Editing Witold Gombrowicz

{{Short description|Polish writer (1904–1969)}}
{{Infobox writer <!-- for more information see [[:Template:Infobox writer/doc]] -->
| name = Witold Gombrowicz
| caption = 
| image = Witold_Gombrowicz_by_Bohdan_Paczowski_-_detail.jpg
| imagesize = 250px
| birth_date = {{birth date|1904|08|04}}
| birth_place = [[Małoszyce, Świętokrzyskie Voivodeship|Małoszyce]], [[Congress Poland]], Russian Empire
| birth_name = Witold Marian Gombrowicz
| nationality = Polish
| death_date = {{death date and age|1969|07|24|1904|08|04}}
| death_place = [[Vence]], France
| language = Polish
| alma_mater = [[University of Warsaw]]<br />([[MJur]], 1927)
| genre = 
| notableworks = ''[[Ferdydurke]]<br /> [[Trans-Atlantyk]]<br /> [[Kosmos (novel)|Kosmos]]<br /> [[Pornografia]]<br /> [[The Marriage (Gombrowicz play)|The Marriage]]''
| occupation = Novelist, dramatist, diarist
| website = [https://witoldgombrowicz.com/en/ witoldgombrowicz.com]
| signature = Gombrowicz signature.svg
}}
'''Witold Marian Gombrowicz''' (August 4, 1904 – July 24, 1969) was a Polish writer and [[playwright]]. His works are characterised by deep psychological analysis, a certain sense of paradox and absurd, [[anti-nationalism|anti-nationalist]] flavor. In 1937, he published his first novel, ''[[Ferdydurke]]'', which presented many of his usual themes: problems of immaturity and youth, creation of [[Identity (philosophy)|identity]] in interactions with others, and an ironic, critical examination of class roles in [[Polish society]] and [[Polish culture|culture]]. 

He gained fame only during the last years of his life, but is now considered one of the foremost figures of [[Polish literature]]. His diaries were published in 1969 and are, according to the ''[[Paris Review]]'', "widely considered his masterpiece",<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.theparisreview.org/blog/2014/08/04/birthday-suit/|title=Birthday Suit|last=Piepenbring|first=Dan|date=4 August 2014|work=[[Paris Review]]|access-date=13 August 2014}}</ref> while ''[[Cosmos (Gombrowicz novel)|Cosmos]]'' is considered, according to ''[[The New Yorker]]'', "his most accomplished novel".<ref>{{Cite magazine |date=2012-07-23 |title=Imp of the Perverse |url=https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2012/07/30/imp-of-the-perverse |access-date=2022-11-28 |magazine=The New Yorker |language=en-US}}</ref> He was nominated for the [[Nobel Prize in Literature]] four times, from 1966 to 1969.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Nomination Archive |date=27 September 2022 |title=Witold Marian Gombrowicz |url=https://www.nobelprize.org/nomination/archive/show_people.php?id=14130 |website=Nobelprize.org}}</ref>

==Biography==
===Polish years===
[[File:Witold Gombrowicz Polish passport.jpg|thumb|upright|Passport photo, 1939]]
Gombrowicz was born in [[Małoszyce, Świętokrzyskie Voivodeship|Małoszyce]] near [[Opatów]], then in [[Radom Governorate]], [[Congress Poland]], [[Russian Empire]], to a wealthy gentry family of the [[Kościesza coat of arms|Kościesza]] coat of arms. He was the youngest of four children of Jan Onufry and Antonina (née Ścibor-Kotkowska of the [[Clan of Ostoja|Ostoja]] coat of arms). In an autobiographical piece, ''A Kind of Testament'', he wrote that his family had lived for 400 years in Lithuania on an estate between [[Vilnius]] and [[Kaunas]] but were displaced after his grandfather was accused of participating in the [[January Uprising]] of 1863.<ref name="Gombrowicz2007">{{cite book|author=Gombrowicz, Witold|title=A Kind of Testament|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=e2Tc_6U4Do4C&pg=PA28|date=1 September 2007|publisher=Dalkey Archive Press|isbn=978-1-56478-476-6|page=28}}</ref> He later described his family origins and social status as early instances of a lifelong sense of being "between" (''entre'').<ref name="Stewart2013">{{cite book|author=Stewart, Jon Bartley|title=Kierkegaard's Influence on Literature, Criticism and Art|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kFoUm8UtvbUC&pg=PA140|year=2013|publisher=Ashgate Publishing|isbn=978-1-4094-6514-0|page=140}}</ref> In 1911 his family moved to Warsaw. After completing his education at Saint Stanislaus Kostka's Gymnasium in 1922, Gombrowicz studied law at [[Warsaw University]], earning a [[Magister Juris|MJur]] in 1927.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Witold-Gombrowicz |title=Witold Gombrowicz |access-date=26 March 2020}}</ref> He spent a year in Paris, where he studied at the [[Institute of Higher International Studies]] ([[French language|French]]: ''Institut des Hautes Etudes Internationales''). He was less than diligent in his studies, but his time in France brought him in constant contact with other young intellectuals. He also visited the Mediterranean.

