Letters Drawings Bruno S

by Jerzy Ficowski and Bruno Schulz

Book Overview

This dazzling collection of letters, essays, and narratives makes clear why Cynthia Ozick has called Schulz one of the most original imaginations in modern Europe. He was one of the most remarkable writers who ever lived.--Isaac Bashevis Singer.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0880641185
• ISBN13: 9780880641180
• Release Date: May 1990
• Publisher: Froom Intl Pub
• Length: 256 Pages
• Weight: 0.95 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 6.2" x 9.2"

Customer Reviews

Virtually a must for admirers and students of Bruno Schulz

My recent reading of Bruno Schulz's "The Street of Crocodiles" intrigued me enough to turn immediately to this book of his letters and drawings, which I had picked up a few months ago in a used bookstore. LETTERS AND DRAWINGS OF BRUNO SCHULZ was compiled and edited by Jerzy Ficowski, who preserved Bruno Schulz for posterity much the same as Max Brod did for Franz Kafka. For forty years, Ficowski scoured post-War Poland and Europe for materials by or relating to Schulz or recollections of him. As Ficowski states in his Introduction, Schulz was a prodigious letter-writer. In fact, most of the stories of "The Street of Crocodiles" were given their first expression in private letters of Schulz. But World War II wiped out the vast majority of Schulz's letters (as well as many of their addressees), so that the approximately 110 letters contained in this book are all that were known to still exist as of the book's publication in 1988. Some of the letters are mundane, but many are quite personal and some are quite literary. From the letters alone one learns much about the enigmatic author of "Crocodiles" and "Sanitarium under the Sign of the Hourglass", including his seemingly ever-present depression, his formidable writer's block, and his constant struggle to find the peace and time he believed he needed to write. As fate had it, only four of the letters predate the publication of "Crocodiles" and the period of Schulz's life when he was at his creative peak. There are several suggestions in the post-"Crocodile" letters that the reputation Schulz garnered in Poland as a result of "Crocodiles" ended up imposing on him so strong a pressure to match or surpass that earlier work that he was virtually paralyzed creatively. The book also suggests to me that in "Crocodiles" and "Sanitarium" Schulz had exhausted the "personal myths" from his childhood that were his creative font and engine. (There is much in the book relevant to Schulz's theory of personal myths as the source and root of successful fiction.) In addition to the letters, the book contains other published prose of Schulz's, including a much-noted exchange with Witold Gombrowicz (who was a close friend and colleague) and a review of his "Ferdyduke". Several of Schulz's efforts in literary criticism or theory strike me as portentous claptrap, but others are of value. One highlight is a summary and description of "The Street of Crocodiles" (but with its Polish title of "Cinnamon Shops") that Schulz wrote and sent to a potential Italian publisher of a translation of the book, a piece that probably will be of keen interest to anyone who has puzzled over "Crocodiles". Editor Ficowski also intersperses throughout the book snippets of biographical information relating to both Schulz and his correspondents. As the title indicates, the book contains not only Schulz's letters but about forty of his drawings. Schulz was also an accomplished graphic artist, and his drawings are almost as distinc

Bruno Schulz, Master Writer

Although I consider myself well-read, I had never heard of Bruno Schulz until I heard David Grossman, famed Israeli writer, speak about Schulz's oeuvre and then also read Grossman's article in The New Yorker magazine. Street of Crocodiles is a masterpiece which should be read and re-read yearly. The elegant prose is jaw-droppingly beautiful. You must read it to discover the beauty of this genius whose life of taken much too early. I bought Letters and Drawings to supplement my knowledge & am pleased to discover even more beauty within the pages. To discover Bruno Schulz is like finding a perfect pearl. You will join the elite group of readers who appreciate this master writer who enhanced world literature. The list of fine writers who admire Schulz's writing is legion.