Cosmos

by Witold Gombrowicz
Cosmos  
published 2005 by Yale University Press
binding Hardcover
isbn 0300108486   (isbn13: 9780300108484)
pages 208
description A dark, quasi-detective novel, Cosmos follows the classic noir motif to explore the arbitrariness of language, the joke of human freedom, and m...more
date added
12-20-06



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other reviews (showing 1-20 of 104)



Alan
Alan rated it: 5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars
11/25/07

Read in September, 2005
El polaco Gombrowicz (1904-1969) gustaba llamar a Cosmos “una novela sobre la formación de la realidad”. Dentro de su bibliografía, que incluye las novelas Ferdydurke, Transatlántico y Pornografía, Cosmos muestra con especial claridad su obsesión por lo Imperfecto, lo Inacabado, añadiéndole un tercer elemento que echa luces sobre su particular forma de escribir: lo Improbable. Su carácter de novela policial hace que este tercer componente resalte; porque, como todos sabemos, no se pu...more
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Billy
Billy rated it: 2 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars
01/01/08

Read in December, 2007
recommends it for: Paul Reubens
A few years ago people started to use the phrase "mental masturbation" to describe conversations involving an Ivy League bull session-esque, punctilious analysis focused to a fault on details, or on the wildly hypothetical, such that they do not offer any use in the real world. Reading this short novel (detective story? confession?), translated from the original Polish, I am happy and relieved to report a different and better use for this phase. The main character in this book, a you...more
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Kristen
Kristen rated it: 4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars
02/10/08

Read in February, 2008
As if he were hoping to scare the less dedicated students out of an overenrolled philosophy class, Kierkegaard once started off a book with something like "The self is a relation that relates itself to the self..." Gombrowicz seems to have grabbed hold of this tangle and run with it deep into the mountains of Poland, where an ever-larger succession of hanged animals and the mental intertwining of a deformed mouth with a smoother, prettier one occupy and torment the protagonist on an ot...more
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Sean
Sean rated it: 4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars
03/29/08

Read in January, 1989
recommends it for: Only the adventurous
Does the Cosmos make sense or does it not? Can we deduce whether or not it does by putting together such apparently unrelated clues as the inexplicable crucifixion of a small bird with the random patterns created by plaster cracks in the ceiling of an Eastern European country home? Tune in as these and other suspenseful details add up to, well... I won't give it away, but let's just say this is no conventional detective story. Gombrowicz is a mad, and maddening genius of a writer and one of my f...more
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Davy
Davy rated it: 5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars
03/12/08

I don't think there is any other book quite like this one. It's really odd. I'm not sure why it is so strange. Something subtle. Maybe it has to do with the translation. Probably not. I lost my copy of it unfortunately. I think it fell down a light-well or a chimney or something. It's too bad. I'd really like to read it again and it's hard to find. There's just something ineffable about the writing and the way the book reads, some kind of strange disconnected feeling you get, some kind of parano...more
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Milo
Milo rated it: 5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars
06/09/08

bookshelves: fiction, recentlyread
Read in June, 2008
recommended to Milo by: customer left up on computer screen at work... looked interestin
This book is fantastic, mysterious, unique, and bizarre-- I fell in love with it!

It all begins when two young men looking for a room to rent during their school vacation stumble upon a dead sparrow that is hung from a tree (too high to have been hung by a child!) in the woods, and end up renting a room in the nearby house.

The narrator's obsessions and paranoia are so vivid it made me quite uncomfortable at times... so deeply disturbing yet brilliantly written.

I love how Witold oft...more
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Kat
05/24/08

bookshelves: 2008, own-it
Read in May, 2008
recommends it for: people who appreciate being shared insanity with
If there is anyone who knows what the things are behind, in spite of and within themselves, it was this guy (I would go for "is" though, as, I believe, now he still knows it, only somewhere else). "To stop connecting, to stop associating." Because it leads to madness. But then try not to.

In a way we are all mad, "connecting and associating". In a way it is this madness that makes us be what we are.

There is also an interesting passage on bringing yourself ple...more
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Ryan
Ryan rated it: 5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars
08/11/07

Great translation.

Gombrowicz uses a barrage of neurotic, repetitive language that creates a sense of absolute paranoia and psychological horror.

"Did that windowpane look at me with a human eye?"

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Andrew
Andrew rated it: 4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars
07/06/07

bookshelves: polish
Read in March, 2007
I suppose you could call it a mystery. There are many books written from a first-person perspective, but this one was unique for using more "natural" internal dialogue, which suited the story but also makes for a harder read. It's a bit tricky, but pleasant nonetheless.
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Tony
Tony rated it: 4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars
11/28/07

bookshelves: fiction
Read in January, 2007
Fucking amazing. Everyone needs to read Gombrowicz, even if only in middling English translations of French translations of the original Polish. Most refreshing style I've read in a long, long time.
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Sharon
Sharon rated it: 5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars
07/26/07

Read in January, 2007
recommends it for: everyone
This book is amazing. It grabbed me from the paragraph and keeps going at a fast pace. Slows towards the middle, then it only gets more bizarre. Defies comparison.
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Grant
Grant rated it: 5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars
06/26/07

I read this ages ago, but recall well enough being completely blown away by it.
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Ryan
Ryan rated it: 4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars
08/30/07

bookshelves: fiction
This book is dark, weird, funny, and distinctly European.
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Tptk
Tptk marked it as to-read
11/22/07

bookshelves: to-read
 

Valerie
Valerie rated it: 4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars
11/04/07

 

Elliot
Elliot rated it: 5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars
06/19/07

 

Maggie
Maggie marked it as to-read
01/21/08

bookshelves: to-read
 

Fred
Fred rated it: 5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars
02/08/08

bookshelves: central-europe
 

Alexander
Alexander rated it: 5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars
12/20/06

 

Ryan
Ryan rated it: 3 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars
09/15/07

 


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book data (includes all editions)

avg rating (all editions): 4.31 (70 ratings)
avg rating (this edition): 4.29 (68 ratings)
number of reviews: 13






other editions

Kosmos (Paperback)
Kosmos. (Broschiert)
Kosmos (Hardcover)