When Gombrowicz returned to Poland, he began applying for legal positions with little success. In the 1920s he started writing. He soon rejected the legendary novel, whose form and subject matter were supposed to manifest his "worse" and darker side of nature. Similarly, his attempt to write a popular novel in collaboration with Tadeusz Kępiński was a failure. At the turn of the 1920s and 1930s, Gombrowicz began to write short stories, later printed under the title ''Memoirs of a Time of Immaturity'', edited by Gombrowicz and published under the name ''Bacacay'', the street where he lived during his exile in Argentina. From the moment of this literary debut, his reviews and columns began appearing in the press, mainly the ''Kurier Poranny'' (''Morning Courier''). Gombrowicz met with other young writers and intellectuals, forming an artistic café society in Zodiak and [[Ziemiańska]], both in Warsaw. The publication of ''[[Ferdydurke]]'', his first novel, brought him acclaim in literary circles.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.gov.pl/web/kultura/bywa-iz-soba-zdumiewam-siebie-50-rocznica-smierci-witolda-gombrowicza |title="Bywa, iż sobą zdumiewam siebie." – 50. rocznica śmierci Witolda Gombrowicza |access-date=26 March 2020}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|access-date=2025-05-18 |author=Konrad Walewski; John Clute |date=2024 |title=SFE: Gombrowicz, Witold |url=https://sf-encyclopedia.com/entry/gombrowicz_witold |website=sf-encyclopedia.com}}<!-- auto-translated from Polish by Module:CS1 translator --></ref><!--then maybe use it as a source More about this period on [https://witoldgombrowicz.com/en/wgbio/poland-1904-1940/childhood witoldgombrowicz.com]-->

===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] -->

===Last years in Europe===
[[File:Gombrowicz grave.JPG|thumb|Gombrowicz's grave in Vence]]

In the 1960s Gombrowicz became recognised globally, and many of his works were translated, including ''Pornografia'' (''Pornography'') and ''Kosmos'' (''Cosmos''). His dramas were staged in theatres around the world, especially in France, Germany and Sweden.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://culture.pl/en/artist/witold-gombrowicz |title=Witold Gombrowicz |access-date=26 March 2020}}</ref>

