For me it’s gotta be “Morte e Vida Severina”/ “Severino Death and Life”. It’s an epic poem narrating the journey of a poor man from Northeastern Brazil, a famously poor and segregated region that’s frequently affected by severe droughts, fleeing from his home and walking to the big city to survive the season. On the way he describes all the misery he experiences and sees.
One stanza that has stuck with me for years goes something like this "And all of us Severinos/With the same lives/Will die of the same/Severe Severino death,/The death died of/Old age before thirty/Of an ambush before twenty/And of hunger day by day/(Of weakness and plague/The Severino death/attacks at all ages/even those not born)
Ferdydurke. It’s a really brilliant book, masterfully dealing with anstraction, humour and extreme absurdity, also filled with a specific kind of philisophy. Problem is, it’s the kind of book you really need someone to teach you about to fully appreciate. Explain what the whole idea and philosophy is in the first place, give context to the author and the time it was written, all rhat sorta stuff. And unless you know a decent bit about polish history, especially art/poetry, you’ll be missing out on a lot too.
Even back home, fully depending on your teacher, it’s either a book everyone despises with all their hear because it doesn’t make sense or (almost) everyone loves it
Gombrowicz is great. I’ve read only Cosmos so far, but definitely want to read Ferdydurke and a couple of his other books, possibly his diary too.
I live in Australia, and in my city there is actually a bar called Ferdydurke with decor inspired by the book!