novel, the book began with notes in the journal starting in 1967, and it was written partly in Mexico where Stachura studied in 1969 and 1970 on a twelve-month scholarship funded by the Mexican government. The period during the writing and directly after the completion of the second novel was particularly difficult for Stachura. His marriage disintegrated, throwing him into fits of depression during which he contemplated suicide. After his return from Mexico, Stachura traveled much around Poland, often drinking heavily. In 1971, he visited the Middle East: Damascus and Beirut, and he returned to Poland via Rome and Prague. In January 1972, Stachura lost his "adopted father," Rafał Urban: a writer and a storyteller; a fascinating, colorful character, twice his age, who died of cancer. In September, Stachura's marriage was legally dissolved, and two months later his natural father died, also of cancer. Stanisław Stachura was a formidable character who over the years inspired in his son a wide range of emotions: admiration, fear, hostility, and—eventually—pity. Right after his father's funeral, Stachura found himself in a hospital, a victim of an abnormally strong allergic reaction; while there, he wrote letters to all three siblings informing them of his intent to break off all contact with them—the symptom of a tendency that would soon become more pronounced. The final years In 1973 Stachura travelled to Norway, then to Geneva to receive The Kościelski Prize, and from there to France, to visit his birthplace in Charvieu. Next year he spent a few months in the United States, Canada, and Mexico. In 1975 Stachura published Wszystko jest poezja (Everything is Poetry)—a collection of essays blending impressionistic commentary about everyday events in the author's life with philosophical reflections on the nature of the creative process and the relationship between life and literature. The book was followed by the publication of a long poem, "Kropka nad ypsylonem" ("A Dot over Ypsilon") in the literary monthly Twórczość. In the next few years Stachura showed a gradual deepening of distancing himself from events and people, and of his perception of aversion and hostility in the actions of friends and relatives. This transformation ultimately led to what is described by some as the mystical period in his life and writing, and by others as evidence of progressive mental illness. In 1977 he published Się—a collection of short stories employing a peculiar narrative technique (the title is a