Polish Memories

This is Gombrowicz, but a slightly different Gombrowicz than the one we deal with in "The Marriage", „Trans-Atlantyk" or "Diaries". "Memories" are more intimate, Gombrowicz is more lyrical, he does not speak ex cathedra, as he often does in "Diary". He does not want to show off with knowledge, reflection, analysis of the world. He is "more modest", focuses on his own experiences and is quite honest. Quite. If an author can be modest at all.

"Polish Memories" was created in Argentina as a series of radio talks which, as a grant from Radio Free Europe, saved the author from financial troubles. It is known that this permanent series - written more or less every two weeks - never appeared on the air. also the lights of the stage. The theme of "Polish Memoirs" is primarily the writer's youth. He writes about his maturation in Poland in the interwar period, about the environment in which he lived, about how the gentry and gentry family determined him, about the difficult beginnings of his writing, about his failure in life.

I am happy to come back to Gombrowicz for two reasons. First of all, I like his attitude towards Poland very much. This is a completely revolutionary look, changing the current thinking about patriotism. The second reason is his discovery, about man's constant struggle with form, whatever we mean by this form: state, church, tradition, lifestyle, or another person. (...) Gombrowicz is original - different. This is the first thing that immediately arouses interest. Nobody wrote such a "Wedding", nor did such "Operetta". The temptation to face its literary layer is very strong. There is both a strong form of theater created by the author and an enormous intellectual burden. Gombrowicz's theater operates in the circle of the most important decisions: who is man to another person, who is man to form, who is man to the world, who is man to God. These are questions that he probably can't answer, even though he tries to. But we can still ask these questions, which is why this literature is so interesting.

Mikołaj Grabowski, excerpts from statements for "OK! Magazyn", September 2012

photo by M. Grabowski The performance was awarded by the jury of the 10th International Gombrowicz Festival. The jury chaired by Jacek Wakar awarded Mikołaj Grabowski with the award for directing "Polish Memoirs" at the Powszechny Theater in Radom and "Dziennik" at the IMKA Theater in Warsaw. Prizes were also awarded to actors from Radom: Janusz Łagodziński and Karolina Łękawa.