DOCSLIB.ORG

UNIVERSITY of CALIFORNIA, SAN DIEGO Witold Gombrowicz and Virgilio Piñera, the Argentine Experience a Dissertation Submitted In

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
UNIVERSITY of CALIFORNIA, SAN DIEGO Witold Gombrowicz and Virgilio Piñera, the Argentine Experience a Dissertation Submitted In UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SAN DIEGO Witold Gombrowicz and Virgilio Piñera, the Argentine Experience A dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree Doctor of Philosophy in Literature by Milda Žilinskaitė Committee in charge: Professor Jaime Concha, Chair Professor Amelia Glaser Professor Luis Martin-Cabrera Professor Michael Monteón Professor William Arctander O’Brien 2014 The Dissertation of Milda Žilinskaitė is approved, and it is acceptable in quality and form for publication on microfilm and electronically: Chair University of California, San Diego 2014 iii EPIGRAPH I speak of exile not as a privilege, but as an alternative to the mass institutions that dominate modern life. Exile is not, after all, a matter of choice: you are born into it, or it happens to you. But, provided that the exile refuses to sit on the sidelines nursing a wound, there are things to be learned: he or she must cultivate a scrupulous (not indulgent or sulky) subjectivity. Edward W. Said iv TABLE OF CONTENTS Signature Page ...……………………………………………………………………...iii Epigraph ........................................................................................................................ iv Table of Contents ........................................................................................................... v List of Abbreviations .................................................................................................... vii Note on Translation and References ............................................................................. ix Acknowledgments .......................................................................................................... x Vita ............................................................................................................................... xv Abstract of the Dissertation ........................................................................................ xvii Introduction. No Echo in Buenos Aires: Gombrowicz and Piñera’s Exilic Voices Revisited ......................................................................................................................... 1 Witold Gombrowicz: “What sort of Columbus am I?” ............................................ 14 Virgilio Piñera and the “Dreadful Nothingness” ...................................................... 25 The Failure of Ferdydurke and Experiencing the Cultural Margins of Argentina ... 34 Chapter 1. The Ferdydurkian Battle of 1947 ............................................................... 43 Textual Sources ......................................................................................................... 47 Argentina as the Common Battleground: “nosotros, las naciones menores” ........... 55 Literary Tantalism ..................................................................................................... 67 Banalizadores of Culture .......................................................................................... 77 Chapter 2. The Continuation of the Ferdydurkian Battle in the Novels Trans-Atlantyk and La Carne de René ..................................................................... 91 Understanding Gombrowicz’s “Merciless Realism”: the Case of Trans-Atlantyk . 101 The Anti-Tantalic Baroque in La Carne de René ................................................... 114 Chapter 3. Banalizing the Nation ............................................................................... 126 Institutionalizing the Moral Imagination: the Father and the Representative ........ 130 The Limits of Exilic Freedom: the Foreigner ......................................................... 146 Continuing Preoccupations with the National Form Post Trans-Atlantyk and La carne de René ................................................................................................... 158 Chapter 4. A Revolution Against The Revolution(s) in Los Siervos and Operetta ... 164 v Piñera’s Nikita as Gombrowicz: Freeing the Captive Mind ................................... 176 Operetta and Falling into the Trap of the Form ...................................................... 183 Postscript. “Al galope, al galope, al galope…”: Revisiting the Later Years of Gombrowicz-Piñera Friendship .................................................................................. 198 Final considerations .................................................................................................... 207 Bibliography ............................................................................................................... 213 vi LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS Witold Gombrowicz’s Works DA Diario argentino, ed. By Witold Gombrowicz, trans. to Spanish by Sergio Pitol (Buenos Aires: Adriana Hidalgo, 2001) D1 Diary. Volume 1, ed. Jan Kott, trans. to English by LillianVallee (Evanston: North Western UP, 1988) D2 Diary. Volume 2 (1957-1961), ed. Jan Kott, trans. to English by LillianVallee (Evanston: North Western UP, 1989) D3 Diary. Volume 3 (1961-1966), ed. Jan Kott, trans. to English by LillianVallee (Evanston: North Western UP, 1993) F Ferdydurke, trans. to Spanish by Witold Gombrowicz et al. (Buenos Aires: Argos, 1947) K Kronos, ed. Jerzy Jarzębski et al. (Kraków: Wydawnictwo Literackie, 2013) KT A Kind of Testament, ed. Dominique de Roux, trans. to English by Alistair Hamilton (Champaign: Dalkey Archive Press, 2007) O Operetta, trans. to English by Louis Iribarne (London: Calder and Boyars, 1971) PA Peregrinaciones