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Gombrowicz
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", while ''Cosmos (Gombrowicz novel), Cosmos'' is considered, according to ''The New Yorker'', "his most accomplished novel". He was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature four times, from 1966 to 1969. Biography ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ferdydurke
''Ferdydurke'' is a novel by the Polish writer Witold Gombrowicz, published in 1937. It was his first and most controversial novel. The book has been described as a "cult novel". Contents Gombrowicz himself wrote of his novel that it is not "... a satire on some social class, nor a nihilistic attack on culture... We live in an era of violent changes, of accelerated development, in which settled forms are breaking under life's pressure... The need to find a form for what is yet immature, uncrystalized and underdeveloped, as well as the groan at the impossibility of such a postulate – this is the chief excitement of my book." Translations The first translation of the novel, to Spanish, published in Buenos Aires in 1947, was done by Gombrowicz himself. A translation committee presided over by the Cuban writer Virgilio Piñera helped him in this endeavor, since Gombrowicz felt that he did not know the language well enough at the time to do it on his own. Gombrowicz again colla ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Trans-Atlantyk
'' Trans-Atlantyk '' is a novel by the Polish author Witold Gombrowicz, originally published in 1953. The semi-autobiographical plot of the novel closely tracks Gombrowicz's own experience in the years during and just after the outbreak of World War II. Plot Witold, a Polish writer, embarks on an ocean voyage only to have the war break out while he is visiting Argentina. Finding himself penniless and stranded after the Nazis take over his country, he is taken in by the local Polish emigre community. A fantastical series of twists and turns follow in which the young man finds himself, after a debauched night of drinking, involved as a second in a duel. Witold is constantly confronted with the exasperating contrasts between his love of country and his status as a forced expatriate and the shallow nationalism of his fellow Poles. Analysis The book is an extended examination of what one's nationality is and what it means. The language of ''Trans-Atlantyk'' is unusual, as it is writ ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pornografia
''Pornografia'' is a 1960 novel by the Polish writer Witold Gombrowicz. The narrative revolves around two middle-aged Warsawian intellectuals, who during a trip to the countryside during World War II construct a scheme to entice two teenagers in a scheme to disturb the young girl's fiancé and, later, to have the youngsters enact the murder of a leader in the Polish resistance. Publication The book was originally published in 1960. In 1966, an English translation from French was published in the United Kingdom through Calder and Boyars, and the United States through Grove Press. In 2009 Grove Press published an English translation by Danuta Borchardt, from the original Polish. Critical response Upon the 2009 American release, Michael Dirda wrote in ''The Washington Post'' that ''Pornografia'' "seems as sick, as pathologically creepy a novel as one is ever likely to read. In some ways, it resembles a rather more polymorphously perverse version of ''Les Liaisons Dangereuses'' or on ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Marriage (Gombrowicz Play)
''The Marriage'' ( pl, Ślub) is a play by the Polish writer Witold Gombrowicz, written in Argentina after World War II. The narrative takes place in a dream, where the dreamer transforms into a king and plans to marry his fiancée in a royal wedding, only as a means to save their integrity. A Spanish translation was first published in 1948, followed by the original Polish version in 1953. The play was first performed in 1960. Plot Henryk has a dream where his childhood home has been turned into an inn. His father is the innkeeper and his fiancée, Mania, is a serving maid. Drunkards begin to cause trouble and pursue the father. The father, to defend his dignity, claims that he is untouchable, "like a king". This would make Henryk a prince. Henryk is then promised a marriage with Mania, a marriage worthy of a royal in order to restore her purity. As the marriage is prepared—it will be celebrated by none other than a bishop—Henryk begins to have doubts about the validity of the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cosmos (Gombrowicz Novel)
''Cosmos'' is a 1965 novel by the Polish author Witold Gombrowicz. The narrative revolves around two young men who seek the solitude of the country; their peace is disturbed when a set of random occurrences suggest to their susceptible minds a pattern with sinister meanings. The humour arises, as it often does in Gombrowicz's work, in the extremity of paranoia and confusion exhibited by the protagonist. Themes appearing in this work that are also common in the author's oeuvre are the search for form and meaning in a chaotic existence, and the fragile nature of the human mind. The novel was awarded the 1967 International Prize for Literature. The 1967 English translation was from the French and German translations, rather than the Polish original. In 2004, Danuta Borchardt received a National Endowment for the Arts grant to enable her to prepare a revised translation directly from the Polish, a translation published by Yale University Press in 2005, and praised for its better r ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kosmos (novel)
