The Possessed - Witold Gombrowicz

Descriere

From a master of nverbal burlesque [and] a connoisseur of psychological blackmail (John Updike), nWitold Gombrowicz's harrowing and hilarious pastiche of the Gothic novel, now nin a new, authoritative English translation Witold Gombrowicz is considered by nmany to be Poland's greatest modernist, and in The Possessed, he ndemonstrates his playful brilliance and astonishing range by using the familiar ntropes of the Gothic novel to produce a darkly funny and lively subversion of nthe form. With dreams of escaping his small-town existence and the limitations nof his class, a young tennis coach travels to the heart of the Polish ncountryside to train Maja Ocholowska, a beautiful and promising player whose nbourgeois family has fallen upon difficult circumstances. Yet as Maja and the nyoung man are alternately drawn to and repulsed by the other, they find nthemselves embroiled in the fantastic happenings taking place at the ndilapidated castle nearby, where a mad prince haunts the halls, and bewitched ntowels, conniving secretaries, famous clairvoyants, and uncanny doubles conspire nto determine the fate of the lovers. Serialized first in Poland in the days npreceding the Nazi invasion, and now translated directly into English for the nfirst time by Antonia Lloyd-Jones, The Possessed is a comic jewel, a nhair-raising thriller, and a provocative early masterpiece from the acclaimed nauthor of classics like Pornografia and Cosmos. nFrom a master of verbal burlesque [and] a connoisseur of psychological blackmail (John Updike), Witold Gombrowicz's harrowing and hilarious pastiche of the Gothic novel, now in a new, authoritative English translation Witold Gombrowicz is considered by many to be Poland's greatest modernist, and in The Possessed, he demonstrates his playful brilliance and astonishing range by using the familiar tropes of the Gothic novel to produce a darkly funny and lively subversion of the form. With dreams of escaping his small-town existence and the limitations of his class, a young tennis coach travels to the heart of the Polish countryside to train Maja Ocholowska, a beautiful and promising player whose bourgeois family has fallen upon difficult circumstances. Yet as Maja and the young man are alternately drawn to and repulsed by the other, they find themselves embroiled in the fantastic happenings taking place at the dilapidated castle nearby, where a mad prince haunts the halls, and bewitched towels,