Outsider Everywhere: Witold Gombrowicz in Argentina

by Mercedes Halfon, Rahul Bery (Translator)

In August 1939, a ship flying the Polish flag docked in Buenos Aires. On board was a delegation of businessmen, diplomats and journalists. Days later, the captain received orders to return home with all crew and passengers in light of the imminent outbreak of the Second World War. But one man, fascinated by the city, chose to stay at the very last minute. Thus began the unexpected twenty-four-year Argentine exile of one of the twentieth century's major Witold Gombrowicz. Drawing on his writings and interviews with surviving disciples, writers and scholars, Mercedes Halfon's Outsider Everywhere traces Gombrowicz's Argentine years in elegant, pared-back prose, and composes a vivid account of mid-century bohemia in Buenos Aires. Brilliantly translated by Rahul Bery, Mercedes Halfon's Outsider Everywhere is a gripping portrait of a literary figure on the margins who rose to prominence late in life to become 'one of the greatest novelists of our century' (Milan Kundera). 

Genres: Nonfiction

153 pages, Kindle Edition

Published April 23, 2026

About the author

Mercedes Halfon nació en Buenos Aires en 1980. Es periodista y crítica de teatro.

Participó como actriz y asistente de dirección en algunas obras teatrales.

Actualmente escribe en el suplemento Radar de Página/12, en la revista Etiqueta negra de Perú, y en Teatro del Teatro San Martín.

Publicó la novela Te pido un taxi, por editorial Sudamericana, y las plaquetas Dormir con lo puesto por Zorra Poesía, Un paisaje que nunca vi por Color Pastel. Integra la antología de poesía argentina contemporánea Lo humanamente posible, editada por El fin de la noche.

En 2009 ganó el Premio Estímulo de Tea al periodismo gráfico.

Reviews

[Anders Demitz-Helin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Created a bit of warmth and empathy for Withold, besides knowledge. Honestly didn't need that. Usually not interested in biographies. But imagining liking him is maybe a bit more than only adoring his texts, I suppose.

[Dan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Outsider Everywhere by Mercedes Halton (translated by Rahul Bery)— ⭐⭐⭐½

I don't usually read biographies, but July's reading prompt was to pick a book based on a real person or event, and that pushed me toward this one an author who'd been sitting somewhere on the periphery of my mind without me ever really knowing anything about him.

The book tells the story of Polish author Witold Gombrowicz's exile in Argentina during the Second World War. It was during this period that he wrote some of his most famous works - Ferdydurke, Trans-Atlantyk, Cosmos, and Pornografia. Halfon paints him as a genuinely eccentric man, someone who wasn't easy to be friends with, though he clearly had people around him who stuck by him anyway.

What really works about this book is its format. It's short- under 200 pages, easily finished in two sittings and each chapter is only a page or two, sometimes three. That makes it a breeze to get through; you can knock out a chapter without even meaning to. Halfon's writing is clear and accessible, which makes the whole thing easy to read and follow, even for someone like me who doesn't usually gravitate toward biography.

I'm giving it 3.5 stars, and I want to be clear that's not a reflection of the book's quality it isn't a bad biography at all. It just isn't really my type. I tend to prefer novels, fiction, stories with a narrative pull, and biography is a genre I engage with less naturally. That's purely personal preference talking, not a knock on the book itself.

[George · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5

[Justine Kaufmann · Rating 4 out of 5]

‘Careful! You must stop and warn the reader so as not to confuse them. Gombrowicz is not an author of the fantastic but a radical realist; he maintained that all his life. A hyper-realist who set about corroding all that is false in the world of men in order to arrive, after traversing layers and layers of false and obsolete cultural constructions, at the real, that is, the truly human.’

And what perfect timing that this came out right while I was reading Cosmos. I had always thought of Gombrowicz as a Polish author who had spent time in Argentina during the war, but I hadn’t realized how long he had spent in the country and the influence it would have on him. I think it’s finally time to find a copy of his Diary.

[Joanna K · Rating 5 out of 5]

From these pages, written as an essay on the 24 years the Polish writer Witold Gombrowicz spent in Argentina, emerges the man. If I had met him in real life, I don’t think I would have been able to stand his company. Ridiculous and provocative, brilliantly intelligent and shameless, stubborn and theatrical. I profoundly enjoyed reading this book, the anecdotes from his life and accounts of those who knew him, but also his own words - from his many Diaries.
Fascinating.

[emily · Rating 4 out of 5]

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