By Witold Gombrowicz
In this bitterly humorous novel a author unearths himself tossed right into a chaotic international of schoolboys through a diabolical professor who needs to lessen him to childishness. initially released in Poland in 1937, Ferdydurke was once deemed scandalous and subversive through Nazis, Stalinists, and the Polish Communist regime in flip and was once formally banned in Poland for many years. It has still remained some of the most influential works of twentieth-century ecu literature.
"Ferdydurke, between its centrifugal charms, comprises the various truest and funniest literary satire in print."—John Updike
"A splendidly subversive, self-absorbed, hilarious e-book. imagine Kafka translated by way of Groucho Marx, with commentaries."—Kirkus Reviews
"The author's exuberant humor, suggesting the absurdist drama of Eugéne Ionesco, if no longer the fast fiction of Franz Kafka, is quickly obvious during this new translation. . . . hugely recommended."—Richard Koss, Library Journal
Winner of the 2001 nationwide Translation Award given by way of the yank Literary Translators Association
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Extra info for Ferdydurke (The Margellos World Republic of Letters)
In his mouth? " "Who? " "The beggar. what is the which means of this? " "I do not know. He caught it in and he is retaining it. " "You have talked to him, younger guy. I observed it during the window. " "Well sure, I did. " She scurried over my face together with her eyes. She swung like a pen dulum. She suspected that the twig had a hidden which means, a message of hostility and malice towards her daughter. yet she had no notion what institutions I had in brain, she had no means of figuring out that for me the twig within the mouth had develop into an characteristic of modernity. Her suspicion that it used to be I who informed the bearded fellow to carry the greenery among his enamel was once such nonsense that it could actually now not be positioned into phrases. She surveyed my brain with distrust, suspecting that it had fallen prey to a whim, and she or he left. Giddy-up, keep on with her! Hit her! carry her! In rapid pursuit! She's the prisoner of my myth! The prey of my whim! Quiet, quiet! I jumped again to the keyhole. As occasions 152 Peeping and additional Incursion into Modernity developed, i discovered it progressively more tough to keep up my origi nally hopeless and depressing posture-the struggle heated me up, mon key spitefulness won the higher give up exhaustion and resigna tion. The schoolgirl had disappeared. Having heard voices at the different facet of the wall she discovered that i used to be not observing her, and this enabled her to flee the catch. She went downtown. Will she discover the twig within the beggar's face, will she wager for whose profit the bearded guy is preserving it? whether she did not guess-the twig within the bearded man's mouth, the acrid, eco-friendly bitterness within the beggar's mouth, must weaken her, since it might were an excessive amount of at odds together with her smooth belief of the area. nightfall was once falling. road lamps bathed the town in violet. The caretaker's little son used to be coming back from the nook marketplace. within the transparent and limpid air, bushes have been wasting their leaves. A small plane whirred above the homes. front door slammed, saying the Youngblood woman's departure. Mrs. Engineer, worried, ruffled, sensing a few factor undesirable within the air, went to her committee assembly to toughen herself with a breath of whatever civic-minded, worldly, and mature. Madam Chair expensive women, on ultra-modern schedule now we have the plague of deserted babies. M r s. Y o u n g b I o o d the place are the cash coming from? nightfall was once falling, and the beggar used to be nonetheless lower than the window with the younger greenery, like a discordant word. i used to be on their lonesome within the condominium. A Sherlock Holmes state of affairs started to evolve within the empty rooms, a few type of a detective plot was once constructing the following as I stood within the semi-darkness, trying to find the continuation of this fortunately started event. because the of them had fled i made a decision to trespass their rooms, possibly i might achieve achieving them via that small a part of their air of mystery which that they had left at the back of. within the Youngbloods' bedroom-a vibrant, cramped, fresh, and frugally fur nished room-there was once the smell of cleaning soap and bathrobe, the sweetish Peeping and extra Incursion into Modernity 153 warmth of the intelligentsia, smooth, orderly, but even as smelling of nail clippings, fuel warmers, and pajamas.