ABSTRACT
Gombrowicz has always been preoccupied with forms and their deconstruction. He deconstructed not only constructs such as patriotism or “normal” sexuality but also language itself as the form “par excellence.” While his subtle deconstructions may be either ignored or “overinterpreted” by the reader of Gombrowicz’s original texts, they leave no choice to the translator, who has to consciously deal with them and make decisions about them. This turns out to be one of the greatest difficulties of translating Gombrowicz. It is the goal of Olaf Kühl’s essay to explore Gombrowicz’s deconstructions of fundamental philosophic concepts such as “essence” and “existence,” which in the conceptual world of the author are tightly connected to his very specific and complex erotics.
