Witold Gombrowicz Diary of a Playwright

Abstract

Abstract Witold Gombrowicz’s Diary does not fulfill any of the obvious expectations of such a work by a major playwright. Gombrowicz never attended the performance of his works or collaborated in any way with producers, directors, actors, designers, or composers. As a result, there is a complete dearth of theatrical anecdote in the text, though he expresses profound vindication at the positive critical response in Paris and Stockholm to Ivona, Princess of Burgundia. References to other contemporary playwrights such as Beckett, Brecht, or Weiss are fleeting and superficial. Gombrowicz’s interest in Genet was apparently limited to the novels and [Jean- Paul] Sartre’s critical biography Saint Genet: Comédien et martyr. Virgilio Piñera was one of Gombrowicz’s closest contacts in Buenos Aires and a major presence in the Diary, and he went on to become a prolific and influential playwright in his native Cuba, but their respective interest in playwriting was apparently not a significant part of their relationship. [Henrik] Ibsen receives several respectful mentions, but functions primarily as the author of the kind of plays that Gombrowicz is not interested in writing himself.