An Absurdist’s Exile in Buenos Aires: Witold Gombrowicz’s Argentine Years

Polish writer Witold Gombrowicz stayed in Buenos Aires when the Second World War was about to begin, beginning 24 years of exile in Argentina. A review of Mercedes Halfon’s *Outsider Everywhere* describes how the book presents those years and argues that Gombrowicz’s life and literary legacy belong to Argentina as well as Poland.

Gombrowicz published *Ferdydurke* in 1937, aged 33; the novel satirises ideas of maturity, social respectability and literary convention through absurdist humour. He travelled to Buenos Aires as a journalist covering a Polish liner’s launch and remained there shortly before Hitler invaded Poland. Halfon’s 152-page biography uses brief chapters, quotations and interviews rather than a conventional, detail-heavy account.