Publisher's Synopsis
In this bitterly funny novel, the hero narrates the story of his absurd transformation from confident 30-year-old man into paranoid teenage boy. Awakening one morning in the grip of fear he receives two unwelcome visitors: a ghost of himself standing in the corner of his room, then Pimko, the diabolic doctor of philosophy. As Pimko talks, the narrator finds himself shrinking and Pimko, in turn, grows larger and larger. So begins the hellish nightmare within which Ferdydurke is dragged back to the school playground to bear witness to the cruel outrages which the boys perpetuate on one another. Immaturity and the tensions generated by the warped relationship between the 'I' and its surroundings are the main themes running through Gombrowicz's work, but it is the superb combination of comedy and seriousness that earns Ferdydurke its place as a masterpiece of European modernism.
