Polish Book Club: The Possessed

In our Polish Book Club, we read a Polish novel, either in translation or in Polish and come together to discuss it. 

Our discussions take place in English each time, and we do not expect any knowledge of Polish or Poland. The sessions take the form of discussions, which we start of with a brief introduction of the text.

The books we choose for the Polish Book Club are available in libraries and bookshops, as well as online at wolnelektury.pl (for public domain originals).

The Polish Book Club is open to everyone around the world for free. We just ask you to read the book in a language of your choice.

This time, we will meet on Zoom to discuss:

THE POSSESSED by Witold Gombrowicz

In The Possessed, Witold Gombrowicz, considered by many to be Poland’s greatest modernist, draws together the familiar tropes of the Gothic novel to produce a darkly funny and playful subversion of the form. With dreams of escaping his small-town existence and the limitations of his status, a young tennis coach travels to the heart of the Polish countryside where he is to train Maja Ochołowska, a beautiful and promising player whose bourgeois family has fallen upon difficult circumstances. But no sooner has he arrived than the relationship with his pupil develops into one of twisted love and hate, and he becomes embroiled in the fantastic happenings taking place at the dilapidated castle nearby. Haunted kitchens, bewitched towels, conniving secretaries and famous clairvoyants all conspire to determine the fate of the young lovers and the mad prince residing in the castle. Translated directly into English for the first time by Antonia Lloyd-Jones, The Possessed is a comic masterpiece that, despite being a literary pastiche, has all the hallmarks of Gombrowicz’s typically provocative style.

We recommend this new translation by Antonia Lloyd-Jones

Antonia Lloyd-Jones translates from Polish, and is the 2018 winner of the Transatlantyk Award for the most outstanding promoter of Polish literature abroad. She has translated works by several of Poland’s leading contemporary novelists and reportage authors, as well as crime fiction, poetry and children’s books. She is a mentor for the Emerging Translators’ Mentorship Programme, and former co-chair of the UK Translators Association.

If you enjoy events about literary translation, take a look at what else we have planned at the Centre, here.