Trans-Atlantik

"Trans-Atlantic" (Croatian edition from 2009) is one of the most famous and interesting novels by the great Polish modernist Witold Gombrowicz. Based on the author's personal experience when the outbreak of World War II found him in Buenos Aires, the novel speaks through the form of grotesque, satire and parody about the burning themes of belonging, patriotism, tradition and human freedom. The plot follows a fictional version of the writer himself who remains trapped in Argentina without money and status, caught among Polish emigrants who are frantically trying to maintain their patriotic customs and rigid mentality. Gombrowicz masterfully contrasts the concept of "Fatherland" (tradition, past, national pride) and "Sonship" (youth, freedom, future and the overthrow of old dogmas). Through a series of bizarre and comic situations — such as a duel without bullets or a competition between eccentric rich men — the author mercilessly mocks conservative nationalism and blind veneration of the past, calling on the individual to free himself from the constraints of his own culture in order to become truly free. Written in a specific, archaic baroque style that parodies old Polish chronicles, the novel "Trans-Atlantic" is a superb literary achievement. It is a provocative and humorous work that leads the reader to question his own identity and collective myths.