Editing Witold Gombrowicz (section)

==Writing==
[[File:Ferdydurke.Rój.jpg|thumb|right|Cover of 1938 edition of ''Ferdydurke'']]
Gombrowicz wrote in Polish, but he did not allow his works to be published in Poland until the authorities lifted the ban on the unabridged version of ''Dziennik'', his diary, in which he described their attacks on him. Because he refused publication in Poland, he remained largely unknown to the general reading public until the first half of the 1970s. Still, his works were printed in Polish by the Paris Literary Institute of [[Jerzy Giedroyć]] and translated into more than 30 languages. Moreover, his dramas were repeatedly staged around the world by prominent directors such as [[Jorge Lavelli]], [[Alf Sjöberg]], [[Ingmar Bergman]], and [[Jerzy Jarocki]] and Jerzy Grzegorzewski in Poland.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://sbc.wbp.kielce.pl/Content/35620/PDF/Bibliografia_Gombrowicza.pdf |title=BIBLIOGRAFIA WITOLDA GOMBOWICZA |access-date=26 March 2020}}</ref>

The salient characteristics of Gombrowicz's writing include incisive descriptions of characters' psychological entanglement with others, an acute awareness of conflicts that arise when traditional cultural values clash with contemporary values, and an exasperated yet comedic sense of the absurd. Gombrowicz's clear and precise descriptions criticise [[Polish Romanticism]], and he once claimed he wrote in defiance of [[Adam Mickiewicz]] (especially in ''Trans-Atlantic''). Gombrowicz's work has links with [[existentialism]] and [[structuralism]]. It is also known for its playful allusions and satire, as in a section of ''Trans-Atlantic'' written in the form of a stylised 19th-century diary, followed by a parody of a traditional fable.

For many critics and theorists, the most engaging aspects of Gombrowicz's work are the connections with European thought in the second half of the 20th century, which link him with the intellectual heritage of [[Michel Foucault|Foucault]], [[Roland Barthes|Barthes]], [[Gilles Deleuze|Deleuze]], [[Jacques Lacan|Lacan]], and [[Jean-Paul Sartre|Sartre]]. As Gombrowicz said, "''Ferdydurke'' was published in 1937 before Sartre formulated his theory of the ''regard d'autrui''. But it is owing to the popularization of Sartrean concepts that this aspect of my book has been better understood and assimilated."<ref>{{Citation
  | last = Gombrowicz
  | first = Witold
  | title = Three Novels: Ferdydurke, Pornografia, and Cosmos
  | publisher = Grove Press
  | page = [https://archive.org/details/threenovels00gomb/page/8 8]
  | year = 1978
  | isbn = 0-394-17067-9
  | url = https://archive.org/details/threenovels00gomb/page/8
  }}
</ref>

Gombrowicz uses first-person narrative in his novels, except ''Opętani''. The language includes many [[neologism]]s. Moreover, he created "keywords" that shed their symbolic light on the sense covered under the ironic form (e.g. ''gęba'', ''pupa'' in ''Ferdydurke'').

In the story "Pamiętnik z okresu dojrzewania" Gombrowicz engages in paradoxes that control the entrance of the individual into the social world and the repressed passions that rule human behaviour. In ''Ferdydurke'' he discusses form as a universal category that is understood in philosophical, sociological, and aesthetic senses, and is a means of enslavement of the individual by other people and society as a whole. Certain turns of phrase in the novel became common usage in Polish, such as ''upupienie'' (imposing on the individual the role of somebody inferior and immature) and ''gęba'' (a personality or an authentic role imposed on somebody). ''Ferdydurke'' can be read as a satire of various Polish communities: progressive bourgeoisie, rustic, conservative. The satire presents the human either as a member of a society or an individual who struggles with himself and the world.

[[File:Tablica Witold Gombrowicz ul. Chocimska 35 w Warszawie.JPG|Memorial plaque at the Gombrowicz's Warsaw home (1935–39)|thumb|upright]]

Adaptations of ''Ferdydurke'' and other works of Gombrowicz were presented by many theatres, especially before 1986, when the first nine volumes of his works were published. It was the only official way to gain access to his work.

Gombrowicz's first dramatic text was ''Iwona, księżniczka Burgunda'' (''Ivona, Princess of Burgundia'', 1938), a [[tragicomedy]]. It describes what the enslavement of form, custom, and ceremony brings.

