TRAFIKA EUROPE CORNER with Clayton McKee: THE POSSESSED by Witold Gombrowicz, translated by Antonia Lloyd-Jones
We are coming to the end of our last issue of the year with the theme of blasts from the past. We take this as any piece written before 2000 that has re-entered our literary present via a re-edition or a first-time translation. We are excited to spotlight an amazing novel that unfortunately did not make it into our issue. The Possessed by Witold Gombrowicz was originally written as a serialized novel in 1939. It is brought to us in English in a new translation by Antonia Lloyd-Jones.
Witold Gombrowicz (1904-1969) began his career in 1937 with the novel Ferdydurke. He became one of the 20th century’s most important avant-garde and modernist writers. At the outbreak of World War II, he lived in exile in Argentina.
Antonia Lloyd-Jones is a London-based translator of Polish literature. She is the long-time translator of Olga Tokarczuk’s works, including Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead which was shortlisted for the International Booker Prize in 2019.
The Possessed is a comedic, Gothic novel that plays with literary form, genre, and language. A young tennis coach with aspirations of playing professional tennis takes on a job teaching the bourgeois Maja Ocholowska. Their story turns into a twisted love-hate relationship that intermingles with a horror mystery art scandal set in an old castle. This novel is a delight to read and keeps you guessing and intrigued with every turn of the page. In a Cervantes Don-Quixote-esque style, this novel weaves in letters, research, observation, and multiple voices that intermingle into one phenomenal story.
While we were not able to include an excerpt in the journal, I encourage you to all listen to our episode of Trafika Europe Radio with Antonia Lloyd-Jones on December 12, 2024, for a long discussion of the characters of the book and the plot. Lloyd-Jones also reads a lengthy excerpt of the work, giving listeners a chance to get a glimpse of the amazing literary feats accomplished by this novel. It is available in the United States with the publisher Grove Atlantic; in the UK/Europe, the work is available through Fitzcarraldo Editions.
By Clayton McKee
Read previous posts in The Trafika Europe Corner series:
TRAFIKA EUROPE CORNER with Clayton McKee: REGAINING RESISTANCE by Arno Bohlmeijer
TRAFIKA EUROPE CORNER with Clayton McKee: DESERT by Pèire Millet, translated by Clayton McKee
TRAFIKA EUROPE CORNER with Clayton McKee: TE and EU Prize for Literature
Trafika Europe Corner with Clayton McKee: TE’s Prizes for Prose and for Verse
Trafika Europe Corner with Clayton McKee: GARDEN OF EDEN by Sarah Talboys-Smith
Trafika Europe Corner: LOST IN TRANSLATION by Hannah Katerina
Trafika Europe Corner with Clayton McKee: Three poems by Károly Lencsés, translated by Ágnes Megyeri
Trafika Europe Corner with Clayton McKee: Three Poems by Guðrið Helmsdal, translated by Randi Ward
Three poems by Deniz Durukan – in Trafika Europe Corner II.11 by Andrew Singer
Three poems by Marius Burokas – in Trafika Europe Corner II.10 by Andrew Singer
Three poems by Franca Mancinelli – in Trafika Europe Corner II.9 by Andrew Singer
Three poems by Nina Kossman – in Trafika Europe Corner II.8 by Andrew Singer
Three poems by Alexander Kabanov – in Trafika Europe Corner II.7 by Andrew Singer
Three poems by Andrey Gritsman – in Trafika Europe Corner II.6 by Andrew Singer
Kosovan poet Fahredin Shehu – in Trafika Europe Corner II.5 by Andrew Singer
Three poems from Icelandic by Gyrðir Elíasson – in Trafika Europe Corner II.4 by Andrew Singer
Trafika Europe Corner II.3 – New Latvian poet Jānis Tomašs by Andrew Singer
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