argentinas, trans. to Spanish by Bozena Zaboklicka and Francesco Miravitlles (Madrid: Alianza, 1987) PM Polish Memories, trans. to English by Bill Johnston (New Haven: Yale UP, 2004) TA Trans-Atlantyk, trans. to English by Carolyn French and Nina Karsov (New Haven: Yale UP, 1994) vii Virgilio Piñera’s Works CR La carne de René, eds. Pedro de Oraá and Antón Arrufat (Habana: Ediciones Unión, 2011) RF René’s Flesh, trans. to English by Mark Schafer (Boston: Eridianos, 1989) S Los siervos, in Órbita de Virgilio Piñera, ed. David Leyva (Habana: Ediciones Unión, 2011) 135-181 VT “La vida tal cual,” autobiographical fragments published in Unión (10), April – May - June 1990, 22-35 VV Virgilio Piñera, de vuelta y vuelta. Correspondencia 1932-1978, ed. Patricia Semidey Rodríguez (Habana: Ediciones Unión, 2011) viii NOTE ON TRANSLATION AND REFERENCES In this thesis some of the quotations from Gombrowicz and Piñera’s works are cited in the original Polish and Spanish. I include published translations where possible; where no reference is given, English translations are mine. Secondary sources in Polish, Spanish and French are quoted directly in my own English translation. The titles of Gombrowicz and Piñera’s works are for the most part given in the original language. I present the English translation when introducing them for the first time in parentheses. ix ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The author’s of this dissertation passion for literature is best illustrated by the fact that as a teenager she got hit by a car while crossing a busy street reading a novel. She also missed the bus on a number of occasions, while actually standing at the bus stop, all for being too absorbed in the world of fiction. Yet, none of these early voracious reader’s experiences come anywhere close to her encounter with literature at the university level. What an experienced scholar can find in a text and see through the text goes beyond the imagination of an ordinary reader like myself. It is because of my luck to have been a student of several incredible scholars that I now use the word “Professor” not with a hierarchical obedience, but with the utmost respect and admiration. First and foremost, I would like to acknowledge Professor Jaime Concha for his support throughout this long process as my advisor and chair of my committee. Thank you for having taught me how to work independently and self-sufficiently, while at the same time patiently walking me through the labyrinths of Latin American literature whenever I needed guidance. And yes, I pledge to convert to Onettism as soon as I break free from the gombrowiczian pitfall. I am also grateful to Professor Michael Monteón from the Department of History at UCSD, who completely breaks the stereotype of the uninterested outside committee member. Thank you for your encouragement, mentorship and patience with my non-native English. My academic writing skills have improved significantly because of your corrections and comments on my multiple drafts. x I would also like to acknowledge Professors Luis Martin-Cabrera, Amelia Glaser and William O’Brien (in the order you joined my dissertation committee). Luis, you’d be surprised how much of your teaching philosophy I’ve secretly stolen from you and now use in my own classes. Amelia, thank you for being so supportive throughout the years, and a special thanks for pushing me to participate in my first academic conferences. Und lieber Billy, if I ever acquire one-tenth of your charisma, I will consider myself a highly successful teacher and a very free person. Research grants from the Literature Department, the Institute for International, Comparative and Area Studies, and the Center for Iberian and Latin American Studies at UCSD, as well as from the UC-Cuba Consortium, were essential to providing me with the financial resources to carry out this project. In relation to this, thank you Kristin Carnohan and Patrick Mallon from the Literature Department, for your continuous support and prompt handling of the paperwork of my study-leave. I would
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Artists: Argentine Lisa Hudgins University of South Carolina - Columbia, [email protected]
    University of South Carolina Scholar Commons Archaeology and Anthropology, South Carolina Faculty & Staff ubP lications Institute of 2007 Artists: Argentine Lisa Hudgins University of South Carolina - Columbia, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarcommons.sc.edu/sciaa_staffpub Part of the Anthropology Commons Publication Info Published in The Oxford Encyclopedia of Maritime History, ed. John B. Hattendorf, Volume 1, 2007, pages 159-160. http://www.oup-usa.org © 2007 by Oxford University Press This Article is brought to you by the Archaeology and Anthropology, South Carolina Institute of at Scholar Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Faculty & Staff ubP lications by an authorized administrator of Scholar Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Artists: Argentine 159 the local fishing boats and trade ships that dotted the harbor. Other art from this period includes an anony­ mous engraving from 1610 depicting Sir Francis Drake on the Rfo de la Plata and a 1628 painting by the Dutch artist Johannes Vingboons of the second incarnation of Buenos Aires. By including key landmarks in the profile of the new Buenos Aires, Vingboons's painting provides a chronological marker for change along the South American coast. Images of trade ships in the port of Buenos Aires are rarely seen, because for nearly two hundred years much of Spain's transatlantic trade was controlled by northern ports. Some black market trade did continue, and local shipping was allowed, but the ports in Peru and Panama captured the majority of the shipping until 1778. Images of Argentina's maritime history came from other sources.
