Co to jest dziennik?
What Is a Diary?

Introduction to the Reading of Witold Gombrowicz’s and Sławomir Mrożek’s Diaries

Summary/Abstract: The author of the article proves that we are now living in the era of diary’s inflation. Techniques of ancient and Christian modes of giving form to life are now dead. Old methods of giving form to life have been transformed by new culture unity of new media. This thesis is historically supported by recalling the examples of François Rabelais, Marcel Proust, and Georges Perec. Opposing this view, the author of the paper reconstructs two great attempts of transforming life into a text, namely Witold Gombrowicz’s “Diaries” and Sławomir Mrożek’s “Diaries”, as the two works are joined by a common conviction that literature and life come true only in a diary. Franz Kafka’s “Diaries” offer the author a way of reading Gombrowicz’s “Diaries”, while Thomas Mann’s “Diaries” are helpful in reflecting on Sławomr Mrożek’s ones. In his paper, the author intends to understand the relationship between life, writing, and life form. The key etymological trope for the author is the word “diarium” from which the word “diary” is derived, and which means everyday food portions given to soldiers. In this sense, life is conditioned by a diary, not vice versa.

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