Novelist, playwright and essayist, born in 1904 and died in 1969. Studied law at the University of Warsaw and philosophy and economics in Paris.

In 1933 Gombrowicz published " Pamiętnik z okresu dojrzewania / Memoirs of a Time of Immaturity", a collection of humourous stories playing with the form of "low literature", which was completely misunderstood by contemporary critics.

Four years later he published his first novel, "Ferdydurke", a work that deals with themes he would further explore in his later writing. These include the problems of immaturity and youth, "faces" (masks worn in front of others), and the confines of society and culture -- particularly Polish culture, which Gombrowicz saw as noble, Catholic and provincial. Critics reacted harshly to "Ferdydurke", and the controversy surrounding the book divided readers into two camps: those who worshipped the author, and those who hated him. But the book was admired by Bruno Schulz and Zofia Nałkowska, among others.

“We have long forgotten in our literature such shocking events and such eruptions as we see in Witold Gombrowicz's novel "Ferdydurke"”, wrote Bruno Schulz in his review of the book. “What we have here is an unusual manifestation of writing talent, a new and revolutionary form of novel, and finally a fundamental discovery, an annexation of a new field of spiritual phenomena, an ungoverned no man's land, where only an irresponsible joke, a pun and nonsense come out to play.”

In 1938 Gombrowicz published his first play, "Yvonne, Princess of Burgundy / Iwona, księżniczka Burgunda", a grotesque in which formality, custom and ceremony grow to eventually trap the individual, who cannot free himself and does not even know how to do so. However, the text inspired little reaction from the public.

One month before the outbreak of the Second World War, Gombrowicz decided to emigrate and boarded a ship to Argentina. He spent the war in South America, where the close-knit Argentinian community of Polish emigrants inspired him and made him laugh. His pre-war books were forgotten in Poland, and it was a long time before they gained him any kind of international recognition. As Jan Kott recalled in Rzeczpospolita Daily, “For many years, almost until the end of his time in Argentina, Gombrowicz lived on the verge of misery. He had his own table in an obscure café in Buenos Aires where he played chess with his young friends, none of whom was yet a writer. He worked at translating "Ferdydurke" into Spanish, page by page and sentence by sentence. Since his departure for Argentina, none of his books had been published in Poland. "Yvonne..." had never been staged. It would be many years before his name would become well-known internationally.”

Only in the mid 1950s was Gombrowicz's first novel re-edited in Poland, and "The Marriage / Ślub", the drama he wrote in 1946 in Argentina, was published in Polish and French. “This play is a grotesque but strictly homologous transposition of events that took place in various forms in many countries throughout Central Europe and Russia, events that are projected, of course, through Gombrowicz's aristocratic and Christian lense. (...) Both plays ("Yvonne..." and "The Marriage") have the grotesque in common, but in "The Marriage" it becomes truly dream-like. (...) In 1935 Gombrowicz puts on the stage a society in which he is still living and is part of; in 1946 he reconstructs a historical process from afar, which, in his vision, leads to the abrogation of history”, wrote Lucien Goldmann, comparing "The Marriage" to "Yvonne...".

Gombrowicz became internationally famous in the 1960s, when several of his works -- "Pornography / Pornografia", "Cosmos / Kosmos", "Diary", and "Operetta / Operetka" -- were published in Paris. Many literary critics consider "Diary" to be his best novel, while "Operetta / Operetka" was a grotesque play about the history and revolutions of the 20th century. “Why an operetta? Why does Gombrowicz associate it with modern art, when almost no self-respecting thespian would enter the halls where it exhibits its funny and absurd rites?” wonders Jan Błoński. “I think the reason is that the operetta (...) is the most conventionalised theatrical genre. The gestures are the most self-conscious and the stereotypes strut the proudest." Gombrowicz's dramas began to be staged abroad and, with some difficulty, in Poland. Gombrowicz moved to Europe, first to West Berlin for a one-year scholarship, and then to the south of France, where he eventually settled. This is where he died and was buried.

Gombrowicz is one of the most exceptional writers in the history of literature, at least in terms of his philosophy, his method of constructing texts and the power of his language. He fought endlessly against Polish tradition and history, but this was only the starting point. His work was deeply-rooted in the very tradition with which he struggled, but it managed at the same time to be universal. “Gombrowicz was always a writer and a man who didn't want to surrender himself, his imagination or his originality for any price or to anyone, be they gods, societies or doctrines. But neither was he willing to give up his own culture, or accept the marginalization of his homeland.” (Jan Błonski, About Gombrowicz, in: "Gombrowicz and the Critics").

