He met with other young writers and intellectuals forming an artistic café society in Zodiak and Ziemiańska, both in Warsaw. From the moment of this literary debut, his reviews and columns started appearing in the press, mainly in the Kurier Poranny (Morning Courier). At the turn of the 20's and 30's he started to write short stories, which were later printed under the title Memoirs Of A Time Of Immaturity. Similarly, his attempt to write a popular novel in collaboration with Tadeusz Kępiński turned out to be a failure. In the 1920s he started writing, but soon rejected the legendary novel, whose form and subject matter were supposed to manifest his 'worse' and darker side of nature. When he returned to Poland he began applying for legal positions with little success.

After completing his education at Saint Stanislaus Kostka's Gymnasium in 1922, he studied law at Warsaw University (in 1927 he obtained a master’s degree in law.) Gombrowicz spent a year in Paris where he studied at the Institut des Hautes Etudes Internationales although he was less than diligent in his studies his time in France brought him in constant contact with other young intellectuals. He was the youngest of four children of Jan and Antonina (née Kotkowska.) In 1911 his family moved to Warsaw. Gombrowicz was born in Małoszyce, in Congress Poland, Russian Empire to a wealthy gentry family. He gained fame only during the last years of his life but is now considered one of the foremost figures of Polish literature. In 1937 he published his first novel, Ferdydurke, which presented many of his usual themes: the problems of immaturity and youth, the creation of identity in interactions with others, and an ironic, critical examination of class roles in Polish society and culture. His works are characterized by deep psychological analysis, a certain sense of paradox and an absurd, anti-nationalist flavor. Witold Marian Gombrowicz (Augin Małoszyce, near Kielce, Congress Poland, Russian Empire – Jin Vence, near Nice, France) was a Polish novelist and dramatist.

Ferdydurke by witold gombrowicz