Lines of Desire: Reading Gombrowicz's Fiction with Lacan

In Lines of Desire, Hanjo Berressem examines the novels of Polish author Witold Gombrowicz in light of both contemporary literary theory and Lacanian psychoanalysis. Beginning with the relationship between theory and text, Berressem delineates the elective affinity between Gombrowicz and Lacan. He outlines Gombrowicz's views on philosophy, structuralism, subjectivity, language, and psychoanalysis; demonstrates their close correspondence to Lacanian theory; and establishes the theoretical foundation that will inform subsequent textual analyses. Berressem addresses in particular Gombrowicz's use of the motifs of the face, his deconstruction of Kantian dialectics, the topic of sexual obsession, and the "tragedy" of consciousness.