(A) Drogobych. Bruno Schulz’s friend, Emanuel Pilpel, dies of lung cancer.
(B) In Lviv and Warsaw, Kazimierz Czachowski’s Obraz współczesnej literatury polskiej 1884–1934 (The Picture of Contemporary Polish Literature 1884—1934) is published by Państwowe Wydawnictwo Książek Szkolnych. It discusses Bruno Schulz’s literary work.
(A) In Drogobych, Emanuel Pilpel, son of a famous Drogobych bookseller, a well-educated art lover and Schulz’s long-time friend, dies of cancer. During the last stage of the disease, Schulz took care of Pilpel. He mentions this experience twice. First, in a letter to Andrzej Pleśniewicz of 4 March 1936: “I live here quite alone. I took upon myself a sad duty of visiting a friend dying of cancer”. And, after a month, in a letter to Kazimierz Truchanowski, he writes: “Spring so far has been tough, tart and inhospitable; it has brought me nothing – or almost nothing. Every day I visit a friend who is dying of cancer”.
A little more information about the illness and death of Emanuel Pilpel is provided in an autobiographical sketch about Schulz written by Regina Silberner, who lived next to the Pilpels during the pre-war period and often stayed with them. On the basis of her records, it can be established that Mundek, as his loved ones called him, struggled with cancer at least since the summer of 1934 (then, as the author remembered, Mundek began to feel “weird and strong pains, pointing to his lungs”). An excerpt from Silberner’s memoirs seems to be as intriguing as it is compelling. It deals with Schulz and Pilpel’s relationship in the critical phase of the latter’s illness: “During this painfully chronic disease, Schulz faithfully visited his friend. But, as my father told me later, Mundek could less and less bear his presence; once, kicking Schulz out, he explained to my father that Bruno was inspired by this atmosphere, that he liked the stench, the potties...”.
See also: 4 March 1936, 11 April 1936. (jo) (pls)