In 1939 he published in installments in two daily newspapers the popular novel ''Opętani'', in which he interlaced the form of the [[Gothic fiction|Gothic novel]] with that of sensational modern romance.

In ''Ślub'', written just after the war, Gombrowicz used the form of [[Shakespeare]]'s and [[Pedro Calderón de la Barca|Calderón]]’s theatre. He also critically undertook the theme of the romantic theatre ([[Zygmunt Krasiński]], [[Juliusz Słowacki]]) and portrayed a new concept of power and a human being created by other people.

In ''Trans-Atlantyk'' Gombrowicz juxtaposes the traditional vision of a human who serves values with a new vision according to which an individual frees oneself of this service and fulfills oneself. The representative of this model of humanity is the eccentric millionaire Gonzalo.

The novel ''Pornografia'' shows Poland in wartime, when the eternal order of traditional culture, based on faith in God, collapsed. In its place appears a new reality where the elderly and the young cooperate to realise their cruel fascinations streaked with eroticism.

''Kosmos'' is Gombrowicz's most complex and ambiguous work. In it he portrays how human beings create a vision of the world, what forces, symbolic order, and passion take part in this process and how the novel form organises itself in the process of creating sense.

''Operetka'', Gombrowicz's last play, uses [[operetta]] form to grotesquely present 20th-century [[totalitarianism]]. At the same time, he expresses a tentative faith in rebirth through youth.

According to many scholars, his most outstanding work is ''Dziennik'' (''Diaries''), not only as a literary work but also philosophical: "The affectingly cool critic of European tradition, the diagnostician of the disease afflicting contemporary thought, the great artist and moralist. If I were to designate a worthy successor to the ''Joyful science'' of Nietzschean criticism and poetry in twentieth century literature, I would answer: Gombrowicz in his ''Diary''" ([[Wojciech Karpiński]]).<ref>introductory essay in: Witold Gombrowicz, ''Diary Volumes 1–3'', tr. Lillian Vallee, Northwestern University Press, 1988, {{ISBN|0-8101-0715-5}}. See also: ''Gombrowicz's Grimaces: Modernism, Gender, Nationality'', State University of New York Press, 1998, p. 6, {{ISBN|0-7914-3643-8}}</ref> ''Dziennik'' was published in serial form in ''Kultura'' from 1953 to 1969. It is not only Gombrowicz's record of life but also a philosophical essay, polemic, collection of auto-reflection on [[folk poetry]], views on politics, national culture, religion, tradition, and many other themes. He writes in ostensibly casual anecdotes and uses a wide range of literary devices.

Three of Gombrowicz's novels were adapted for film: ''Ferdydurke'' (1991) directed by [[Jerzy Skolimowski]],<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.filmpolski.pl/fp/index.php?film=521914 |title=Ferdydurke |access-date=26 March 2020}}</ref> ''[[Pornografia (film)|Pornografia]]'' (2003) directed by [[Jan Jakub Kolski]],<ref>{{cite news|url=https://adapter.pl/filmy/pornografia/ |title=Pornografia |access-date=26 March 2020}}</ref> and ''[[Cosmos (2015 film)|Cosmos]]'' (2015) directed by [[Andrzej Żuławski]].

2004, the centenary of his birth, was declared the Year of Gombrowicz.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://culture.pl/pl/wydarzenie/2004-rokiem-witolda-gombrowicza |title=2004 rokiem Witolda Gombrowicza |access-date=26 March 2020}}</ref>

Gombrowicz's last extensive work, ''Kronos'', was published in Poland by [[Wydawnictwo Literackie]] on May 23, 2013.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://culture.pl/en/work/kronos-witold-gombrowicz |title=Kronos - Witold Gombrowicz |access-date=26 March 2020}}</ref> From May 2024, a manuscript of the ''Kronos'' is presented at a [[permanent exhibition in the Palace of the Commonwealth]] in Warsaw.<ref>{{cite web |url= https://bn.org.pl/en/news/5313-palace-of-the-commonwealth-open-to-visitors.html |title= Palace of the Commonwealth open to visitors |date= 2024-05-28 |publisher= National Library of Poland |access-date= 2024-06-11}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |editor-first1=Tomasz |editor-last1= Makowski | editor-link1=Tomasz Makowski (librarian) | editor-first2= Patryk| editor-last2 = Sapała |date=2024 |publication-place=Warsaw |publisher= National Library of Poland|title=The Palace of the Commonwealth. Three times opened. Treasures from the National Library of Poland at the Palace of the Commonwealth |page=208}}</ref>