Having received a scholarship from the [[Ford Foundation]], Gombrowicz returned to Europe in 1963. In April 1963 he embarked on an Italian ship, landing at Cannes and then taking a train to Paris. A record of the journey can be found in his diary. Gombrowicz stayed for a year in West Berlin, where he endured a slanderous campaign organised by the Polish authorities.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Kowalska|first=Magdalena|date=2004|title=Gombrowicz w Berlinie : czyli Gombrowicz uwikłany w historię|url=http://bazhum.muzhp.pl/media//files/Pamietnik_Literacki_czasopismo_kwartalne_poswiecone_historii_i_krytyce_literatury_polskiej/Pamietnik_Literacki_czasopismo_kwartalne_poswiecone_historii_i_krytyce_literatury_polskiej-r2004-t95-n4/Pamietnik_Literacki_czasopismo_kwartalne_poswiecone_historii_i_krytyce_literatury_polskiej-r2004-t95-n4-s93-110/Pamietnik_Literacki_czasopismo_kwartalne_poswiecone_historii_i_krytyce_literatury_polskiej-r2004-t95-n4-s93-110.pdf|journal=Pamiętnik Literacki [Literary Memoir]|language=pl|publisher=IBL PAN|volume=95|issue=4|pages=39–110|issn=0031-0514|via=bazhum.muzhp.pl}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://witoldgombrowicz.com/pl/wgbio/europa-1963-1970/wgeuropa|title=O krok od Polski : Berlin (1963-1964)|website=witoldgombrowicz.com|access-date=December 28, 2017}}</ref> His health deteriorated during this stay, and he was unable to return to Argentina. He went back to France in 1964 and spent three months in Royaumont Abbey, near Paris, where he met Rita Labrosse, a Canadian from Montreal who studied contemporary literature. In 1964 he moved to the Côte d'Azur in the south of France with Labrosse, whom he employed as his secretary. He spent the rest of his life in [[Vence]], near Nice.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://books.openedition.org/ceup/1118 |title=Modernism: Representations of national culture |access-date=26 March 2020}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://culture.pl/en/article/what-you-didnt-know-about-gombrowicz |title=What You Didn't Know About Gombrowicz… |access-date=26 March 2020}}</ref>

Gombrowicz's health prevented him from thoroughly benefiting from his late renown. It worsened notably in spring 1964; he became bedridden and was unable to write. In May 1967 he was awarded the [[Prix Formentor|Prix International]]. The following year, on December 28, he married Labrosse. On the initiative of his friend [[Dominique de Roux]], who hoped to cheer him up, he gave a series of 13 lectures on the history of philosophy to de Roux and Labrosse, ironically titled "Guide to Philosophy in Six Hours and Fifteen Minutes", which de Roux transcribed. The lectures began with Kant and ended with existentialism. The series ended before Gombrowicz could deliver the last part, interrupted by his death on July 24, 1969.<ref>{{citation |url=http://www.gombrowicz.net/-Guide-to-philosophy-in-six-hours-.html |title=Guide to philosophy in six hours and fifteen minutes |publisher=Gombrowitz.net}}</ref><ref>{{citation |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hkUhDi-q5mkC&pg=PA235 |title=The Rhetoric of Failure: Deconstruction of Skepticism, Reinvention of Modernism |author=Ziarek, Ewa Płonowska |date=January 1995 |page=235|publisher=SUNY Press |isbn=9780791427118 }}</ref> He was buried in the cemetery in Vence.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://frenchriviera.travel/vence/ |title=Vence, Gombrowicz's city |access-date=26 March 2020}}</ref><!--More about this period on: [https://witoldgombrowicz.com/en/wgbio/europe-1963-1970/wgeurope witoldgombrowicz.com]-->

==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>

==Style==
Gombrowicz's works are characterised by deep psychological analysis, a certain sense of paradox, and an absurd, anti-nationalist flavor. ''[[Ferdydurke]]'' presents many themes explored in his later work: the problems of immaturity and youth, the masks people wear, and an ironic, critical examination of class roles in Polish society and culture, specifically the nobility and provincials. It provoked sharp critical reactions and immediately divided Gombrowicz's audience into worshipers and sworn enemies.<ref name="auto">{{cite book |last=Kühl |first=Olaf |date=2005 |title=Gęba Erosa. Tajemnice stylu Witolda Gombrowicza |location=Kraków |publisher=Universitas |isbn=83-242-0357-5}}</ref>

In his work, Gombrowicz struggled with Polish traditions and the country's difficult history. This battle was the starting point for his stories, which were deeply rooted in this tradition and history. Gombrowicz is remembered by scholars and admirers as a writer and a man unwilling to sacrifice his imagination or his originality for any price, person, god, society, or doctrine.<ref name="auto"/>

==Oeuvre: bibliography, translations, adaptations==
Gombrowicz's novels and plays have been translated into 35 languages.<ref name="Biblio">{{Cite web|url=http://www.gombrowicz.net/spip.php?article1289|title=witoldgombrowicz - Witold Gombrowicz|website=www.gombrowicz.net}}</ref>