    [Show full text]
  • (D)Escribir El Viaje: 45 Días Y 30 Marineros, De Norah Lange
    Inti: Revista de literatura hispánica Volume 1 Number 75 Article 27 2012 (D)escribir el viaje: 45 días y 30 marineros, de Norah Lange Julien Roger Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.providence.edu/inti Citas recomendadas Roger, Julien (April 2012) "(D)escribir el viaje: 45 días y 30 marineros, de Norah Lange," Inti: Revista de literatura hispánica: No. 75, Article 27. Available at: https://digitalcommons.providence.edu/inti/vol1/iss75/27 This Notas is brought to you for free and open access by DigitalCommons@Providence. It has been accepted for inclusion in Inti: Revista de literatura hispánica by an authorized editor of DigitalCommons@Providence. For more information, please contact [email protected]. (D)ESCRIBIR EL VIAJE: 45 DÍAS Y 30 MARINEROS, DE NORAH LANGE Julien Roger Université Paris-Sorbonne Paris IV A fines del siglo XIX y a principios del XX, el viaje transatlántico entre Argentina y Francia era, y sigue siendo, el momento imprescindible para cualquier intelectual, o cualquier literato. Trátense de políticos o de escritores, de Alberdi, Mansilla, Sarmiento, Lugones, Darío, Quiroga, Victoria y Silvina Ocampo, Bioy Casares, Borges u otros después, todos hicieron un viaje iniciático a Europa, como lo analizó detalladamente Axel Gasquet en un capítulo de su tesis, L’intelligentsia du bout du monde, “Le voyage créole. Exploration interne et découverte du vieux continent” (67-102). En efecto, en el período contemplado por Gasquet, el viaje a Europa era una manera de afirmar una autoridad nacional, o incluso una “autorialidad” nacional, en la medida en que se trataba sobre todo, a través del viaje, de construir un proyecto relativo a la idiosincrasia argentina: Si la literatura argentina es la “historia de un proyecto nacional,” como lo afirma David Viñas, el viaje a Europa es el viaje de la búsqueda, en el cual el viajero no busca sólo su identidad (característica que podríamos calificar de sicológica) sino también, más fundamentalmente, un espejo histórico y social donde encontrar los elementos útiles para este proyecto nacional.
    [Show full text]
  • Gli Autori Di Questo Numero
    pl.it | rassegna italiana di argomenti polacchi | 11 | 2020 ISSN: 2384-9266 | plitonline.it Gli autori di questo numero Alessandro Amenta is an assistant professor of Polish language at the University of Rome “Tor Vergata”. His research interests include translation stud- ies, Polish interwar and post-1989 literature, and gender and queer studies in Eastern Europe. He has translated many 20th century Polish writers into Italian, such as Witold Gombrowicz, Adam Zagajewski, Wiesław Myśliwski, Zuzanna Ginczanka, Andrzej Stasiuk, Eugeniusz Tkaczyszyn-Dycki, Antoni Libera, Izabela Filipiak, Łukasz Jarosz, and Piotr Paziński. He is the author of two monographs: Il Discorso dell’Altro. La costruzione delle identità omosessuali nella narrativa polacca del Novecento (2008) and Le parole e il silenzio. La poesia di Zuzanna Ginczanka e Krystyna Krahelska (2016). Lidia Mafrica graduated in 2015 from the University of Udine, where she specialised in Polish language and literature. In her master’s dissertation, she discussed the analysis and Italian translation of Fotoplastikon by Jacek Dehnel. Currently she is a temporary research fellow at University of Genoa and edito- rial assistant for “pl.it / rassegna italiana di argomenti polacchi”. Dario Prola is an assistant professor in the Faculty of Applied Linguistics of Warsaw University. He teaches the history of Italian literature, literary translation, and specialised translation. He received a PhD in 2008 from Turin University, with a thesis on the theme of myth and representation of the city in Polish literature after 1989. His research interests include contemporary Polish literature, literary translation, and literary relationships between Italy and Poland. He is the author of numerous articles and two monographs: Mito e rappresentazione della città nella letteratura polacca (2014) and Spossato dalla bellezza: l’Italia nella scrittura di Jarosław Iwaszkiewicz (2018).
