Editing Witold Gombrowicz (section)

===Exile in Argentina===
[[File:Tablica W. Gombrowicz, Buenos Aires.jpg|thumb|right|Commemorative plaque on the building located on Calle Venezuela 615, where Gombrowicz lived]]
Just before the outbreak of the Second World War, Gombrowicz took part in the maiden voyage of the Polish transatlantic liner [[MS Chrobry]] to [[South America]].<ref>{{cite news|url=https://dzieje.pl/aktualnosci/85-lat-temu-we-wloskiej-stoczni-w-monfalcone-nad-adriatykiem-polozono-stepke-ms-batory |title=85 lat temu we włoskiej stoczni w Monfalcone nad Adriatykiem położono stępkę MS "Batory" |access-date=26 March 2020}}</ref> When he learned of the outbreak of war in Europe, he decided to wait in [[Buenos Aires]] until it was over; he reported to the Polish legation in 1941 but was considered unfit for military duties. He stayed in Argentina until 1963—often, especially during the war, in poverty.

At the end of the 1940s Gombrowicz was trying to gain a position in Argentine literary circles by publishing articles, giving lectures at the Fray Mocho café, and, finally, by publishing in 1947 a Spanish translation of ''[[Ferdydurke]]'', with the help of friends including [[Virgilio Piñera]]. This version of the novel is now considered a significant event in the history of Argentine literature, but at the time of its publication it did not bring Gombrowicz any great renown, nor did the 1948 publication of his drama ''Ślub'' in Spanish (''[[The Marriage (Gombrowicz play)|The Marriage]]'', ''El Casamiento''). From December 1947 to May 1955 Gombrowicz worked as a bank clerk in Banco Polaco, the Argentine branch of [[Bank Pekao]], and formed a friendship with [[Zofia Chądzyńska]], who introduced him to Buenos Aires's political and cultural elite. In 1950 he started exchanging letters with [[Jerzy Giedroyc]], and in 1951 he began to publish work in the Parisian journal ''Culture'', in which fragments of ''Dziennik'' (''Diaries'') appeared in 1953. In the same year he published a volume of work that included ''Ślub'' and the novel ''Trans-Atlantyk'', in which the subject of national identity on emigration was controversially raised. After October 1956 four of Gombrowicz's books appeared in Poland and brought him great renown, even though the authorities did not allow the publication of ''Dziennik'' (''Diary'').<ref>{{cite news|url=https://biblioteka.ozarow.pl/p,70,patron-biblioteki |title=Patron biblioteki |access-date=28 February 2020}}</ref>

Gombrowicz had affairs with both men and women. In his later serialised ''Diary'' (1953–69) he wrote about his adventures in the homosexual underworld of [[Buenos Aires]], particularly his experiences with young men from the lower class, a theme he picked up again when interviewed by Dominique de Roux in ''A Kind of Testament'' (1973).<ref>{{Cite magazine|url=https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2012/07/30/imp-of-the-perverse|title=Imp of the Perverse|first=Ruth|last=Franklin|magazine=The New Yorker|date=23 July 2012 }}</ref><!-- same case use it as a source More about this period on: [https://witoldgombrowicz.com/en/wgbio/argentina-1939-1964/the-glory-and-misery-of-exile witoldgombrowicz.com] -->