THE BIZZARE AND THE ABSURD AS CONTRASTS TO THE “PURITY” IN BAKAKAJ BY WITOLD GOMBROWICZ

Abstract

The short stories in the book titled Bakakaj ([1957], 2018)2 by the Polish author Witold Gombrowicz share something in common – almost all of them try to emphasize the “purity” (or the innocence, primitivism or incorruptibility) of the protagonist vis-à-vis society. However, what is notably present in the short stories is the absence of any previous connection to well-established religious, cultural, literary or social norms and doctrines to the concepts of the absurd and the bizarre. In Bakakaj, Gombrowicz presents the bizarre and the absurd as a necessary background on which he builds and presents the idea of an “unspoiled”-bycivilization “noble savage” (term by Rousseau), i.e., a protagonist who does not really fit in society due to his or her primitive self, and the quality of being shaped by cultural and social norms, as well as by other people and events. Thus, the paper explores the question whether Gombrowicz purposefully presents the bizarre and absurd events, situations, and characters just for the sake of it, just to be pompous and to be “in your face”, or there is a deeper underlying reason for these literary mechanisms.