Witold Gombrowicz is one of the most influential Polish writers from the first half of the 20th century. Pornografia is a story about the corruption of two young resistance members by the author’s alter egos, who try to draw from the youth’s zeal. He was very critical about the culture of his country and saw it as a cultural wasteland. His devotion to youth culture reminds me of Yukio Mishima, as his dualism concerning youth and the grown-up world is somewhat similar because the two books end with murder. But here, unlike The Sailor Who Fell from Grace with the Sea, the youth are manipulated to commit this murder, and are not the manipulators. What is so interesting about this book’s structure is that as Gombrowicz himself admits, he used a formula to write the book:

“My literature artwork is based on classical shapes… Pornografia is based on the good old Polish countryside story, Cosmos is a kind of detective novel, my theater is a parody of Shakespeare and my last play is a kind of operetta. I use classical shapes because they are perfect and the reader has become accustomed to them, but do remember – it’s important – that the shape, in my case, is but a parody upon shape. I use it but put myself outside of it, I’m looking for a connection between readable literary types and new, fresh world experiences.” 

This idea of basing a novel upon shape is one important lesson that I have learnt from Pornografia. The other great aspect is the alter-ego of the author who narrows the distance between the writer and the character – a character who tries to direct the events in the book and in turn makes the book more interesting.

The following article will be on another borrower of sorts – Israel Rabon.