Kosmos is a 1965 novel by the Polish author Witold Gombrowicz

Witold Gombrowicz

Witold Marian Gombrowicz was a Polish novelist and dramatist. His works are characterized by deep psychological analysis, a certain sense of paradox and an absurd, anti-nationalist flavor...

. The narrative revolves around two young men who seek the solitude of the country; their peace is disturbed when a set of random occurrences suggest to their susceptible minds a pattern with sinister meanings. The humour arises, as it often does in Gombrowicz's work, in the extremity of paranoia and confusion exhibited by the protagonist.

Themes appearing in this work that are also common in the author's oeuvre are the search for form and meaning in a chaotic existence, and the fragile nature of the human mind. The novel was awarded the 1967 International Prize for Literature

Prix Formentor

The Prix Formentor was an international literary prize awarded between 1961 and 1967. The Formentor Group offered two prizes, the Prix Formentor and the Prix International, . The Prix Formentor was given to previously unpublished work and the the Prix International was given to work already in...

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The 1967 English translation was from the French and German translations rather than the Polish original. In 2004 Danuta Borchardt received a National Endowment for the Arts

National Endowment for the Arts

The National Endowment for the Arts is an independent agency of the United States federal government that offers support and funding for projects exhibiting artistic excellence. It was created by an act of the U.S. Congress in 1965 as an independent agency of the federal government. Its current...

grant to enable her to prepare a revised translation directly from the Polish. This has now been published.