    [Show full text]
  • CV, Full Format
    BENJAMIN PALOFF (1/15/2013) Department of Slavic Languages and Literatures 507 Bruce Street University of Michigan, Ann Arbor Ann Arbor, MI 48103 3040 MLB, 812 E. Washington (617) 953-2650 Ann Arbor, MI 48109 [email protected] EDUCATION Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts Ph.D. in Slavic Languages and Literatures, June 2007. M.A. in Slavic Languages and Literatures, November 2002. Dissertation: Intermediacy: A Poetics of Unfreedom in Interwar Russian, Polish, and Czech Literatures, a comparative treatment of metaphysics in Eastern European Modernism, 1918-1945. University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan M.F.A. in Creative Writing/Poetry, April 2001. Thesis: Typeface, a manuscript of poems. Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts B.A., magna cum laude with highest honors in field, Slavic Languages and Literatures, June 1999. Honors thesis: Divergent Narratives: Affinity and Difference in the Poetry of Zbigniew Herbert and Miroslav Holub, a comparative study. TEACHING Assistant Professor, Departments of Slavic Languages and Literatures and of Comparative Literature, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor (2007-Present). Courses in Polish and comparative Slavic literatures, critical theory, and translation. Doctoral Dissertation Committees in Slavic Languages and Literatures: Jessica Zychowicz (Present), Jodi Grieg (Present), Jamie Parsons (Present). Doctoral Dissertation Committees in Comparative Literature: Sylwia Ejmont (2008), Corine Tachtiris (2011), Spencer Hawkins (Present), Olga Greco (Present). Doctoral Dissertation Committees in other units: Ksenya Gurshtein (History of Art, 2011). MFA Thesis Committee in English/Creative Writing: Francine Harris (2011). Faculty Associate, Frankel Center for Jewish Studies (2009-Present); Center for Russian, East European, and Eurasian Studies (2007-Present). Service: Steering Committee, Copernicus Endowment for Polish Studies (2007-Present).
    [Show full text]
  • LATIN AMERICAN and CARIBBEAN MODERN and CONTEMPORARY ART a Guide for Educators
    LATIN AMERICAN AND CARIBBEAN MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY ART A Guide for Educators The Teacher Information Center at The Museum of Modern Art TABLE OF CONTENTS 1. A NOTE TO EDUCATORS IFC 2. USING THE EDUCATORS GUIDE 3. ARTISTS AND ARTWORKS 42. THEMATIC APPROACHES TO THE ARTWORKS 48. SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY AND RESOURCES 52. MoMA SCHOOL PROGRAMS No part of these materials may be reproduced or published in any form without prior written consent of The Museum of Modern Art. Design © 2004 The Museum of Modern Art, New York Available in English and Spanish from the Teacher Information Center at The Museum of Modern Art. A NOTE TO EDUCATORS We are delighted to present this new educators guide featuring twenty artworks by 1 Latin American and Caribbean artists. The guide was written on the occasion of MoMA at A El Museo: Latin American and Caribbean Art from the Collection of The Museum of Modern N O Art, a collaborative exhibition between MoMA and El Museo del Barrio. The show, which T E runs from March 4 through July 25, 2004, celebrates important examples of Latin T O American and Caribbean art from MoMA’s holdings, reflecting upon the Museum’s collec- E D tion practices in that region as they have changed over time, as well as the artworks’ place U C A in the history of modernism. T O The works discussed here were created by artists from culturally, socioeconomically, R politically, and geographically diverse backgrounds. Because of this diversity we believe S that educators will discover multiple approaches to using the guide, as well as various cur- ricular connections.
