This book was actually written by Baltazar, not by Mrozek. Baltazar, the name he now identifies with, is the name by which he was addressed in a dream after the aneurysm when he still wasn't sure what his real name was.
The idea for the book originated from the therapy for aphasia, which was the result of a burst aneurysm. Doctors decided that writing would be the best way for Mrozek to learn to speak again, and according to his own words he wrote thousands of pages since then, some of which became this book.
The fact that he is re-learning to speak and write is very apparent in the style, which is good, but nowhere close to the style of the quotes Mrozek cites from his own earlier works, and doesn’t display much of the wit and sarcasm that his other writing is known for.
The book itself is in many ways a typical memoir describing Mrozek’s birth in a small town close to Cracow in 1930, his childhood in Cracow, his time spent during World War II hidden in the country, his young adulthood in so-called socialist Poland, literary career, immigration and the return to Poland in 1996.
Interesting that Mrozek, proficient in several languages before, can after his aneurysm speak, read and write in Polish only. ( )