WRITER

Witold Gombrowicz

1904 - 1969

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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 first novel, Ferdydurke, which presented many of his usual themes: problems of immaturity and youth, creation of identity in interactions with others, and an ironic, critical examination of class roles in Polish society and culture. Read more on Wikipedia

Since 2007, the English Wikipedia page of Witold Gombrowicz has received more than 384,630 page views. His biography is available in 50 different languages on Wikipedia (up from 46 in 2019). Witold Gombrowicz is the 631st most popular writer (up from 644th in 2019), the 130th most popular biography from Poland (down from 127th in 2019) and the 13th most popular Polish Writer.

Witold Gombrowicz is most famous for his novel "Trans-Atlantyk" and his play "The Marriage."

Memorability Metrics

  • 380k

    Page Views (PV)

  • 65.25

    Historical Popularity Index (HPI)

  • 50

    Languages Editions (L)

  • 6.33

    Effective Languages (L*)

  • 3.59

    Coefficient of Variation (CV)

Notable Works

Kosmos
1965
Trans-Atlantyk
1953
Pornografia
1960
Opętani
1977
Ferdydurke
Polish fiction
In this bitterly funny novel a writer finds himself tossed into a chaotic world of schoolboys by a diabolical professor who wishes to reduce him to childishness. Originally published in Poland in 1937, "Ferdydurke" was deemed scandalous and subversive by Nazis, Stalinists, and the Polish Communist regime in turn and was officially banned in Poland for decades. It has nonetheless remained one of the most influential works of twentieth-century European literature. ""Ferdydurke," among its centrifugal charms, includes some of the truest and funniest literary satire in print."--John Updike "A wonderfully subversive, self-absorbed, hilarious book. Think Kafka translated by Groucho Marx, with commentaries."--"Kirkus Reviews" "The author's exuberant humor, suggesting the absurdist drama of Eugene Ionesco, if not the short fiction of Franz Kafka, is readily apparent in this new translation. . . . Highly recommended."--Richard Koss, "Library Journal" Winner of the 2001 National Translation Award given by the American Literary Translators Association
19614 / 5
Dziennik
1957

Among WRITERS

Among writers, Witold Gombrowicz ranks 631 out of 7,302. Before him are Mihai Eminescu, Zecharia Sitchin, August Wilhelm Schlegel, Samuel Johnson, Ludwig Tieck, and Nikolay Chernyshevsky. After him are Raymond Queneau, Edward Bernays, Curzio Malaparte, Edgar Rice Burroughs, Saul Bellow, and Clarice Lispector.

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Contemporaries

Among people born in 1904, Witold Gombrowicz ranks 28. Before him are Harry Martinson, Louis Néel, Glenn Miller, Cary Grant, Joan Crawford, and Luis Carrero Blanco. After him are John Hicks, Werner Forssmann, Antonín Novotný, Dmitry Kabalevsky, Gregory Bateson, and Ernst Mayr. Among people deceased in 1969, Witold Gombrowicz ranks 25. Before him are Brian Jones, Otto Dix, Jack Kerouac, Victoria Eugenie of Battenberg, Princess Alice of Battenberg, and Dominique Pire. After him are Arthur Friedenreich, Joseph P. Kennedy Sr., Joseph Kasa-Vubu, Moïse Tshombe, Josef von Sternberg, and Princess Theodora of Greece and Denmark.

Others Born in 1904

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Others Deceased in 1969

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In Poland

Among people born in Poland, Witold Gombrowicz ranks 130 out of 1,694. Before him are Duchess Elisabeth of Württemberg (1767), Alexandre Colonna-Walewski (1810), Olga Tokarczuk (1962), Jan Henryk Dąbrowski (1755), Alfred Döblin (1878), and Henryk Wieniawski (1835). After him are Hanna Schygulla (1943), Angelus Silesius (1624), Władysław I the Elbow-high (1260), Adolf Anderssen (1818), Otto Liman von Sanders (1855), and Géza I of Hungary (1040).

Others born in Poland

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Among WRITERS In Poland

Among writers born in Poland, Witold Gombrowicz ranks 13. Before him are Gerhart Hauptmann (1862), Andrzej Sapkowski (1948), Władysław Reymont (1867), Osip Mandelstam (1891), Olga Tokarczuk (1962), and Alfred Döblin (1878). After him are Christa Wolf (1929), Jan Potocki (1761), Joseph Freiherr von Eichendorff (1788), B. Traven (1882), Johanna Schopenhauer (1766), and Emil Ludwig (1881).

Polish born Writers

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