Beyond the limits of genre. Witold Gombrowicz’s Diary

Abstract

The paper describes the crucial significance of Witold Gombrowicz’s Diary in history of the intimate diary genre. The Diary violates the fundamental elements of the genre, introduces literary fiction, and forms complex identity of the speaking subject, which may be called the post-traditional identity. Therefore, the Gombrowicz’s work breaks the autobiographical pact, identified by Philippe Lejeune – author of classical works on autobiographical writing, as an essence of the genre.