Diary

«Diary» of the world-renowned prose writer and playwright Witold Gombrowicz (1904–1969) is an outstanding work of Polish literature of the 20th century. Gombrowicz is both the author and the hero of the «Diary»: he struggles with his personal problems as with global issues; he is a philosophizing Ego, determining his place among other «selves»; he is a physical being immersed in the world of things, suffering from pain, consumed by passions.

How to preserve the creator within oneself, the image of God, avoiding the captivity of forms prepared by society? How to remain oneself in a situation of coercion to serve «principles» (beliefs, kings, homelands, everyday truths)?

«Diary» by W. Gombrowicz is a staple book of the European intelligentsia. Even in Russia, during times of the most drastic changes, even small excerpts from it were in demand by literary magazines as a kind of ferment that accelerates thought.

«I became bold because I had absolutely nothing to lose — neither honors, nor earnings, nor friends. I had to find myself and rely on myself because I could rely on no one else. My form is my solitude».

diary, Poland, 20th century, intelligentsia