Pornografia is a strange and bracing novel that delves into the divide between the young and the old, while providing a grotesque evocation of obsession. Set in the Polish countryside during wartime, the unnamed narrator and his friend, Fryderyk, engage in a bizarre game of manipulating two local youths, Karol and Henia, into a forced affection, turning their interactions into a sort of erotic chess game.

Frustration mounts as the youths show no interest in each other, leading to a momentary halt in their games due to a local murder and a complex directive to assassinate a rogue resistance member. Gombrowicz masterfully connects these threads in a tense climax, imbuing the novel with a deep sense of the absurd.

The prose is precise and forceful, with the narrator's attempts to understand his own pleasure in corrupting youth evoking a mix of pride and disgust. The novel's manic tone navigates between lengthy, comma-spliced sentences and sharp, declarative thrusts, enhancing its complexity and dark humor.