Running away from and towards form: About form and matter in the works of Witold Gombrowicz and Bruno Schulz

Witold Gombrowicz and Bruno Schulz - two Polish authors of the decades between the two world wars - are regarded as prime examples of the Polish avant-garde. The main focus of this thesis, as well as of the work of these two authors, is their approach to form and matter. Schulz describes a world in motion, where matter loses its original form and gains another, everything flourishes, disintegrates and forms again. Gombrowicz's approach is rather socio-psychological, he uses form to reflect on human relations, societal flaws and the creation of a person's identity. The thesis is divided into two parts - "Analysis" and "Synthesis". The Analysis offers a detailed study of the themes of "the absolute girl" and "travel back in time". In this part, I analyze these two motifs as they appear in Gombrowicz's "Ferdydurke" and Schulz's short stories "Spring" and "A Pensioner" as well as in other works by these authors. In Synthesis I argue that both Schulz and Gombrowicz created extraordinarily active literary characters - it is them who cause the disintegration and formation of the world. The final chapter of this thesis called "Analysis and Synthesis and the Beating World" searches for a world not limited by form - its pulse, or rhythm