''Cosmos'' is a 1965 novel by the Polish author Witold Gombrowicz. The narrative revolves around two young men who seek the solitude of the country; their peace is disturbed when a set of random occurrences suggest to their susceptible minds a pattern with sinister meanings. The humour arises, as it often does in Gombrowicz's work, in the extremity of paranoia and confusion exhibited by the protagonist. Themes appearing in this work that are also common in the author's oeuvre are the search for form and meaning in a chaotic existence, and the fragile nature of the human mind. The novel was awarded the 1967 International Prize for Literature. The 1967 English translation was from the French and German translations, rather than the Polish original. In 2004, Danuta Borchardt received a National Endowment for the Arts grant to enable her to prepare a revised translation directly from the Polish, a translation published by Yale University Press in 2005, and praised for its better rende ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Polish Culture
The culture of Poland ( pl, Kultura Polski ) is the product of its Geography of Poland, geography and distinct historical evolution, which is closely connected to History of Poland, an intricate thousand-year history. Polish culture forms an important part of western civilization and the western world, with significant contributions to art, music, philosophy, mathematics, science, politics and literature. Its unique character developed as a result of its geography at the confluence of various European regions. It is theorised and speculated that ethnic Poles and the other Lechites (Kashubians and Silesians) are the combination of descendants of West Slavs and people indigenous to the region including Celts, Balts and Germanic tribes which were gradually Polonization, Polonized after Poland's Baptism of Poland, Christianization by the Catholic Church in the 10th century. Over time Polish culture has been profoundly influenced by its interweaving ties with the Germanic languages, Ge ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Polish Literature
Polish literature is the literary tradition of Poland. Most Polish literature has been written in the Polish language, though other languages used in Poland over the centuries have also contributed to Polish literary traditions, including Latin, Yiddish, Lithuanian, Russian, German and Esperanto. According to Czesław Miłosz, for centuries Polish literature focused more on drama and poetic self-expression than on fiction (dominant in the English speaking world). The reasons were manifold but mostly rested on the historical circumstances of the nation. Polish writers typically have had a more profound range of choices to motivate them to write, including past cataclysms of extraordinary violence that swept Poland (as the crossroads of Europe), but also, Poland's collective incongruities demanding an adequate reaction from the writing communities of any given period.Czesław Miłosz ''The History of Polish Literature.''Google Books preview. ''University of California Press'', Ber ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
University Of Warsaw
The University of Warsaw ( pl, Uniwersytet Warszawski, la, Universitas Varsoviensis) is a public university in Warsaw, Poland. Established in 1816, it is the largest institution of higher learning in the country offering 37 different fields of study as well as 100 specializations in humanities, technical, and the natural sciences. The University of Warsaw consists of 126 buildings and educational complexes with over 18 faculties: biology, chemistry, journalism and political science, philosophy and sociology, physics, geography and regional studies, geology, history, applied linguistics and philology, Polish language, pedagogy, economics, law and public administration, psychology, applied social sciences, management and mathematics, computer science and mechanics. The University of Warsaw is one of the top Polish universities. It was ranked by '' Perspektywy'' magazine as best Polish university in 2010, 2011, 2014, and 2016. International rankings such as ARWU and Universi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Małoszyce, Świętokrzyskie Voivodeship
Małoszyce is a village in the administrative district of Gmina Sadowie, within Opatów County, Świętokrzyskie Voivodeship, in south-central Poland. It lies approximately east of Sadowie, north of Opatów, and east of the regional capital Kielce Kielce (, yi, קעלץ, Keltz) is a city in southern Poland, and the capital of the Świętokrzyskie Voivodeship. In 2021, it had 192,468 inhabitants. The city is in the middle of the Świętokrzyskie Mountains (Holy Cross Mountains), on the bank .... The village has a population of 90. Małoszyce is the birthplace of writer Witold Gombrowicz (1904–1969). References Villages in Opatów County {{Opatów-geo-stub ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Clan Of Ostoja
The Clan of Ostoja (old Polish: ''Ostoya'') was a powerful group of knights and lords in late-medieval Europe. The clan encompassed families in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth (including present-day Belarus and Ukraine), Hungary and Upper Hungary (now Slovakia), Transylvania, and Prussia. The clan crest is the Ostoja coat of arms, and the battle cry is ''Ostoja'' ("Mainstay") or ''Hostoja'' ("Prevail"). The clan, of Alan origin, adopted the Royal-Sarmatian tamga '' draco'' ( dragon) emblem. During the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, the clan adopted several Lithuanian families, generally of Ruthenian princely origin, and transformed into a clan of landlords, senators and nobility.Franciszek Ksawery Piekosinski, ''Heraldyka polska wieków średnich'' (Polish Heraldry of the Middle Ages), Kraków, 1899 Members of the clan worked together closely, often living close to each other. They held high positions, and held a great amount of land and properties in the Commonwealth an ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