    [Show full text]
  • El Extraño Mundo De Silvina Ocampo
    El extraño mundo de Silvina Ocampo A dissertation submitted to the Graduate School of the University of Cincinnati in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Department of Romance Languages and Literatures of the Collage of Arts and Sciences by María Rebeca Deibel M.A University of Northern Iowa November 2012 Comittee Chair: Enrique A. Giordano, Ph.D. Abstract This dissertation brings a new approach to Silvina Ocampo studies by using the theory of uncanny and fantastic fields. It has been a great contribution the theoretical foundations of psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud The Uncanny and Irène Bessière Le récit fantastique. The main book is titled Fantasy: The Literature of Subversion by Rosemary Jackson as it integrates the notions raised by Tzvetan Todorov and Irène Bessière. Jackson's contribution has allowed me to clarify the definition of the fantastic and the uncanny to the development of this dissertation. I think the term paraxial deserves special mention because it reaffirms the fantastic not categorically defined within the real or unreal, but rather is considered as an ambiguity. Some short stories of the writer show signs of ambiguity, a characteristic of the fantastic, but this does not classify all her works within this category. I do not intend to place it within a literary genre because it’s narrative is presented in influence of various literary forms. I proved, however, that it leans more toward the uncanny rather than other narrative categories. Silvina Ocampo is an Argentina writer who seduces readers with an approach contrary to convention.
    [Show full text]
  • El Periódico Martín Fierro Como Campo Gravitacional Martín Fierro As a Gravitational field
    DOSSIER Orbis Tertius, vol. XXIV, nº 30, e129, noviembre 2019-abril 2020. ISSN 1851-7811 Universidad Nacional de La Plata Facultad de Humanidades y Ciencias de la Educación Centro de Estudios de Teoría y Crítica Literaria El periódico Martín Fierro como campo gravitacional Martín Fierro as a gravitational field Sylvia Saítta Universidad de Buenos Aires – CONICET, Argentina [email protected] Resumen: Este trabajo sostiene que el periódico Martín Fierro funciona como campo gravitacional en el mapa de las revistas culturales del siglo veinte ya que Martín Fierro —como Sur, Contorno, Punto de Vista y Babel— es, además de una publicación ubicada en un tiempo preciso (1924-1927), un grupo de pertenencia que define a quienes escriben en sus páginas mientras se publica pero también después de su cierre; una estética y un movimiento artístico (el martinfierrismo) cuyo nombre proviene de la revista; un ámbito en torno al cual se posicionan las revistas que le son contemporáneas pero que continúa cumpliendo esa función después de su cierre porque una trama de relatos, escritos y orales, la convierten en tema y cuentan, de modo recurrente, su propia historia. Palabras clave: revistas culturales, periódico Martín Fierro, Leopoldo Marechal, martinfierrismo . Abstract: is paper argues that Martín Fierro functions as a gravitational field on the map of cultural journals of the twentieth century. Martín Fierro —such as Sur, Contorno, Punto de Vista and Babel— is a publication located at a precise time (1924-1927). It’s also a membership group, an aesthetic and an artistic movement (martinfierrismo) whose name comes om the magazine; a field around which the magazines that are contemporary but that continues to fulfill that function are positioned aer its closure because a plot of stories, written and oral, make it a theme and tell, in a recurring way, its own history.
