Polak w Niemczach. Witold Gombrowicz w Berlinie

• Authors: Schamma Schahadat

Title variants

EN

A Pole in Germany: Witold Gombrowicz in Berlin

• Languages of publication: PL

Abstracts

EN

The author of the article presents Berlin through the eyes of Witold Gombrowicz by means of the writer’s bio-topography of the city. From 1963 to 1964 the Polish writer spent some time in Berlin at the invitation of the Ford Foundation. The article at hand is divided into two sections which are also the main points on the map of Gombrowicz’s bio-topography, namely the Hansa district where the writer lived and Cafe Zuntz at Kurfurstendamm where he tried to set up a meeting point for writers. As he penetrates the city and uncovers layers of this palimpsest, Gombrowicz essentially penetrates and uncovers his own self. The places he visits and lives in shape and reflect his biography, Gombrowicz’s apartment in Berlin does not only take on an aspatial-material but also a metaphysical dimension, essentially turning the apartment into a philosophical and ideological issue. Gombrowicz as a Polish-Argentinian exile writer is deprived of his shelter not only in a physical but also in a metaphysical sense – he is an alien in Berlin. By reading diff erent signs of the city, Gombrowicz notices cracks in the city’s surface – he perceives Berlin as a place that tries to hide its own bloody history. The Hansa district with its modern buildings is an unsuccessful attempt at disguising this past. Instead Gombrowicz is attracted to older houses that carry their history (for example the house of G. Grass). He perceives Berlin as a kind of Lady Macbeth, a city that constantly tries to wash its hands but cannot get rid of the blood.

Keywords

EN

Comparative literature; Berlin in literature; Bio-topography of a city; Witold Gombrowicz

• Publisher: Wydawnictwo Naukowe Uniwersytetu Szczecińskiego
• Journal: Rocznik Komparatystyczny
• Year: 2011
• Volume: 2
• Pages: p. 229-244

Contributors

author

Schamma Schahadat

• Universität Tübingen, Slavisches Seminar Wilhelmstr. 50, Zi. 534, D-72074 Tübingen