Meeting with Canadian writer and translator Soren Gauger, who'll be giving a talk on Witkiewicz's "Narcotics", which he recently translated into English and published through Twisted Spoon Press. It's a book which will almost certainly confound your expectations, especially if you think you know something about the "madman of Krupówki," his literature, and his portrait studio. In a work which, for all its brevity, manages to pack in art theory, psychology, the comparative assets of various scrub brushes and shaving techniques, and hemorrhoid remedies, Witkacy also manages to describe the perils of drug use, but seldom in the way you would suppose. The book is published with plentiful appendices and many reproductions of Witkacy's drug-inspired portraits. Join us for this exciting talk! We also ought to mention Soren's translation is available for purchase in our store.
SOREN GAUGER is Canadian writer and translator based in Krakow, whose fiction works have appeared in journals internationally, including Capilano Review, Chicago Review, Jacob's Ladder, and Prague Literary Review. He has also published a chapbook of short stories, "Quatre Regards sur L'Enfant Jesus" (Ravenna Press, 2004) and a book-length collection entitled "Hymns to Millionaires" (Twisted Spoon Press, 2004). His translations include Wojciech Jagielski's "Towers of Stone", Jerzy Ficowski's "Waiting for the Dog to Sleep", and Bruno Jasienski's novel "I Burn Paris".
