Witold Gombrowicz (1904-69) is one of the twentieth century's most enduring avant-garde writers. He wrote novels, short stories, plays, and his remarkable Diary; and - after returning to Europe from Argentina in 1963 - was awarded the 1967 Prix Formentor/International for Cosmos.
‘One of the great novelists of our century.’ — Milan Kundera ‘A master of verbal burlesque, a connoisseur of psychological blackmail, Gombrowicz is one of the profoundest of late moderns, with one of the lightest touches.’ — John Updike ‘Gombrowicz is one of the super-arguers of the twentieth century.... The relentless intelligence and energy of his observations on cultural and artistic matters, the pertinence of his challenge to Polish pieties, his bravura contentiousness, ended by making him the most influential prose writer of the past half century in his native country.’ — Susan Sontag ‘There are also novels of another genre, false novels like Gombrowicz’s, that are kinds of infernal machines.’ — Jean-Paul Sartre ‘Gombrowicz “this demonologist of culture, this obstinate bloodhound of cultural lies’” — Bruno Schulz