DIARY

Just before the outbreak of World War II young Witold Gombrowicz left his home in Poland and set sail for South America. In 1953 still living as an expatriate in Argentina he began his Diary with one of literatures most memorable openings: Monday Me: Tuesday Me: Wednesday Me: and Thursday Me. Gombrowiczs Diary grew to become a vast collection of essays short notes polemics and confessions on myriad subjects ranging from political events to literature to the certainty of death. Not a traditional journal Diary is instead the commentary of a brilliant and restless mind. Widely regarded as a masterpiece this brilliant work compelled Gombrowiczs attention for a decade and a half until he penned his final entry in France shortly before his death in 1969. Long out of print in English Diary is now presented in a convenient single volume featuring a new preface by Rita Gombrowicz the authors widow and literary executor. This edition also includes ten previously unpublished pages from the 1969 portion of the diary.If ever a life demanded a diary this was one Paul West Washington Post