Declare Books As Pornografia
| Original Title: | Pornografia |
| ISBN: | 0714529885 (ISBN13: 9780714529882) |
| Edition Language: | English |
Witold Gombrowicz
Paperback | Pages: 176 pages Rating: 3.93 | 2388 Users | 155 Reviews
Define Containing Books Pornografia
| Title | : | Pornografia |
| Author | : | Witold Gombrowicz |
| Book Format | : | Paperback |
| Book Edition | : | Special Edition |
| Pages | : | Pages: 176 pages |
| Published | : | November 1994 by Marion Boyars Publishers Ltd (first published 1960) |
| Categories | : | Fiction. European Literature. Polish Literature. Cultural. Poland. Novels. Literature |
Ilustration In Pursuance Of Books Pornografia
Gombrowicz's strange, bracing final novel probes the divide between young and old while providing a grotesque evocation of obsession. While recuperating from wartime Warsaw in the Polish countryside, the unnamed narrator and his friend, Fryderyk, attempt to force amour between two local youths, Karol and Henia, as a kind of a lewd entertainment. They become increasingly frustrated as they discover that the two have no interest in one another, and the games are momentarily stopped by a local murder and a directive to assassinate a rogue member of the Polish resistance. Gombrowicz connects these threads magnificently in a tense climax that imbues his novel with a deep sense of the absurd and multiplies its complexity. Gombrowicz is a relentless psychoanalyzer and a consummate stylist; his prose is precise and forceful, and the narrator's strained attempts to elucidate why he takes such pleasure at soiling youth creepily evoke authentic pride and disgust. Borchardt's translation (the first into English from the original Polish) is a model of consistency, maintaining a manic tone as it navigates between lengthy, comma-spliced sentences and sharp, declarative thrusts. - Publishers WeeklyRating Containing Books Pornografia
Ratings: 3.93 From 2388 Users | 155 ReviewsJudge Containing Books Pornografia
This novel is like a theatre of the Absurd. But, in contrast to the absurd in Kafkas novels it is not cold and passionless like a state. It is idiotic as a human.Alternately comic seduction, crime fiction, and morality tale about how we cope in wartime, Pornografia is really an allegory of Poland's role as pawn as the Major Powers broker their wars. The title is more accurately translated as "voyeurism" which gives you a much better sense of what's between the covers. Gombrowicz is not the warmest of writers - but he makes no apologies for that. Instead, his singular omnipotent voice gives the book its multilayered resonance, sense of vertigo, and, yes,
. Pornografia ( much like Cosmos) the drawing of constellations, an elevation of the mundane into things thrilling and intense - a distrust of the world as prescribed, and so dug at or another view thrown upon and filtered, two thighs and a lantern! O yes, of course. Of course!...so much (depends (one day I will tell you why I write in these parenthesis(sic))) is accomplished with the way grammar is used, much like Sterne, the marks, dashes - ...! and etc...seem to scream and you can hear the
There is a lot of symbolism in Pornografia, the writing is based on wrapping words around themselves, in a way that would show how the narrator and characters involved with him are wrapped around in his mind. The writing style itself is rather unique and I can't quite place a finger on having read too much like it, nor can I find a way to truly describe what it is I experienced. For the most part, I found myself realizing that I was as much a witness to the action as any of the other characters,
Not since Crying Of Lot 49 has the act of finishing been more revelatory than reading the novel for me. I was riding on my enormous respect for Gombrowicz and grasp of his style, but I wasn't exactly in love with it for a while. There's pleasant familiarity in the same old Gombrowicz playing with the absurdity of applying abstract philosophy within plain reality, and a there's his familiar theme about the power struggles between young and the old. However, being one of his later novels, it's
I will have to read it several more times to fully appreciate the form and the thought behind this story. The novel sparkles with tension and is full of tiny details which grow to great sizes and swell up with hidden meanings. The author had an eagle eye surely because he managed to describe in detail the most vague and mysterious of human behaviours.
My comments with additional linksThe summary from the Publishers Weekly review (taken from Bacacay: The Polish Literature Weblog): While recuperating from wartime Warsaw in the Polish countryside, the unnamed narrator and his friend, Fryderyk, attempt to force amour between two local youths, Karol and Henia, as a kind of a lewd entertainment. They become increasingly frustrated as they discover that the two have no interest in one another, and the games are momentarily stopped by a local murder
0 Comments