Bacacay
Written by Witold Gombrowicz
Translated from the Polish by Bill Johnston

First published in 1957 in Poland, Bacacay is a collection of twelve short stories by Witold Gombrowicz, one of the major European literary figures of the 20th century. Stunningly original in both style and content, these stories are often hilarious yet with an undercurrent of profound moral disquiet and horror when the respectable turns slowly but inexorably into the outrageous, conveying both the horrors of upper-class life and the deepest anguish of the human condition. Gombrowicz has perfect pitch for language; he revels in linguistic play, combining words in the most brilliant and extraordinary ways. Here, he creates an utterly unique universe of words in which his characters are embroiled. The commonplace and the everyday are juxtaposed with the bizarre and unsettling to make a world in which unspeakable subconscious urges have a habit of poking through the surface of ordinary life, altering it forever. Bacacay constitutes a remarkable contribution to world literature.

"These exuberant stories, so startlingly fresh, so vigorous, and so wildly inventive, are a delight--elegant tangles that unwind to their antic conclusions, rendered into English with great dash and eloquence."
ALASTAIR REID

"Gombrowicz is one of the most original and gifted writers of the twentieth century: he belongs at the very summit, at the side of his kindred spirits, Kafka and Celine. This collection of his stories will serve as an admirable and fascinating introduction to his oeuvre."
Washington Post Book World

WITOLD GOMBROWICZ (1904-1969) is considered the most remarkable Polish prose writer of the 20th century. He is best known for his novels Ferdydurke (1937), Pornografia (1960), and Cosmos (1966), his plays Princess Ivona (1935) and The Marriage (1953) and his journals. Gombrowicz left Poland in 1939, lived in Argentina for over twenty years, and died in France. He was awarded the Prix Formentor in 1967 for his contribution to world literature.

BILL JOHNSTON is an Assistant Professor of Comparative Literature and Second Language Studies at Indiana University in Bloomington. In 1999 he received a National Endowment for the Arts Poetry Fellowship for Translation. His translation of Magdalena Tulli's Dreams and Stones won the 2005 Award for Best Translation into English from the American Association of Teachers of Slavic and East European Languages. Johnston is among the most outstanding translators of Polish literature into English and in 2008 he received the first Found in Translation Award for Tadeusz Rozewicz's New Poems.

Publishing House: Archipelago Books, Brooklyn 2006
SoftCover book measuring 6" x 7.5"
275 pages
English Language Version

All books are shipped through the U.S. Postal Office using Media Mail service. Typically delivery times are between 1 and 2 weeks. Please be advised, certain destinations in the U.S. may take longer.