Bacacay

“One of the great novelists of our century.”—Milan Kundera

First published in 1957 in Poland, Bacacay(a nod to his street in Buenos Aires) is a collection of 12 short stories by Witold Gombrowicz (1904–1968), one of the major European literary figures of the 20th century. Stunningly original in both style and content, these stories are often hilarious yet have an undercurrent of profound moral disquiet and horror when the respectable turns slowly but inexorably into the outrageous, conveying both the horrors of upper-class life and the deepest anguish of the human condition. Gombrowicz has perfect pitch for language; he revels in linguistic play, combining words in extraordinary ways. The commonplace and the everyday are juxtaposed with the bizarre and unsettling to make a world in which unspeakable subconscious urges have a habit of poking through the surface of ordinary life, leaving permanent scars.Bacacayis a brilliant series of satires on the limitations, quirks and phobias of the upper class. In Gombrowicz’s hands, words create worlds.

Witold Gombrowiczis the single most important Polish prose writer of the 20th century. He is best known for his novelsFerdydurke(1937), Pornografia(1960) and Cosmos(1966) and his playsPrincess Ivona(1935) and The Marriage(1953). Gombrowicz left Poland in 1939, lived in Argentina for over 20 years, and died in France. In 1967, he was awarded the Prix Formentor. This isBacacay’s first English language publication.

Bill Johnston is director of the Polish Studies Center at Indiana University. His translations include Gustaw Herling’sThe Noonday Cemetery and Other Stories(New Directions, 2003), Stefan Zeromski’sThe Faithful River(Northwestern, 1999), and Magdalena Tulli’s Dreams and Stones (Archipelago Books, 2004).