Translating Gombrowicz’s Liminal Aesthetics (Literary and Cultural Theory Book 39)

The book offers a novel attempt at recapitulating Gombrowicz’s aesthetics in the postmodern Anglo-American context. The research extends to English and American literary traditions in order to account for the ways the writer’s version of existentialism is interpreted in diverse contexts, generating alternative interpretations of his peculiar philosophy. Furthermore it demonstrates the ways in which textual indeterminacy and the nebulous notion of the Other underpin Gombrowicz’s text of existence. The final chapter undertakes to pair up the process of translation with the liminal act of participation. The translations of Gombrowicz’s selected works are juxtaposed to argue the extent to which his master tropes (fail to) preserve their otherness when translated into English, as well as to test the ways translation as a self-reflexive act responds to the otherness of texts determined by different hermeneutic conditions. This study intends to fill, if partially, some lacunae on the map of Gombrowicz’s Translation Studies and to inspire further debates on the related aspects of postmodern existentialism of his works. Read more