Gombrowicz's widow bequeaths memorabilia

They were donated by the writer’s widow, Rita Gombrowicz, and include a pair of binoculars, a pipe, a small chess box and a notebook with telephone numbers of such people as the German writer Gunter Grass and Jerzy Giedroyć, the late Polish writer, publisher and political activist, the founder of the émigré journal Kultura.

They had been so far deposited in Vence, southern France, where the writer spent the last five years of his life. Rita Gombrowicz had intended to donate these memorabilia to a museum which was to have been established there but after these plans were shelved she decided to enrich the collection of the museum in Wsola.

She had earlier donated to it a suitcase which Gombrowicz had with him when departing from Poland in 1939, his glasses, a typewriter and two armchairs.

The museum exhibits also include the writer’s letters, manuscripts, documents and photographs.

The museum in Wsola is housed in a recently-restored mansion which once belonged to the writer’s elder brother. Gombrowicz himself was a frequent visitor to Wsola between 1924 and 1939.

Gombrowicz died in 1969 at the age of 65. He is one of the most prominent 20th-century Polish writers. His best known works include the novels Cosmos and Pornography, and the plays The Marriage and Ivona, Princess of Burgundia. His writings have been translated into thirty four languages. (mk/nh)