    [Show full text]
  • In Every Issue
    www.flacsoandes.edu.ec HARVARD REVIEW OF LATIN AMERICA WINTER 2015 VOLUME XIV NO. 2 Published by the David Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies Harvard University IN EVERY ISSUE BOOK TALK GARBAGE Breeding Gangs 77 A Review by Marcela Valdes FIRST TAKE Art as Civic Acupuncture 79 Waste by Marty Chen 2 A Review by Pedro Reina-Pérez TRANSFORMATIONS Bringing the War to Mexico 80 Trash as Treasure by William L. Fash and E. Wyllys Andrews 8 A Review by Andrea Oñate Recycle the Classics by Doris Sommer 11 A Recycling (of) Tradition: A Photoessay by Andrew Lantz 14 Tracing Back Marijuana Stigma 82 Trash into Treasure by Tina Montalvo and Charles Martin 16 A Review by Viridiana Ríos RECYCLING LIVES BUILDING BRIDGES Living off Trash in Latin America by Martin Medina 20 We Make Things Happen 84 Recycling Livelihoods by Lucía Fernández and Martha Chen 25 by Marcela Rentería Ciudad Saludable by Albina Ruiz Ríos 29 The Sound of Garbage by Rocío López Íñigo 32 A Long Way from the Dump by Evelyn Mansilla 34 THE ART OF TRASH Trash Moves by Maite Zubiaurre 38 Beautiful Trash by Paola Ibarra 41 ONLINE Daniel Lind-Ramos by Lowell Fiet 44 Look for more content online at A Present from the Sea by Sonia Cabanillas 46 revista.drclas.harvard.edu Burning Messages by Michael Wellen 48 Haiti in the Time of Trash by Linda Khachadurian 50 Thinking on Film and Trash by Ernesto Livon-Grosman 53 CONFRONTING WASTE ON THE COVER Privatizing Latin American Garbage? It’s Complicated… by Sarah Hill 56 “Descarga Cero” by Jake Trash in the Water by James Howe and Libby McDonald 60 Kheel, environmental director of Puntacana Resort & Club Zero Waste in Punta Cana by Jake Kheel 63 in the Dominican Republic, 66 Recycling in Guatemala: A Photoessay by Kellie Cason O’Connor shows waste before being Buenos Aires by Jessica Sequeira 70 processed in its ambitious Transforming Values by Julia Leitner 73 Zero Waste Program.
    [Show full text]
  • 60 Years of Diplomatic Relations Between Poland and the People’S Republic of China  Historical Review
    POLISH POLITICAL SCIENCE VOL XL 2011 PL ISSN 0208-7375 60 YEARS OF DIPLOMATIC RELATIONS BETWEEN POLAND AND THE PEOPLE’S REPUBLIC OF CHINA HISTORICAL REVIEW by Marceli Burdelski ! e diplomatic relations between Poland and China had been estab- lished before World War II. ! e new stage in the relations has started on October 7, 1949, when Poland o" cially recognized the People’s Republic of China (PRC), which was declared on October 1, 1949. 1 ! erefore, in 2009, we had two anniversaries: the 60 th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of china and the 60 th anniversary of establishing the diplomatic relations between Poland and PRC. ! is gives the opportunity to summarize mutual relations. ! ose 60 years have been # lled with positive stories, which had signi# cant in$ uence on the development of bilateral relations. However, one can also # nd di" cult, even tragic moments during the history of these two nations. ! ose uneasy moments had also direct impact on mutual relations. 1 J. Rowiński, Wahadło, czyli stosunki polityczne PRL–ChRL , [in:] Polska–Chiny Wczo raj, dziś, jutro , ed. B. Góralczyk, Toruń 2009, p. 19. 212 MARCELI BURDELSKI 1. THE INTERWAR PERIOD 1918 1939 AND THE POSTWAR ERA AFTER 1945 When Poland restored its independence in 1918, China was immersed in post-revolution chaos. A! er the Revolution of 1911, which overthrown the Qing dynasty, the attempts to implement multi-parties, parliamentary democracy based on the western model have failed completely. As a result the informal dissolution of the state – that transformed into smaller and greater quasi-state entities controlled by local warlords, sometimes waging wars against each other – took place.
    [Show full text]
  • Gombrowicz and Woolf: the Face As Culture
    chapter 3 Gombrowicz and Woolf: The Face as Culture Introduction Championed by Baudelaire, the face in which the importance of ‘depth’ is eclipsed by the spectacle of surface inaugurates a new era in portraiture. Authors active in the 1920s, 1930s, and later tend to produce portraits which circumvent the principles of phrenology and physiognomics without explicit reference to those ‘sciences’. In this period, theories of ‘reading’ the face as instruments of characterisation are used less frequently. Writers tend to chal- lenge the traditional role of the face as an instrument of characterisation directly. Thus, the face is no longer simply a passage to the soul. This ‘meaning- less’ type of portraiture (to borrow Edmund Heier’s phrase), which not only complicates physiognomic characterisation but often completely destroys it, will be the focus of this chapter (1976, 324). I will examine portraits in the works of two authors considered to be paradigmatic of modernist style, the English writer Virginia Woolf (1882–1941) and the Polish author Witold Gombrowicz (1904–69).1 One reason why twentieth-century portraiture received little critical atten- tion is that modernist accounts of faces have not been considered as portraits at all. Heier suggests that ‘modernist’ faces are often reduced to “mere signals” and “meagre suggestions” which compel the reader to “felicitous accidental com- pletion” (1976, 323). To be a literary portrait, a description must fulfil two con- ditions: it must “draw forth” the character (as French pourtraire would sugg est); 1 Witold Gombrowicz, a Polish author of plays, novels, short stories and other non-fictional texts, is recognised as a representative of Polish literary modernism.
