FORM AND FORMLESS: POLISHNESS IN THE WORKS OF WITOLD GOMBROWICZ by JON TOBIAS GALUCKI (Under Direction the of Katarzyna Jerzak) ABSTRACT Witold Gombrowicz spent his entire life struggling to reconcile his innately formed Polishness with his insatiable desire to be free from all restricting Forms whether they are literary, cultural, political, or sexual. Through an examination of Gombrowicz’s biographical texts, his fictional writing, and secondary source materials, one can discern his ongoing battle with Form. In addition, a comparison between Gombrowicz and James Joyce will elucidate their striking literary similarities. Krzysztof Kieślowski’s film “White” also demonstrates the arduous attempt at reconciliation between nationality and Form. Finally, Andrzej Wajda’s historic film “Man of Marble” accurately presents the fallacy of an imposed Form during the early stages of the Solidarity movement in Poland. These three Polish artists strive to define Polishness, to reinvent Polishness, and to confront the difficulties that ensue with such an attempt. INDEX WORDS: Form, Exile, Polishness, Gombrowicz, Kieślowski, Wajda, Joyce, Campbell FORM AND FORMLESSNESS: POLISHNESS IN THE WORKS OF WITOLD GOMBROWICZ by JON TOBIAS GALUCKI B.A. University of Georgia, 1996 A Thesis Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of The University of Georgia in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree MASTER OF ARTS ATHENS, GEORGIA 2005 © 2005 Jon Tobias Galucki All Rights Reserved FORM AND FORMLESSNESS: POLISHNESS IN THE WORKS OF WITOLD GOMBROWICZ by JON TOBIAS GALUCKI Major Professor: Katarzyna Jerzak Committee: Thomas Cerbu Katharina Wilson Electronic Version Approved: Maureen Grasso Dean of the Graduate School The University of Georgia May 2005 DEDICATION To the loving memory of my grandmother Dorothy T. Budziszewski Gerwitz 1922-2005 iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Inspiration comes from many difference sources and people—all of whom have illustrated tremendous patience with me and have illuminated my imagination on countless occasions. What started as an acknowledgment of my own Polish extraction on the first day of a Modern Poetry class at UGA and the correct pronunciation of my last name, led to a renewed interest in my heritage and ultimately my own process of identity. I would like to recognize and show my gratitude to Dr. Katarzyna Jerzak for her firm direction, patience, and friendship. I would also like to share my appreciation to the following committee members. Dr. Thomas Cerbu for his patience, understanding and profound wisdom, and Dr. Katharina Wilson for her compassion and support. My parents, Dennis and Rosemarie, my closest friends and constant advisors and maintainers of certain Polish traditions. By leaving me to my own devices they allowed me to follow their path of morals, values and discipline. My brothers Thomas, Tim, Todd for their tolerance of my differences. My sister Tracy for her trust and allegiance. Ted and Melissa, without your friendship and insistence this thesis might never have been completed. Also, in an understated way Natasha, Scott, Amanda, and Hope have been reliable friends and advisors throughout my graduate years. Finally, the one who has given my life clear focus and purpose, Clare Ellis, whose stability, balance and sanity have tempered my own wildness and recklessness. To you I am eternally grateful. v TABLE OF CONTENTS Page ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS.............................................................................................................v CHAPTER INTRODUCTION: Who is Witold Gombrowicz? ...............................................................1 1 Dueling with Polishness.................................................................................................5 The ‘Pole’ of Chance (Part I) ....................................................................................8 Exile (Part I) ..............................................................................................................9 Separation Anxiety..................................................................................................13 Grappling with Polish Form (Part I)........................................................................18 Minor Literature ......................................................................................................27 Grappling with Polish Form (Part II) ......................................................................29 Exile (Part II)...........................................................................................................34 A Walking Contradiction ........................................................................................37 The Interhuman Church...........................................................................................40 The ‘Pole’ of Chance (Part II).................................................................................42 Spilled Compote......................................................................................................45 2 Polishness as Metaphor................................................................................................47 The Case of James Joyce.........................................................................................49 3 Ferdydurke and the Birth of Form...............................................................................55 vi 4 The Myth of Witoldo ...................................................................................................66 Departure.................................................................................................................67 Initiation ..................................................................................................................68 Return ......................................................................................................................70 5 Chiseled Form: Andrzej Wajda’s “Man of Marble”....................................................75 6 Ineffectual Polishness: Krzysztof Kieślowski’s “White” ...........................................78 CONCLUSION: Why Gombrowicz? ............................................................................................81 WORKS CITED ............................................................................................................................84 END NOTES .................................................................................................................................87 vii INTRODUCTION WHO IS WITOLD GOMBROWICZ?1 “American readers perceive Gombrowicz ‘to be a Polish writer rather than a great writer,’ ghettoizing him by their own narrow sense of his nationality.” – Beth Holmgren quoting Susan Harris in her essay entitled “Witold Gombrowicz in the United States” from Gombrowicz’s Grimaces (295) Unduly, Witold Gombrowicz is a largely overlooked literary figure in the study of modern world literature. What English-speaking attention he does receive is oftentimes marginalized in highly specified Eastern European Literature classes or the even less frequently offered Polish Literature survey. Gombrowicz’s American relevance tends to focus on his literary unusualness rather than his importance, as the Susan Harris fragment above suggests. In addition, his works are somewhat difficult to attain. As of the summer of 2004, three of his major texts were readily available in translation from Polish directly into idiomatic English: Ferdydurke (1937, translated by Danuta Borchardt in 2001), Trans-Atlantyk (1953, translated by Nina Karsow in 1994) and his three volume Diary (1957-1966, translated by Lillian Vallee from 1988-1993). By the Fall of 2004 there was a conference at Yale University to honor his life and works as well as the release of three more of his works in English: Bacacay, his first collection of short stories (originally titled Memoirs of a Time of Immaturity in 1933, translated by Bill Johnston, Archipelago Books), Polish Memories (translated by Bill Johnston, Yale UP), a veritable autobiography and elaborate description of his literary allusions, and Philosophy Lesson In Six and a Half Hours (translated by Benjamin Ivry, Yale UP), a lucid albeit jocular approach to teaching modern philosophy. 2004 marked the 100th anniversary of his birth and was declared “The International Year of Gombrowicz.” His other works are retranslations from French or 1 German into English and there is a notable lack of playfulness in his language due to the double translations. The texts include the plays The Marriage (1948) and Operetta (1953), the novels Pornografia (1960) and Kosmos (1965), the memoir A Kind of Testament (appeared in French in 1968) and a gothic novel entitled Possessed or The Secret of Myslotch (Translated by J.A. Underwood). Scholarship on the topic of Gombrowicz in English is also currently limited to a collection of essays, Gombrowicz’s Grimaces (1998), which will be referred to often in this thesis. There have been productions of his plays both in the U.S. and abroad as well as a recent Polish film version of his novel Pornografia (2003, directed by Jan Jakub Kolski). Indeed, Gombrowicz scholarship finds itself on the periphery at best and it is the intention of this thesis to argue that his oeuvre ought to be reevaluated because it contains within its idiosyncratic style a strict philosophy on the nature of Form that is universal, timeless, and provocative, especially for modern audiences, not just Polish audiences. This thesis serves as an examination of secondary source