''Ferdydurke'' is a novel by the Polish writer

Witold Gombrowicz Witold Marian Gombrowicz (August 4, 1904 – July 24, 1969) was a Polish writer and playwright. His works are characterised by deep psychological analysis, a certain sense of paradox and absurd, anti-nationalist flavor. In 1937 he published his ...

, published in 1937. It was his first and most controversial novel. The book has been described as a " cult novel".

Gombrowicz himself wrote of his novel that it is not "... a satire on some social class, nor a nihilistic attack on culture... We live in an era of violent changes, of accelerated development, in which settled forms are breaking under life's pressure... The need to find a form for what is yet immature, uncrystalized and underdeveloped, as well as the groan at the impossibility of such a postulate – this is the chief excitement of my book."

Translations

The first translation of the novel, to Spanish, published in

Buenos Aires Buenos Aires ( or ; ), officially the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires ( es, link=no, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires), is the capital and primate city of Argentina. The city is located on the western shore of the Río de la Plata, on South ...

in 1947, was done by Gombrowicz himself. A translation committee presided over by the Cuban writer

Virgilio Piñera Virgilio Piñera Llera ( Cárdenas, Cuba, August 4, 1912 – Havana, October 18, 1979) was a Cuban author, playwright, poet, short story writer, essayist and translator. His most notorious works are the poem ''La isla en peso'' (1943), the collec ...

helped him in this endeavor, since Gombrowicz felt that he did not know the language well enough at the time to do it on his own. Gombrowicz again collaborated on a French translation of the book, with Ronald Martin in 1958. A direct German translation by Walter Tiel was published in 1960. In 2006, the first Brazilian Portuguese translation by Tomasz Barciński, direct from the Polish original text, was delivered. The first English translation of ''Ferdydurke'', by

Eric Mosbacher Eric Mosbacher (22 December 1903 – 2 July 1998) was an English journalist and translator from Italian, French, German and Spanish. He translated work by Ignazio Silone and Sigmund Freud.'Eric Mosbacher', ''The Times'', 10 July 1998, p.25 Life ...

, was published in 1961. It was a combined indirect translation of the French, German and possibly Spanish translations. In 2000, Yale University Press published the first direct translation from the original Polish.

Eva Hoffman Eva Hoffman (born Ewa Wydra on 1 July 1945) is an internationally acclaimed, award-winning writer and academic. Early life and education Eva Hoffman was born in Kraków, Poland, shortly after World War II. Her parents, Boris and Maria Wydra, surv ...

Stream of Subconsciousness
– review in ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

'' 10 December 2000 The 2000 edition, translated by

Danuta Borchardt Danuta is a Polish given name. Women named Danuta include: *Danuta Bartoszek (born 1961), former long-distance runner for Canada *Danuta Bułkowska (born 1959), former Polish champion in high jumping * Danuta Dmowska (born 1982), Polish fencer an ...

, has an introduction by Susan Sontag. Direct and indirect translations now exist in over twenty languages.Bibliography of translations of Ferdydurke
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Adaptations

Jerzy Skolimowski Jerzy Skolimowski (, born 5 May 1938) is a Polish film director, screenwriter, dramatist and actor. A graduate of the prestigious National Film School in Łódź, Skolimowski has directed more than twenty films since his 1960 début ''Oko wyk ...

directed the 1991 film adaptation of ''Ferdydurke'' (alternate English title: '' 30 Door Key'') with an international cast including

Iain Glen Iain Alan Sutherland Glen (born 24 June 1961) is a Scottish actor. Glen is best known for his roles as Dr. Alexander Isaacs/Tyrant in three films of the ''Resident Evil'' film series (2004–2016) and as Ser Jorah Mormont in the HBO fantasy t ...

Crispin Glover Crispin Hellion Glover (born April 20, 1964) is an American actor. He is known for portraying eccentric characters on screen, such as George McFly in ''Back to the Future'' (1985), Layne in ''River's Edge'' (1986), Andy Warhol in ''The Doors' ...

Beata Poźniak Beata Poźniak (; born 30 April 1960) is a Polish-American actress, film director, poet, painter and an Earphones Award-winning narrator. She is also a human rights activist who introduced the first bill in the history of US Congress to offici ...

Robert Stephens Sir Robert Graham Stephens (14 July 193112 November 1995) was a leading English actor in the early years of Britain's Royal National Theatre. He was one of the most respected actors of his generation and was at one time regarded as the natu ...

Judith Godrèche Judith Godrèche (born 23 March 1972) is a French actress and author. She has appeared in more than 30 films. Early life Godrèche was born in the 17th arrondissement of Paris. Her father is a psychoanalyst, and her mother a child therapist. He ...

Zbigniew Zamachowski Zbigniew Zamachowski (; born 17 July 1961) is a Polish actor. Life and career He was born on 17 July 1961 in Brzeziny near Łódź. Zamachowski graduated from the actor's faculty of the National Film School in Łódź. He began his acting caree ...

, and

Fabienne Babe Fabienne is a feminine French and English given name. Notable people with the name include: * Fabienne André (born 1996), British athlete * Fabienne Dufour (born 1981), Belgian swimmer * Fabienne Feraez (born 1976), Beninese sprinter * Fabienne ...

. In 1999, ''Ferdydurke'' was adapted into a stage play by Provisorium & Kompania Theater from Lublin.

Analysis

The novel has been described as a "meditation on stupidity and immaturity", with its other main themes being the tragedy of passing from immature, utopian youth to adulthood, and the degree to which culture can infantilize various subjects.

Reception

The book was Gombrowicz's first and most controversial novel. It has been described since as a cult novel. Writing in 1995, Warren F. Motte commented that the book "exemplifies that rare bird of literary avant-garde: a text that retains, decades after its initial publication, the power to shock.".

References

External links

Presentation, analysis and excerpt of ''Ferdydurke''
on the official website of Witold Gombrowicz

at UK publisher website

at Polish Library
Ferdydurke A. D. 1947
article about the publication of the Spanish translation in Argentina ( PDF)
YUP page with reviews

in 2001 NYT * ttp://www.rogalinski.com.pl/untranslatable-elements-in-ferdydurke/ Untranslatable elements in "Ferdydurke" {{Authority control 1937 novels Existentialist novels Polish novels Polish novels adapted into films Polish novels adapted into plays Polish satire Satirical novels Works by Witold Gombrowicz Novels by Witold Gombrowicz