Everyone Has Their Own Ithaca. Bobkowski and Gombrowicz: Two Diaries, Two Freedoms

Abstract

The article attempts to compare the idea of freedom presented in the diary entitled Drawingpen Sketches, written by Andrzej Bobkowski in France during World War II, with the diary (Diary) written by Witold Gombrowicz during his emigration between 1953 and 1969. First, the author discusses the sorts of intellectual subjugations that permeate the Polish culture, and which are frequently discussed by the two diaritsts: e.g. the myth of Romantic Poland or the conflict between Western episteme and Eastern dokse. Next, the author analyses Bobkowski's and Gombrowicz's ideas of freedom. The author presents Bobkowski's idea of freedom as expressed in negative terms („freedom from”). On the other hand, Gombrowicz's idea of freedom is qualified as positive freedom („freedom to”).