    [Show full text]
  • 2016 Bulletin
    2016 Bulletin Table of Contents Director’s Note 05 Ellsworth Kelly’s Austin 06 Public Programs 08 PK–12 Programs 09 Family Programs 10 Community Programs 11 Center for Prints and Drawings 12 University Engagement 13 Membership 16 Events 17 At a Glance 18 Exhibitions 20 Special Installations 31 Select Exhibition Loans 33 Acquisitions 35 Donor Listing 65 Appendix 66 BLANTON NATIONAL LEADERSHIP BOARD Michael Klein, Chair Janet Allen, Vice Chair Janet and Wilson Allen Leslie and Jack Blanton, Jr. Suzanne Deal Booth Sarah and Ernest Butler Michael Chesser Mary McDermott Cook Alessandra Manning-Dolnier and Kurt Dolnier Tamara and Charles Dorrance Sally and Tom Dunning Kelley and Pat Frost Stephanie and David Goodman Anthony Grant Shannon and Mark Hart Eric Herschmann Stacy and Joel Hock Sonja and Joe Holt Nancy and Bob Inman Kenny and Susie Jastrow Marilyn D. Johnson Jeanne and Michael Klein Jenny and Trey Laird Cornelia and Meredith Long Kathleen Irvin Loughlin and Christopher Loughlin Suzanne McFayden Marlene N. Meyerson (1940–2017) Fredericka and David Middleton Lora Reynolds and Quincy Lee Richard Shiff Eliza and Stuart W. Stedman Ellen and Steve Susman Judy and Charles Tate Marilynn and Carl Thoma Jill Wilkinson Jessica and Jimmy Younger 4 Director’s Note This bulletin offers a snapshot of the Blanton’s multifaceted role as one of the most celebrated university museums in the world and as Austin’s art museum. The exhibitions and acquisitions covered in these pages begin where the last Blanton bulletin concluded, in January 2014, and extend through summer 2016. The Blanton’s programming during this period reflects the quality and uniqueness the museum strives for through its diverse forms of engagement with the community.
    [Show full text]
  • Aging and Maturity in Witold Gombrowicz's Pornografia
    Available online at www.sciencedirect.com Russian Literature 116 (2020) 17–39 www.elsevier.com/locate/ruslit THE DIFFICULT CHILDHOOD OF AN ADULT: AGING AND MATURITY IN WITOLD GOMBROWICZ’S PORNOGRAFIA DANIEL JUST [email protected] Bilkent University Abstract Maturity and immaturity are the hallmarks of Witold Gombrowicz’s literary texts. They were introduced in his first novel, Ferdydurke, and an early collection of short stories, Memoirs from a Time of Immaturity, and continued to play a central role in his fiction and nonfiction works, including the Diary, A Kind of Testament, and the penultimate novel, Pornografia. Although Gombrowicz has been widely regarded as a staunch critic of maturity and defender of immature spontaneity, playfulness, and formlessness, this view is largely based on his earlier writings. Later works offer a more complex image of Gombrowicz. Pornografia, in parti- cular, no longer pits immaturity against maturity with the goal of discrediting the latter through humor and irony. Instead, it experiments with the possibility of a new relationship between the two, a relationship which would ameliorate the discontents that often come with aging. Keywords: Witold Gombrowicz; Maturity; Aging; Polish Modernism; Trans- gression https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ruslit.2020.09.002 0304-3479/© 2020 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. 18 Daniel Just Maturity and Immaturity in Gombrowicz’s Writings If it were possible to reverse development, to achieve some sort of roundabout way back to childhood, to have once again its fullness and limitlessness. My ideal is to “mature” into childhood [“dojrzeć” do dzieciństwa]. Only that would be true maturity.
    [Show full text]