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.

[Alena Kharchanka · Rating 4 out of 5]

Me encanta la capacidad de narrar de Mercedes Halfon. Cualquier tema se vuelve apasionante. En este caso, nos habla de Witold Gombrowicz, de su amor an Argentina y de lo poco que Argentina le correspondió en vida. Ha sido un viaje hermoso.

[Marcos Dosantos · Rating 5 out of 5]

No conocía a Gombrowicz y ahora estoy un poquito obsesionado con este señor.

Exquisito libro. Como todo lo que leo de esta editorial.

[Pablo Reyes · Rating 2 out of 5]

Poca cosa para un lector habitual de Gombro, que ya se ocupó de construir su propia leyenda. Me molestan el tono adulador algo afectado y lo repetitivo de las pocas ideas que se plantean aquí desde el principio: genio desgraciado e injustamente ignorado en Argentina, ídolo de la juventud contracultural. Me queda claro que sus textos, incluso los autobiográficos, son mucho más interesantes que su persona.

[emily · Rating 4 out of 5]

rtc later

[En Terapia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Tres veces se me pararon los pelos mientras leía este libro. Tres veces. No lo puedo creer. Creo que me enamoré de la forma en la que Halfon perfila la historia de Gombrowicz. Ojalá tener una vidita repleta de vicisitudes para que Halfon escribiera sobre ella.

[Damián Tullio · Rating 4 out of 5]

Con su investigación sobre los años argentinos de Gombrowicz Mercedes Halfon podría haber escrito un ensayo de seiscientas páginas llenas de citas y referencias. En cambio, eligió hacer un trazado ameno, breve y adictivo que se lee casi como el guion de una peli documental.
Lejos del perfil biográfico y la idolatría, Halfon hace foco en las formas en que Argentina cambió a Gombrowicz y que Gombrowicz cambió el panorama argentino. Me dio ganas de releer toda la obra del polaco, aunque nunca fui ni por asomo un fanático.

[William Frankel · Rating 3 out of 5]

Bohemia is dead

[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

[Santiago Ramírez · Rating 5 out of 5]

Al igual que en 'Las poetas visitan a Juana Bignozzi', estoy seguro que uno se interesará y buscará la obra del escritor, y no menciono sobre indagar su vida, porque Halfon —de una investigación tan exhausta (libros, artículos, entrevistas)— entrega una biografía hermosamente escrita acerca de Witold Gombrowicz, donde reconstruye sus vagancias y visitas en aquellos días que sufrió, escribió y amo Argentina.

¡Fan de Mercedes Halfon!

[Sebastian Budnevich · Rating 3 out of 5]

Buena biografía, historia, a ratos novelada. A todo que quiera conocer a Witold, su relación con los circuitos de escritores, su particular personalidad, su forma mendiga, medis pobre de vivir, etc. Que hermoso la traduccion de ferdidurke, su concepcion del arte y desprecio al teatro.

Mini apuntes de ideas suyas maravillosas:⁰0La construccion de si mismo, de muchos Wombro, genial. También del imprevisto del arte, no solo escribir porque se tiene que decir algo.

[Julian · Rating 4 out of 5]

Te quiero mucho Witoldo

“Soy un forastero totalmente desconocido, carezco de autoridad y mi castellano es un niño de pocos años que apenas sabe hablar. No puedo hacer frases potentes, ni ágiles, ni distinguidas ni finas, pero ¿quién sabe si esta dieta obligatoria no resultará buena para la salud? A veces me gustaría mandar a todos los escritores al extranjero, fuera de su propio idioma y fuera de todo ornamento y filigrana verbales para comprobar qué quedará de ellos entonces.”

[Leandro Pannunzio · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excelente a nivel individual y excelente por las puertas que abre.

[Fernando Hormazabal Bello · Rating 5 out of 5]

Primera vez que leo q mercedes halfon y ne sorprendio con un perfil muy adictivo sobre wombrowicz, de quien, si bien, solo habia leido "Contra los poetas" hoy quiero leer todo

[Carlos Munita · Rating 4 out of 5]

Tremendo documento para los Gombris sudamericanos.

[✿ · Rating 4 out of 5]

compelling as fuck

[Thomas P. · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesante historia sobre un autor polaco y los años que él pasó viviendo en Argentina.

[Antonio Parrilla · Rating 3.5 out of 5]

esperaba más mariconeo pero bien

[Lucas · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not sure why I read a book about a bisexual Polish author I’ve never read living in exile and poverty in bohemia argentina but I liked it. The dude does sound insufferable tho

[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.