The possessed / Witold Gombrowicz ; translated from the Polish by Antonia Lloyd-Jones ; with an introduction by Adam Thirlwell.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Gombrowicz, Witold, author.

Contributor:

Lloyd-Jones, Antonia, translator.

Thirlwell, Adam, 1978- writer of foreword.

Standardized Title:

Opętani. English

Language:

English

Polish

Subjects (All):

Conflict of generations--Poland--Fiction.

Conflict of generations.

Social classes--Poland--Fiction.

Social classes.

Intergenerational relations--Poland--Fiction.

Intergenerational relations.

Haunted castles--Fiction.

Haunted castles.

Poland--Fiction.

Poland.

Genre:

Fiction

Gothic fiction

Gothic fiction.

Novels.

Physical Description:

xiii, 395 pages ; 21 cm

Edition:

First Grove Atlantic paperback edition.

Place of Publication:

New York, NY : Black Cat, an imprint of Grove Atlantic, [2023]

Summary:

"From "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 Ochołowska, 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, conniving secretaries, famous clairvoyants, and uncanny doubles conspire to determine the fate of the lovers. Serialized first in Poland in the days preceding the Nazi invasion, and now translated directly into English for the first time by Antonia Lloyd-Jones, The Possessed is a comic jewel, a hair-raising thriller, and a provocative early masterpiece from the acclaimed author of classics like Pornografia and Cosmos"-- Provided by publisher.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references.

Other Format:

Online version: Gombrowicz, Witold. Possessed.

ISBN:

9780802162526

0802162525

OCLC:

1411840158