Trans-Atlantyk

Witold Gombrowicz (1904–1969) is the author of four novels, several plays, and one major nonfiction work. He was the recipient of the prestigious International Editors’ Award in 1967. Danuta Borchardt is an award-winning translator.

“Having this book in my hands, I felt a joy at the thought that strong personalities, like that of Gombrowicz, sooner or later find recognition thanks to the sheer intensity of their existence.”—Czeslaw Milosz, New York Times“If ever a life demanded a diary, this was one.”—Paul West, Washington Post“A heroic translation . . . English-speaking readers can finally experience the diary as Gombrowicz intended it—as a single, coherent work . . . his major creative endeavor.” —Ruth Franklin, New Yorker“A genuinely astonishing masterwork that is bound to last.”—Eva Hoffman, The New York Times Book Review‘Since 2000, Danuta Borchardt has been engaged with translating the four novels of Witold Gombrowicz published in his lifetime, and the process is now complete with Trans-Atlantyk. These masterly translations at last provide a satisfying, coherent survey of the author many consider to be among Polish literature’s most untranslatable stylists. . .While Borchardt brings a domesticating tendency, smoothing a few purposefully rough edges, her limpid prose is worth it. Gombrowicz’s arch humour now punches even harder.’—Scott Esposito, Times Literary Supplement“[A] masterpiece of European modernism. . . . Susan Sontag ushers this new translation into print with a strong and useful foreword, calling Gombrowicz’s tale ‘extravagant, brilliant, disturbing, brave, funny . . . wonderful.’ And it is.”—Publishers Weekly“Widely considered the Polish author’s masterpiece . . . the Diary lacks for nothing: history, politics, philosophy, literature, art, music, love, death, humor, communism, Poland, Europe, writing—everything is there.”—Paris Review DailyLonglisted for the PEN Translation Prize: For a book-length translation of prose into English published in 2014, given by PEN American Center.“Ferdydurke, among its centrifugal charms, includes some of the truest and funniest literary satire in print.”—John Updike