13 May 1935, Monday

Drogobych. Bruno Schulz writes a letter to Tadeusz Breza.

Schulz’s letter to Tadeusz Breza, a writer, essayist and editor of Kurier Poranny*, begins with an apology for his prolonged silence. Then Schulz raises several current topics. Firstly, he presumes that the national mourning after the death of Marshal Józef Piłsudski*1 will paralyze the activity of the Ministry of Religious Creeds and Public Enlightenment* and will indirectly delay the matter of leave for which he is applying2. Secondly, he asks Breza about the manuscript of his debut novel3: “Have you negotiated with a publisher yet? I am very much waiting for at least a fragment to be published”4. Thirdly, Schulz recollects a misunderstanding which he himself inadvertently caused by handing Witkacy’s* article5 to Mieczysław Grydzewski* (Wiadomości Literackie)*, with whom Witkacy remained in conflict.

The final part of the letter is peculiar: Schulz asks Breza to offer a favorable review of poems written by a friend6 of Schulz’s – not mentioned by name in the letter (“A man holding high social status whose kindness I care about”7): “If this expert opinion appears bad – the said gentleman will lose his kindness towards me. So, if you can reconcile it with your conscience – be gracious and write something non-bindingly positive. I’m sending you the poems, which I don’t myself understand. I don’t see any sense in them”8. (jo)

See also: 20 March 1935*, 12 May 1935*, 2 June 1935*, 24 August 1935*, 5 July 1936*, 26 July 1936*.

  • 1
    Józef Piłsudski died on 12 May 1935. For some time, mourning manifestations dominated public life throughout the country, including Drogobych, where commemorative ceremonies in connection with the death of the Marshal were held for almost two weeks – among others, in the King Władysław Jagiełło school*. See “Sprawozdanie Dyrekcji Gimnazjum Państwowego im. Króla Władysława Jagiełły w Drohobyczu za rok 1934/35” (“Report of the Władysław Jagiełło State Secondary School Board in Drogobych for 1934/35”, Drogobych 1935).
  • 2
    We should by no means assume that Schulz was indifferent to Józef Piłsudski’s death and that it affected him only as much as it affected his leave plans. The three sketches Schulz published in 1935 and 1936 – Powstają legendy (How Legends Come into Being)*, Wolność tragiczna (Tragic Freedom)* and Pod Belwederem (Near Belvedere)* – all demonstrate how great a meaning he assigned to Piłsudski and to his death. To learn more about the attitude of assimilated Jews towards Piłsudski, see Anna Landau-Czajka, Syn będzie Lech... Asymilacja Żydów w Polsce międzywojennej, Warszawa 2006, pp. 408–413.
  • 3
    Breza’s debut novel Adam Grywałd was published in 1936 by Ferdynand Hoesick.
  • 4
    Bruno Schulz’s letter to Tadeusz Breza of 13 May 1935, [in:] Bruno Schulz, Dzieła zebrane, volume 5: Księga listów, collected and edited by Jerzy Ficowski, supplemented by Stanisław Danecki, Gdańsk 2016, p. 55.
  • 5
    The text in question is probably Stanisław Ignacy Witkiewicz’s “Twórczość literacka Brunona Schulza”, which was finally published in issue no 34 of Pion* (of 24 August 1935).
  • 6
    It is possible that this mysterious friend Schulz talks about was Stefan Szuman* – famous Polish psychologist and professor of the Jagiellonian University, who wrote semi-amateur poems under the pseudonym “Łukasz Flis” (and in 1933 published a collection Drzwi uchylone). It is worth noting that in Schulz’s preserved letters to Szuman from 1932 and 1933, Schulz highly appreciates the poetry of his correspondent, comparing it even to Rilke’s*.
  • 7
    Bruno Schulz’s letter to Tadeusz..., [in:] Bruno Schulz, op. cit., p. 55.
  • 8
    Ibidem.
Letter to Tadeusz Breza of 13 May 1935
Letter to Tadeusz Breza of 13 May 1935