The Possessed By Witold Gombrowicz

 

The Possessed

By Witold Gombrowicz

(Translated by Antonia Lloyd-Jones)

It was only in the last years of his life that Polish writer and playwright Witold Gombrowicz (1904 – 1969) started to receive the international recognition he deserved, including being nominated for the Nobel Prize for Literature four consecutive times. Until then, ostracization by the Polish literary establishment, his subsequent refusal to publish his works in his native country, and his voluntary exile of many years in Argentina, meant that his oeuvre had limited success, despite the initial critical acclaim received for his first novel Ferdydurke in 1937.  Ferdydurke was followed by Opętani (“The Possessed”), but this novel had a more complicated genesis.  It was serialised in two Polish daily newspapers under the pseudonym Zdzislaw Nieweski, but the publication stopped short with the outbreak of the Second World War.  The identity of the real author remained generally unknown until a few days before Gombrowicz death.   The Possessed was first published in book form posthumously and the first translation into English appeared in 1980.  After the discovery of the three final parts of the novel in 1986, the complete version was published in 1990 and will now be issued by Fitzcarraldo Editions in a translation by Antonia Lloyd-Jones, celebrated as the translator of Olga Tokarczuk (amongst others).   It will be the first complete version in English rendered directly from the original language.

What drew me to The Possessed – apart from the fame of the translator, and the fact that I have a soft spot for Fitzcarraldo Editions – is the fact that this novel is both a pastiche and a parody of Gothic fiction.  I’m always intrigued when a writer not particularly known for horror or the Gothic ventures in to the genre.  In this case, Gombrowicz comes up with a convoluted story which is borderline crazy, in line with his penchant for absurd situations.   Young tennis coach Marian is employed by rising tennis star Maja as her personal trainer and he travels to the countryside residence where she lives with her mother.  Maja and Marian discover to their amazement an unexpected similarity of soul and character, and despite the fact that Maja is engaged to the married, the two young protagonists are drawn into a frustrating love-hate relationship. The matter is complicated by the weird goings-on at the nearby castle of Myslocz, where a mad prince awaits the return of the mysterious Franio, while his secretary – Maja’s betrothed – devises schemes to inherit the prince’s fortune.

Gombrowicz throws into the mix all the Gothic tropes one could think of – dilapidated old buildings, dark forests, underground passages, nightly escapades, demonic possession, murders, suicides, family secrets, a haunted kitchen towel (!) and, in the last chapter, an erudite clairvoyant who, like Van Helsing in Dracula, will prove crucial to the solution of the mystery of Myslocz.  This sounds like Walpole ramped up to the max, and it is, but there are also elements of social, psychological and coming-of-age fiction thrown into the mix. This is most evident in the chapters set in Warsaw, where Maja and Marian both embark on a voyage of self-discovery.  

I’m not sure this whole comedic horror jumble works, but it certainly is great fun and a good introduction to the thematic concerns of major figure of 20th century Continental fiction. 

                                        

Expected publication

October 18, 2023 by Fitzcarraldo Editions