In this paper, I will examine Mała apokalipsa (1979) by Tadeusz Konwicki with the aim of highlighting how, despite all the mentions of the reality of the then Polish People’s Republic, the novel can also be fully appreciated outside its cultural and historical context. Following an analysis of the ways the structural principle of the book, the grotesque, interweaves reality and surreality, I will explore the Italian edition of Konwicki’s novel through the lens of world literature’s postulate concerning the possibility of a work gaining new meanings outside its original framework.