Trans-Atlantyk

Trans-Atlantyk is a novel by the Polish author Witold Gombrowicz,^[1] originally published in 1953. The semi-autobiographical plot of the novel closely tracks Gombrowicz's own experience in the years during and just after the outbreak of World War II.

Trans-Atlantyk

First edition
Author	Witold Gombrowicz
Translator	Carolyn French/Nina Karsov
Language	Polish
Publisher	Paris: Instytut literacki Yale University Press (Eng. trans.)
Publication date	1953 (Eng. trans. June 1994)
Publication place	Poland
Media type	Print (Hardback & Paperback)
Pages	152 pp (Eng. trans.)
ISBN	0-300-05384-3 (Eng. trans. hardback edition) & ISBN 0-300-06503-5 (Eng. trans. paperback edition)
OCLC	28586039
Dewey Decimal	891.8/537 20
LC Class	PG7158.G669 T713 1994

Plot

Witold, a Polish writer, embarks on an ocean voyage only to have the war break out while he is visiting Argentina. Finding himself penniless and stranded after the Nazis take over his country, he is taken in by the local Polish emigre community. A fantastical series of twists and turns follow in which the young man finds himself, after a debauched night of drinking, involved as a second in a duel. Witold is constantly confronted with the exasperating contrasts between his love of country and his status as a forced expatriate and the shallow nationalism of his fellow Poles.

Reception

George Hydge reviewed the book for The Times Literary Supplement. According to the reviewer, "this is surely the most devastating account of what exile can do to you in the whole of literature".^[2]