“Gombrowicz's art cannot be judged with the passing of several decades. It is a monument of Polish prose, a fragment of a body of work that also includes Pasek and Sienkiewicz. Thirty years after the author's death, one can only ask how contemporary Poland compares to the Poland with which he fought in his desire to introduce the notion of ‘sonland’ rather than ‘fatherland.’ Is it the same, is it similar or is it completely different? There is no answer to this question, especially since the true Poland has not appeared in any literary work in recent years.” (Czesław Miłosz)

“Contemporary Polish theatre has Gombrowicz under its skin, from Jurek Grotowski (without Gombrowicz there would be no "Apocalypsis Cum Figuris", Puzyna once said) to Grzegorz Jarzyna. Since 1989, no one has sought in his work resistance to Soviet lies, and young people do not look to it for revolutionary inspiration; but as a model of the lonely and independent intellectual, uncompromising and painfully honest, he is irreplaceable. In a way, he disillusioned us and brought us closer to Europe by attacking and unmasking our Polish complexes.” (Jerzy Jarocki)

Selected stagings of Gombrowicz's texts:

• 1958 - "Yvonne, princess of Burgundy", Dramatic Theatre (Teatr Dramatyczny) in Warsaw, directed by Halina Mikołajska
• 1974 - "The Marriage", Dramatic Theatre in Warsaw, directed by Jerzy Jarocki
• 1975 - "Operetta", New Theatre (Teatr Nowy) in Łódź, directed by Kazimierz Dejmek
• 1981 - "The Transatlantic / Trans-Atlantyk", Jaracz Theatre in Łódź, directed by Mikołaj Grabowski
• 1991 - "The Marriage", Old Theatre (Teatr Stary) in Krakow, directed by Jerzy Jarocki
• 1996 - "Crime with Malice Aforethough / Zbrodnia z Premedytacją", Jaracz Theatre in Lodz, directed by Zbigniew Brzoza
• 1997 - "Lawyer Kraykowski's Dance / Taniec mecenasa Kraykowskiego", Kochanowski Common Theatre (Teatr Powszechny im. Kochanowskiego) in Radom, directed by Krzysztof Warlikowski
• 1998 - "The Marriage", National Theatre (Teatr Narodowy) in Warsaw, directed by Jerzy Grzegorzewski
• 2000 - "Operetta", National Theatre in Warsaw, directed by Jerzy Grzegorzewski

Bibliography (first editions):

• "Pamiętnik z okresu dojrzewania / Memoirs of a Time of Immaturity", Warszawa: Roj 1933
• "Ferdydurke", Warszawa: Roj 1937
• "Trans-Atlantyk. Ślub / The Transatlantic. The Marriage", Paris: Instytut Literacki 1953
• "Dziennik 1953-1956 / Diary 1953-1956", Paris: Instytut Literacki 1957
• "Bakakaj / Bakakai", Krakow: Wydawnictwo Literackie 1957
• "Iwona księżniczka Burgunda / Yvonne, Princess of Burgundy", Warszawa: PIW 1958
• "Pornografia / Pornography", Paris: Instytut Literacki 1960
• "Dziennik 1957-1961 / Diary 1957-1961", Paris: Instytut Literacki 1962
• "Kosmos / Cosmos", Paris: Instytut Literacki 1965
• "Dziennik 1961-1966. Operetka / Diary 1961-1966. Operetta", Paris: Instytut Literacki 1966
• "Rozmowy z Gombrowiczem / A Kind of Testament", edited: Dominique de Roux, Paris: Instytut Literacki 1969 (translated from French)
• "Wspomnienia polskie. Wędrówki po Argentynie / Polish Memories. Wandering Across Argentina", in "Collected work" vol. 11, Paris: Instytut Literacki 1977
• "Dzieła zebrane / Collected work" vol. 1-11, Paris: Instytut Literacki 1969-1977
• "Dzieła / Works" vol. 1-10, Krakow: Wydawnictwo Literackie 1986-1992

Prepared in June 2002.

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