Bacacay by: Witold Gombrowicz (Author), Bill Johnston (Translator)
Hardcover. NY, Archipelago Books, 1st US, 2004, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover in a bright dust jacket, 275 pages. First published in 1957 in Poland, Bacacay(a nod to his street in Buenos Aires) is a collection of 12 short stories by Witold Gombrowicz (1904-1968), one of the major European literary figures of the 20th century. Stunningly original in both style and content, these stories are often hilarious yet have 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 extraordinary ways. 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, leaving permanent scars. Bacacayis a brilliant series of satires on the limitations, quirks and phobias of the upper class. In Gombrowicz's hands, words create worlds. Clean, bright copy.
