Opening at Beinecke Library - Witold Gombrowicz

[Timothy Young <timothy.young@YALE.EDU>]

The Beinecke Library opens it new exhibition this evening with a
reception -
and with a two day conference featuring an international roster of
scholars.

Beinecke Library celebrates the centenary of the Polish writer Witold
Gombrowicz (1904-1969) with an exhibition drawn from his papers and
library, acquired by Yale in 1998. Gombrowicz, playwright, diarist, and
author of several novels, including Ferdydurke which Susan Sontag
has called "one of the most important overlooked books of the 20th
Century," was born in Poland on August 4, 1904. During his 24 years
of exile in Argentina, he explored themes of identity and alienation in
such works as the novel Trans-Atlantyk and the plays
"Slub" [Marriage] and "Operetka" [Operetta]. After
leaving Argentina in 1963, Gombrowicz settled in the south of France,
where he continued his writing, winning the International Prize for
Literature in 1967 for his novel Cosmos as well as a nomination
for the Nobel Prize. Gombrowicz, who died in July 1969, remains a
powerful voice in modern European literature, though he is little known
in America. The Yale University Press issued a new translation of his
novel, Ferdydurke in 2000. On display are original manuscripts by
Gombrowicz, rare editions of his publications, pages of his diaries, and
photographs showing the writer throughout his life.

The reception begins at 6:30 this evening and is open to the 
public.
Please note the later time, which is coordinated to allow attendees
to
attend this evening's performance of Ferdydurke at the Yale
Repertory Theater at 8:00.

This afternoon sees the start of the conference on Gombrowicz, which is
also free and open to the public.
For more information on the conference and the play, visit our website:
http://beinecke.library.yale.edu/Gombrowicz%20website/