Some remarks on Gombrowicz’s "Kronos"

I would like to make my own position clear from the outset: I regard Kronos as a literary work, written with the clear aim of selfcreation and meant for publication. What are my arguments? First, it is difficult to imagine that such a measured and deliberate writer, endowed with such profound selfconsciousness, an author who toyed unceasingly with his readers by hiding behind various disguises, would suddenly reveal his true face, above all, for the simple reason that he did not believe in the existence of such a face. Second, if he had regarded Kronos as an irrelevant notebook, then he would have destroyed it. Third, he would not have given the notes such an ambiguous title, which at once lent it the aura of a literary work. Fourth, if they had merely been notes on the present, Gombrowicz would not have endeavored to reconstruct life experiences stretching back to the period of his earliest childhood. Fifth, he would not have quoted from the notes in an important passage from his Diary, which he published in Kultura. Sixth, and finally, he would not have alluded to the future publication of Kronos. After all, in the foreword to the first edition of Diary, vol. 1, 1953–1956, he writes: “I still have something else in reserve, but I would prefer not to include this more private remainder. I do not wish to expose myself to difficulties. Maybe some day . . . later.”1