Bruno Schulz – författare

Bruno Schulz föddes 1892 i Drohobycz, där han sedan bodde i hela sitt liv, förutom ett par år då han studerade arkitektur i Wien. Han var bildkonstnär men arbetade som tecknings- och slöjdlärare i ortens läroverk. 1942 mördades han av en tysk SS-officer i en räd mot stadens judar i ghettot.

Under sitt liv fick han endast två böcker publicerade, berättelsesamlingarna Kanelbutikerna (1934) och Sanatoriet timglaset (1937). Deras tillkomst var lite speciell. Han skrev de enstaka historierna i brev till sin väninna Deborah Vogel i Lwów, som var författare och kritiker. Hon uppmuntrade honom att skriva fler och såg så småningom till att de också blev publicerade.

Böckerna blev mycket uppskattade för sina drömlika beskrivningar av de mest vardagliga av händelser och fantasifulla omtolkningar av verkligheten. Hans författarskap ansågs som säreget, mästerligt och utan motstycke i den polska prosan. Bruno Schulz blev snart en av förgrundsfigurerna inom det litterära avantgardet tillsammans med samtida författare som Witold Gombrowicz och Stanisław Ignacy Witkiewicz.

På 60-talet återupptäcktes Bruno Schulz författarskap och böckerna översattes till flera språk, bland annat svenska. Sedan dess har hans stjärna fortsatt stiga och han har numera en rad anhängare över hela världen.

The Street of Crocodiles is inspired by the life and stories of Polish writer Bruno Schulz (1892-1942). Originally co-produced by Théâtre de Complicité and the Royal National Theatre it opened at the Cottesloe in 1992 and toured all over the world until 1994. The original production was remounted in 1998 and played in New York, Toronto, Minneapolis and Tokyo before opening at the Queen''s Theatre London in January 1999.

"This astounding production creates a vision of provincial Poland in the early part of the century as a restless ocean of unending flux...the miracle of Complicite''s interpretation of Schulz''s stories...is its ability to give specific theatrical life to this perceptual anarchy...when you leave the theatre you expect the ground beneath your feet to give way." (New York Times)

The Street of Crocodiles is inspired by the life and stories of Polish writer Bruno Schulz (1892-1942). Originally co-produced by Théâtre de Complicité and the Royal National Theatre it opened at the Cottesloe in 1992 and toured all over the world until 1994. The original production was remounted in 1998 and played in New York, Toronto, Minneapolis and Tokyo before opening at the Queen''s Theatre London in January 1999.

"This astounding production creates a vision of provincial Poland in the early part of the century as a restless ocean of unending flux...the miracle of Complicite''s interpretation of Schulz''s stories...is its ability to give specific theatrical life to this perceptual anarchy...when you leave the theatre you expect the ground beneath your feet to give way." (New York Times)

'One of the most original imaginations in modern Europe' Cynthia Ozick

The stories in this collection are rich, tangled, and suffused with mystery and wonder. Over a city forever altered by the vagaries of history and imagination, great flocks of birds soar, obscuring the sun. Individuals transform into doorbells and insects, seeking shelter from an endless storm. The year sprouts an unexpected thirteenth month.

Crowded with moments of stunning beauty, weaving a darkly modern tapestry of memory, myth and reality, Schulz's stories confirm his status as one of the great transformers of the ordinary into the fantastical.

Part of the Pushkin Press Classics series: timeless storytelling by icons of literature, hand-picked from around the globe.

Translated by Stanley Bill.

Bruno Schulz was a Polish Jewish writer and artist who has influenced writers including Salman Rushdie, Roberto Bolaño, David Grossman and Cynthia Ozick. He was born and lived most of his life in the town of Drohobych, once part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, then Poland, and now part of Ukraine. He published two collections of short stories - Cinnamon Shops and The Sanatorium Under the Sign of the Hourglass - during his lifetime. Schulz was shot and killed by a German SS officer in Drohobych in 1942. His unfinished novel, The Messiah, was lost in the Holocaust.

Stanley Bill is Professor of Polish Studies and Director of Slavonic Studies at the University of Cambridge. He has translated works by Jacek Dukaj and Czeslaw Milosz's unfinished novel The Mountains of Parnassus. He is founder and editor-at-large of the news and opinion website Notes from Poland.

„Bruno Schulz și-a câștigat, cu doar câteva proze, locul alături de giganți precum Kafka sau Borges." SjónMoartea prematură a lui Bruno Schulz, victimă a naziștilor, este una dintre marile pierderi ale literaturii moderne. Cât a trăit, prozele sale nu au avut parte de o primire critică favorabilă, însă după război, vestea talentului său excepțional i-a câștigat cititori în toată lumea. Volumul de față reunește cele două volume de proză publicate de autor în timpul vieții, într-o nouă traducere, prima de acest fel după anii 1970. Bruno Schulz publica în 1934 Prăvăliile de scorțișoară, o nuvelă ce își implica personajele în ritmurile nebunești ale unei naturi scăpate de sub control, implacabile, iar în 1937, Sanatoriul sub semnul clepsidrei, volum ce punea în discuție dimensiunea temporală, creând și jucându-se cu realități alternative.„De fiecare dată când îi deschid cărțile, sunt la fel de uimit să descopăr cum acest scriitor, o ființă ce arareori și-a părăsit orășelul de provincie în care trăia, a creat pentru noi o întreagă lume separată, o dimensiune alternativă a realității. Povestirile lui creează un univers fantastic, mitologia privată a unei familii." David Grossman