* ''[[Bacacay (book)|Bacacay]]'' (short stories, 1933); original title ''Pamiętnik z okresu dojrzewania'', later retitled ''Bakakaj''
** ''Bacacay'', tr. Bill Johnston, Archipelago Books, 2004, {{ISBN|0-9728692-9-8}}.
* ''[[Ivona, Princess of Burgundia]]'' (play, 1935); ''Iwona, księżniczka Burgunda''
* ''[[Ferdydurke]]'' (novel, 1937)
** ''Ferdydurke'', tr. [[Danuta Borchardt]], Yale University Press, 2000, {{ISBN|0-300-08240-1}}.
* ''[[Possessed (novel)|Possessed]]'' (novel, 1939); ''Opętani''
** ''Possessed: The Secret of Myslotch: A Gothic Novel'', tr. J.A. Underwood (Marion Boyars, 1980), {{ISBN|9780714526843}}.
** ''Possessed'', tr. [[Antonia Lloyd-Jones]] (Fitzcarraldo Editions, 2023)
* ''[[The Marriage (Gombrowicz play)|The Marriage]]'' (play, 1948); ''Ślub''
* ''[[Trans-Atlantyk]]'' (novel, 1953)
** ''Trans-Atlantyk'',  tr. Carolyn French and Nina Karsov, Yale University Press (reprint), 1995, {{ISBN|0-300-06503-5}}.
** ''Trans-Atlantyk: An Alternate Translation'', tr. Danuta Borchardt, Yale University Press, 2014, {{ISBN|0-300-17530-2}}.
* ''[[Pornografia]]'' (novel, 1960)
** ''Pornografia'', Danuta Borchardt translator, Grove Press, 2009, {{ISBN|978-0-8021-1925-4}}.
* ''[[Cosmos (Gombrowicz novel)|Cosmos]]'' (novel, 1965); ''Kosmos''
** ''Cosmos and Pornografia: Two Novels'', tr. [[Eric Mosbacher]] and Alastair Hamilton, Grove Press (reissue edition), 1994, {{ISBN|0-8021-5159-0}}.
** ''Cosmos'', tr. Danuta Borchardt, Yale University Press, 2005, {{ISBN|0-300-10848-6}}.
* ''[[Operetta (play)|Operetta]]'' (play, 1966); ''Operetka''
* ''[[Diaries, 1953–1969]]'' (diary, 1969); ''Dzienniki''
** ''Diary Volumes 1–3'', tr. Lillian Vallee, introductory essay: [[Wojciech Karpiński]], Northwestern University Press, 1988, {{ISBN|0-8101-0715-5}}.

===Other translations===
* ''A Guide to Philosophy in Six Hours and Fifteen Minutes'', [[Benjamin Ivry]] translator, Yale University Press, 2004, {{ISBN|0-300-10409-X}}.
* ''Polish Memories'', tr. Bill Johnston, Yale University Press, 2004, {{ISBN|0-300-10410-3}}.
* ''A Kind of Testament'',  tr. Alastair Hamilton, Dalkey Archive Press (reprint), 2007, {{ISBN|1-56478-476-2}}.

===Film adaptations===
* ''[[Ferdydurke (film)|Ferdydurke]]'' (1991) in Polish, directed by [[Jerzy Skolimowski]]. Also known as ''30 Door Key''.
* ''[[Pornografia (film)|Pornografia]]'' (2003) in Polish, directed by [[Jan Jakub Kolski]]. Also known as ''Pornography''.
* ''[[Cosmos (2015 film)|Cosmos]]'' (2015) in French, directed by [[Andrzej Żuławski]].<ref>{{Citation|last=Zulawski|first=Andrzej|title=Cosmos|date=2015-12-03|url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4035268/|others=Sabine Azéma, Jean-François Balmer, Jonathan Genet|access-date=2017-12-28}}</ref> Won award for directing in Locarno, 2015.<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.filmcomment.com/blog/locarno-interview-andrzej-zulawski/|title=Locarno Interview: Andrzej Żuławski|last=Pinkerton|first=Nick|date=August 14, 2015|work=Film Comment|access-date=2017-12-28|publisher=Film Society of Lincoln Center|language=en}}</ref>

