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PARTISAN REVIEW
solved . . . because [he] already knows the ultimate truth about the
universe . . . [and] is not allowed to entertain doubt."
On the other side of the ideological spectrum, Gombrowicz is
aware that, at first glance, his vision might reveal considerable af–
finities with two other popular philosophies : existentialism and
Marxism. His System indeed seems to have something in common
with each of these two, in particular, with the claim of both that their
ultimate goal is the demystification of human consciousness. More
specifically, Gombrowicz seemingly finds a common ground with
existentialism in regard to the important notion of freedom of the in–
dividual, whereas his concept of "man created by man" might be
suspected of echoing the Marxist idea of man as a product of social
conditions. Gombrowicz himself points to these analogies only to
deflect the potential accusation of borrowing from the two doctrines
by laying bare the inconsistencies or falsehoods inherent in both. He
admits that his early work did bear,
avant La Lettre,
some superficial
similarity to existentialism, but he also points out that there is no
room in his system for the notion of authenticity that the existen–
tialists hold so dear:
I . .. tried this authentic life, full of loyalty to existence in
myself. But what do you want? It can't be done. It can't be done
because that authenticity turned out to be falser than
all
my
previous deceptions, games, and leaps taken together.... It
seems impossible to meet the demands of
Dasein
and simulta–
neously have coffee and croissants for an evening snack. To fear
nothingness , but to fear the dentist more . To be consciousness,
which walks around in pants and talks on the telephone. .. .
Strange. Philosophy, exhorting to authenticity, leads us into
gigantic falsehoods.
Existentialist "authenticity" sounds an empty concept for Gom–
browicz because in his "inter-human Church" nothing is free from
the determining pressure of the presence of others. There is no
authenticity as such, there are only masks of authenticity we put on;
man has to be artificial as long as he wishes to remain part of the
human community . For the same reason, while writing on Camus's
L'homme revolte,
Gombrowicz assaults the basic tenet of existen–
tialism, its idea of the absolute moral freedom of the individual as
reflected in the notion of conscience :
