Description
Book SynopsisThis novel, the author's masterpiece, is one of the greatest expressions ever of the tortured intersection of political and personal destinies in Eastern Europe. Futuristic, experimental, and remarkably prophetic,Insatiabilitytraces the adventures of a young Pole whose fate parallels the collapse of Western civilization following a Chinese communist invasion from the east. Written in 1927, Witkiewicz's anti-Utopian novel proved to be a horribly prescient vision of what would become reality for Eastern Europe in the late 1930s.
Trade Review"Magnificent." --Susan Sontag|"There were three of us; Witkiewicz, Bruno Schulz, and myself--the three muskateers of the Polish avant-garde between the wars. Only Witkiewicz remains to be discovered." --Witold Gombrowicz
Table of ContentsPart One: The Awakening
The Awakening
Soirée at the Princess di Ticonderoga's
A Visit with Tenzer
A Visit to Prince Basil's Retreat
Sexphyxiation
The Return, or Life and Death
Demonism
Domestic Affairs and Destiny
Part Two: Insanity
School
A Meeting and Its Consequences
A Repeat Performance
A Commander's Thoughts and the Little Theater of Quintofron Crepuscolo
Torchures and the Debut of the "Gent from Below"
A Battle and Its Consequences
The Final Metamorphosis
The Wedding Night
The Last Convulsion
Notes