The documentary filmmaker [[Nicolas Philibert]] made a documentary set in the radical French psychiatric clinic [[La Borde clinic|La Borde]] entitled ''Every Little Thing'' (French ''[[:fr:La Moindre des choses:|La Moindre des choses]]''); released in 1997, the film follows the patients and staff as they stage a production of Gombrowicz's ''Operette''.<ref>{{IMDb title|id=0119689|title=Every Little Thing}}</ref>

===Opera adaptations===
* ''[[Yvonne, Prinzessin von Burgund]]'' (1973), composed by [[Boris Blacher]], in four acts, premiered in [[Opernhaus Wuppertal|Wuppertal]]
* ''Die Trauung'' (''The Marriage'') by [[Volker David Kirchner]], premiered on 27 April 1975 at the [[Hessisches Staatstheater Wiesbaden]], conducted by [[Siegfried Köhler (conductor)|Siegfried Köhler]]
* ''Opérette'' (2002), composed by [[Oscar Strasnoy]], premiered in 2003 at Grand Théâtre de [[Reims]], France
* ''Geschichte/History'' (2003), a cappella opera composed by [[Oscar Strasnoy]], premiered in 2004 at Theaterhaus de Stuttgart
* ''Die Besessenen'' (''The Possessed'') (2008–2009), composed by [[Johannes Kalitzke]], premiered in 2010 at the [[Theater an der Wien]], Vienna, Austria, on 19 February
* ''[[Yvonne, princesse de Bourgogne]]'' (2009), composed by [[Philippe Boesmans]], premiered at the Paris Opera

==See also==
{{Portal|Biography|Literature}}
* [[List of Polish-language authors]]
* [[List of Poles]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Further reading==
* [[Ewa M. Thompson]], ''Witold Gombrowicz'' (Boston: Hall, 1979), {{ISBN|0-8057-6351-1}}
* William Whiteford, ''Witold Gombrowicz: A Biography'' (West Columbia, SC: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform, 2017, {{ISBN|9781976372742}}

==External links==
{{Commons category}}
* {{Official website|http://www.gombrowicz.net/}} {{in lang|pl|fr|es|en|de}}
* [http://beinecke.library.yale.edu/gombrowicz/ ''The World of Witold Gombrowicz''], exhibition at Yale's Beinecke Library, Yale
* [http://culture.pl/en/artist/witold-gombrowicz Culture.pl Profiles: Witold Gombrowicz]
* [http://wordswithoutborders.org/article/witold-gombrowicz-and-to-hell-with-culture/ Witold Gombrowicz, and to Hell with Culture, Benjamin Paloff essay]
* [http://beinecke.library.yale.edu/collections/highlights/witold-gombrowicz-archive Witold Gombrowicz Archive]
* [http://culture.pl/en/article/kronos-gombrowiczs-unknown-journal About Witold Gombrowicz's unknown journal]
* [http://culture.pl/en/article/what-you-didnt-know-about-gombrowicz What You Didn't Know About Gombrowicz]
* [http://culture.pl/en/work/kronos-witold-gombrowicz ''Kronos''] review of private diaries.

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gombrowicz, Witold}}
[[Category:1904 births]]
[[Category:1969 deaths]]
[[Category:People from Opatów County]]
[[Category:Polish male novelists]]
[[Category:Polish male dramatists and playwrights]]
[[Category:Polish emigrants to Argentina]]
[[Category:University of Warsaw alumni]]
[[Category:Bisexual male writers]]
[[Category:Bisexual novelists]]
[[Category:Bisexual dramatists and playwrights]]
[[Category:Polish bisexual men]]
[[Category:Polish LGBTQ dramatists and playwrights]]
[[Category:Polish LGBTQ novelists]]
[[Category:Modernist writers]]
[[Category:Polish atheists]]
[[Category:Polish satirists]]
[[Category:Polish satirical novelists]]
[[Category:Works by Witold Gombrowicz| ]]
[[Category:20th-century Polish novelists]]
[[Category:20th-century Polish dramatists and playwrights]]
[[Category:20th-century Polish male writers]]
[[Category:20th-century Polish diarists]]
[[Category:20th-century Polish LGBTQ people]]
[[Category:Polish writers in Spanish]]
[[Category:People associated with Kultura (magazine)]]