24 July 1935, Wednesday

Zakopane. Bruno Schulz meets with Stanisław Ignacy Witkiewicz and Roman Ingarden.

Schulz visits Witkacy in a villa in Zakopane called Antołówka or Witkiewiczówka1. Apart from him, Professor Roman Ingarden2 also attends the meeting. The joint discussions are so engaging that Witkiewicz does not have time to write to Jadwiga Witkiewiczowa, whom he had promised a long letter the day before: “Tomorrow I will write a long letter. Today, forgive me, I am busy”3. In connection with “important talks” Witkacy cancels on his promise: “Dearest Nineczka I was supposed to write a long letter to you today (Whitehead, 1 screening), and here I am, with Ingarden and Schulz, and I cannot do it”4. It seems, then, that Witkiewicz could not have expected visits from both Schulz and Ingarden. Schulz postponed his trip to Zakopane and perhaps Witkiewicz did not know the final date of his arrival5. Ingarden, on the other hand, could have come unexpectedly, because on 18 July Witkiewicz wrote to him: “I am in despair that we cannot meet”6. Years later, Ingarden would admit that although they had met earlier7, it was only in Zakopane that friendly relations were established: “We met in 1935 in Zakopane, having previously exchanged a few letters. From then on, we met in Zakopane every year during the summer, until the outbreak of the war”8. The professor’s wife, Maria Adela Józefa Ingardenowa, and Schulz’s fiancée, Józefina Szelińska*, who probably also participated in the meeting, would mention later that during the meetings with Witkacy and Ingarden, Schulz was silent9. 

See also: June 24, 1935, July 13, 1935, July 25, 1935, July 31, 1935, August 3, 1935, August 7, 1935, August 14, 1935. (ts) (transl. mw)

  • 1
    Schulz stayed in a guesthouse on Słowackiego boulevards, in close proximity to the villa where Witkacy rents a room (on the first floor). Even though it was the Witkiewicz family home, Witkacy paid rent to his aunt and cousin (PLN 5 a day).
  • 2
    Philosopher, art theoretician, creator of the famous theory of literature (Das literarische Kunstwerk, 1931), a friend of Witkacy, from 1935 a regular visitor to Witkiewiczówka.
  • 3
    Stanisław Ignacy Witkiewicz, Listy do żony (1932–1935), prepared for printing by Anna Micińska, edited and annotated by Janusz Degler, Warszawa 2010, p. 310.
  • 4
    Ibidem, p. 310.
  • 5
    Schulz, however, certainly informed Witkiewicz about his arrival, as he had mentioned the planned meeting with the author of The Shoemakers twice to Zenon Waśniewski, see Bruno Schulz, Księga listów, collected and prepared for printing by Jerzy Ficowski, supplemented by Stanisław Danecki, Gdańsk 2016, p. 87–88.
  • 6
    Stanisław Ignacy Witkiewicz, Listy II (vol. 2, part 1), edited and annotated by Janusz Degler, Stefan Okołowicz, Tomasz Pawlak, Warszawa 2017, pp. 96.
  • 7
    They met in 1924 in Toruń on the occasion of the premiere of Witkiewicz’s drama.
  • 8
    Roman Ingarden, Wspomnienie o Stanisławie Ignacym Witkiewiczu, [in:] Stanisław Ignacy Witkiewicz. Człowiek i twórca. Księga pamiątkowa, edited by Tadeusz Kotarbiński and Jerzy Eugeniusz Płomieński, Warszawa 1957, p. 169.
  • 9
    According to Szelińska, Stefan Szuman also participated in one of the meetings of Witkacy, Schulz and Ingarden (a letter from Józefina Szelińska to Jerzy Ficowski of November 20, 1973).