It was his first major literary success, with immediate material rewards, prompting Mostowicz to write and publish roughly two books per year (in total, he wrote 17 novels).

He is introduced to a wealthy landowner by the name of Kunicki, a former con artist, who is so impressed by Dyzma that he offers him a job as superintendent of his country estate.

Nicodemus Dyzma has become proverbial in Poland as an archetype of the crude opportunist who makes his upwardly mobile way by dint of fortuitous connections, ruthlessness and the acquiescence of an oblivious society.

An American novel, Being There (1971), by fellow Polish native Jerzy Kosiński, has been said to bear a strong resemblance to the exploits of Nicodemus Dyzma.

[3] Ewa Malachowska-Pasek and Megan Thomas translated the novel into English in 2018, and the English-language edition was published in September 2020 by Northwestern University Press.