AUTHOR: Witold Gombrowicz
READ: November
THOUGHTS: This book....well, it's complicated. I really loved Gombrowicz in Pornografia, though if I remember correctly, that book wasn't exactly a page turner either. The last 80 or so pages of this book were kind of a struggle to get through. I feel like I have been reading this book for weeks (finished it last night). The 'zaniness' of Gombrowicz here is focusing a little more on the social realm than as a narrative device (which I thought was the central focus of Pornografia, like Humbert Humbert in Lolita). I remember reading (or hearing) a comparisson to Candide, and I think that is apt, in that Candide for me, despite its moments of humor, intelligence, etc. amounts to a bildsgrundroman centered around a single joke, that it makes over and over again. Candide has the good fortune of only being about 70 pages, whereas this book is close to 300. I felt that the thematic conceit of this book started to stretch itself a little thin toward the end. There was also something about this book that seemed 'dated': like the 'main joke' here seems to be the reversal of stupid binaries among people, specifically young and old, and the collapsing of established hierarchies in adult society, but given that this was written in the 30's and I am reading this close to 80 years after its publication, it seems like the joke of this book isn't too scandalous in the world I live in. I still like Gombrowicz a whole lot and intend to read the other two novels I haven't read, and maybe one day read the Diaries. Not sure when. So, uhh, final verdict: still love Gombrowicz, but was slightly disappointed (and sort of frustrated) with this book.
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