Cosmos and Pornografia

by Witold Gombrowicz and Eric Mosbacher

Book Overview

Here are two major works by the famed Polish novelist and dramatist Witold Gombrowicz. The first, Cosmos, a metaphysical thriller, revolves around an absurd investigation. It is set in provincial Poland and narrated by a seedy, pathetic, and witty student, who is charming and appalling by turns, and whose voice is dense with the richly palpable description that characterizes Gombrowicz's writing. The second, Pornografia, explores the sinister effect...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: B007CV7Q0M
• ISBN13: 9780802151599
• Release Date: March 1994
• Publisher: Grove/Atlantic, Incorporated
• Length: 362 Pages
• Weight: 1.02 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 5.4" x 8.3"

Customer Reviews

For example

I'm joining the chorus of those asking for a direct translation. Let me quote the opening paragraph of the novel I translated from the original as a quick test:"But let me tell you another, even more curious adventure... Sweat, Fuks walks on, me behind him, trouser-legs, heels, sand, we plod on, plod on, earth, ruts, clod, glitter from glassy pebbles, glare, the heat buzzes, shimmering, everything black with sunlight, houses, fences, fields, woods, this road, this march, where from, how, it's a long story, to tell you the truth I was sick of my father and mother, my family in general, besides I wanted to do away with at least one exam, also to try a change, leave it all, live somewhere far away for a while. So I took off to Zakopane, I walk through Krupówki, think where the heck to get a cheap pension when I run into Fuks, his red-haired faded blond mug, protruding, his gaze pasted with apathy, but he was happy, and I was happy, how are you, what are you doing here, I'm looking for a room, so am I, I have an address - he said - of a small manor-house where it's cheaper as it's a long way out, almost bare countryside. So we walk, trouser-legs, heels in sand, the road and the heat, I look down, earth and sand, the pebbles sparkle, one, two, one, two, trouser-legs, heels, sweat, sleepiness in tired eyes from the train and nothing besides this pacing from down below. He stopped."If you have the book handy you'll notice how the published English version breaks up Gombrowicz's long meandering sentences and how it flattens certain phrases ("gaze pasted with apathy" becomes "fishlike eyes") not to mention misspelling one of the main character's names. Another example, a short one this time:"...how many times have I told her, Kata, don't be lazy, don't be afraid, go to the surgeon, get the operation done, get that appearance of yours regulated..."becomes: "...how many times have I told her not to put it off any longer but to go and see the surgeon and have it done...".

The Internal Cosmos

These novels map internal states, tenors of mind, and they do so with courage, dramatising the internal by portraying fantastic events in the external world. 'Cosmos' focuses (obsessively) on a conjuction of paranoia and an irrational insistence for connections on the part of its young protagonist. 'Pornographia' shows elders living vicariously through the apetites of the young. *Both novels seem to satirise the basic premises of the bourgeois comedy of manners, being set in country households filled with characters respectful of middle-class ideals, only to unveil irrational psychological forces close by the surface. It is hard to imagine either novel being written without the author living through the horror of the Second World War - rationality itself and, more specifically, the veneration of tradition and culture are under attack - how can Gombrowicz have faith in such concepts when he has witnessed the unthinkable brutality initiated by so-called civilised, rational individuals, most notably by those inhabiting arguably the most civilised and rational of nations? Settings and presuppositions that functioned admirably in the work of Thomas Mann, or at least stumbled by in Chekov, now not only fail dismally, but engender a grotesque horror show.*Similar responses arose after the First World War, most persistently in the guise of surrealism. Their effects linger to this day - a suspicion of the merits of rationality still inhabits critical thinking, and few would subscribe to the idea that education and cultural refinement guarantee the moral and ethical worthiness of a person (thus we have the archetypal psychopath who listen to Beethoven as in 'A Clockwork Orange', and numerous other related examples inhabiting popular culture (the villains in James Bond movies, or even the Rickman character in 'Die Hard'). Gombrowicz lends his own unique voice to this chorus.*The literary style remains readable despite certain difficulties, possibly arising from translation. It is also very humorous, in the way that the Samuel Beckett of 'Watt' or 'Molloy' is humorous, and indeed Gombrowicz's assault on the mechanisms of rationality is reminiscent to that found in 'Watt'. *For me, these works appeal in the similar ways to those of Bruno Schulz, Stig Dagerman, Kafka, John Hawkes, Celine, and, as mentioned, Beckett, but beyond the similarities these novels are something special and inimitable. Hope this is something of a guide for what lies in store for you.

Test of a Mind

'Cosmos', considered Gombrowicz's best novel, is an absurdist mystery in which the instinctive human search for order and meaning becomes the "culprit," just as it had in 'Pornografia'. Most of his writings, in fact, deal with the distorting power of Form over the human mind, the seductive allure of immaturity (formless yet imbued with the potential for form), and thus with the questions of identity and the possibility of relationship. His fiction hinges on moments in which the antithesis or incongruity of Form and reality becomes public and undeniable, and Gombrowicz is often as hilarious as he is revealing...this is worth the read!

Excelent. But a word of advice.

Pornographia and Cosmos are perhaps two of the most fascinating novels of the twentieth century, but I certainly agree with reviewers stating that the English translation does poor justice to the original. I strongly suggest the French translation by Gallimard, for people who can read French. Otherwise, patience is required until a better English translation arrives.

Absolutely: Do Gombrowicz!

Of these two novels, my favorite is Pornografia, which was plotted like a detective story, except that instead of trying to solve a murder which takes place in the beginning of the story, the book assumes the necessity of murder and allows the plot to revolve around the intricacies of how such events evolve from a situation like Poland under Nazi domination. There is a certain danger in this book which is best illustrated by one character's experience during the mass, when he is obviously doing what everybody else is doing only to keep from doing anything else. If you work in an environment like that, you may develop a feeling that a job is a terrible thing to have when you can only do what you are supposed to do, and you can never do Gombrowicz. This is an affliction like the madness of greatness, and the easiest way to find out what it is will be by reading this book.