lickberg or spitberg.'
'What did you say?' I exclaimed. 'What did you say?'
'I said lickberg or spitberg.'
The meadow, the trees, the tree-trunk. A pure choice. A pure coincidence. I must not lose my head. It was by pure chance that he had said 'spitberg', and he had said nothing about spitting in the mouth. No, I must not lose my head. He was not talking about me.

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