Włodzimierz Bolecki
"Tango Gombrowicz", collected by
Rajmund Kalicki, Kraków 1984 :
[recenzja]
Literary Studies in Poland 17, 132-133
132 B o o k R e v ie w s
says, “In his early years, literary form as a to o l o f cap tiv atin g hu m an beings was the real enem y for G om b ro w icz.” H e treated crim e solely as a literary abstraction . T ow ards th e end o f his life G om brow icz slightly changed his perspective, for crim e ap peared to him the price to pay for rejecting norm alcy (pp. 502 — 503).
Jarzęb sk i’s bo o k offers m any interesting in terpretativ e ideas. He m ust no d o u b t be credited with having tried to sum u p all the m ost im p o rtan t m otifs in studies o f G om brow icz. Jarzębski underlines he did not m anage to tak e up all aspects, b u t even w hat he has d o ne is a long step forw ard in exploring the w ork o f the au th o r o f Ferdydurke. Jarzęb sk i’s wide scope, which is really im pressi ve at different places in his book, is u nfortu n ately c o u n terp ro d u c tive now and then. R eaders will notice the b o o k ’s lack o f balance, specifically the evident disp ro p o rtio n betw een his analysis o f G o m b ro - wicz’s first two b oo ks and his subsequent w orks. D espite Ja rz ę b sk i’s assurances, the concept o f “gam e,” u b iq u ito u s thou gh it is in his book, does n o t m ake his argum ent fully selfconsistent. O ne serious draw back o f Jarzęb sk i’s book is the to tal om ission o f G om b ro w icz’s style, one area o f linguistic creation in which G om brow icz was doubtless a perfect m aster. G om brow icz was also one o f the m ost com plete artists o f the word. Som e o th er objections could be raised against Jarzębski book. But by an d large this bo o k is a m ust for all readers o f G om brow icz an im p o rta n t and, p ro bab ly for a long tim e to com e, irreplaceable c o n trib u tio n .
W ło d zim ie rz B o le c k i
T ransl. by Z y g m u n t N iera d a
Tango Gombrowicz. C ollected, translated an d supplied with a preface by R ajm un d K alicki, W ydaw nictw o L iterackie, K ra k ó w 1984, 390 pp.
W itold G om brow icz spent nearly 24 years in A rgentina, from A ugust 22, 1939, through to A pril 8, 1963. His everyday life there was little know n, for a p a rt from som e m in or m entions in his D iary an d Roam ing Argentina P olish readers h ad access to no o th er accounts. R ajm un d K alicki has n o w filled this gap with his book. H e had co ntacted G o m b ro w icz’s friends from his A
rgenti-C o m p te s rendu s de livre s 133 nian period, collected p h o to g rap h s and details a b o u t his successive places o f residence, as well as m iscellaneous m aterials concerning G om brow icz an d his ties with A rgentina.
As a result we o b tain ed a fascinating docum en t n o t only on G om b ro w icz’s stay in A rgentina b u t also one which supplies a new and im p o rtan t com m entary on his literary works. O n the one hand, we get acquain ted with G o m b ro w icz’s friends who speak a b o u t the Polish w riter, an d on the other, we learn a lot a b o u t different passages from his D iary from w hat they have to say. B ut K a lick i’s book is no t scholarly in its intent. It is som ething like an attem p t to m ake the personality o f an unusual m an an d w riter m ore fam iliar to his readers by show ing his ties with others an d their m utual fascination.
A nother m o tif in the bo o k concerns th e ties o f G om brow icz the w riter with cu ltu ral life in A rgentina. T hose ties were accidental but relations on G om b ro w icz’s views concerning the place o f the w riter and o f a rt in society provide new insights into G om b ro w icz’s philosophy o f cu lture. K alick i’s book also provides num erous p re viously unknow n docum ents on his early writings —above all on his novel Ferdydurke, which G om brow icz him self recom m ended for tran slatio n into Spanish d u rin g his stay in A rgentina. T he im p o rtan ce o f K alick i’s b o o k follows from the fact th a t it covers th at period in his life in which he w rote his to p w orks, nam ely The Wedding, the Diary, Pornography, O peretta and the first version o f his Cosmos.
W ło d zim ie rz B o le c k i
T ran sl. by Z y g m u n t N ie ra d a
Gombrowicz i krytycy (Gombrowicz and the Critics). Selected and
ed. by Zdzisław Ł ap iń ski, W ydaw nictw o Literackie, K rak ó w 1984, 847 pp. T he series: P isarz i K rytycy, ed. Ja n Błoński.
T his is an an tholo gy o f m ost im p o rtan t texts on G o m b ro w icz’s w orks. T he first texts refer to G o m b ro w icz’s d eb u t as a w riter, th a t is, his D iary o f Pubescence (1933), the last ones to a conference the L iterary R esearch Institute o f W arsaw organized in A pril 1975. Som e o f those texts, says Ł apiński,
