The Possessed

In�The Possessed, Witold Gombrowicz, considered by�many to be Poland's greatest modernist, draws together�the familiar tropes of the Gothic novel to produce a�darkly funny and playful subversion of the form. With�dreams of escaping his small-town existence and the�limitations of his status, a young tennis coach travels�to the heart of the Polish countryside where he is to�train Maja Ocholowska, a beautiful and promising�player whose bourgeois family has fallen upon difficult�circumstances. But no sooner has he arrived than the�relationship with his pupil develops into one of twisted�love and hate, and he becomes embroiled in the fantastic�happenings taking place at the dilapidated castle�nearby. Haunted kitchens, bewitched towels, conniving�secretaries and famous clairvoyants all conspire to�determine the fate of the young lovers and the mad prince�residing in the castle. Translated directly into English�for the first time by Antonia Lloyd-Jones,�The Possessed�is a comic masterpiece that, despite being a literary�pastiche, has all the hallmarks of Gombrowicz's typically�provocative style.