28–30 [?] September 1934, Friday–Sunday

Drohobych. Bruno Schulz is working on the short story Second Autumn, which he decided to print in Kamena instead of the previously promised A July Night.

The work on preparing Second Autumn* for publication probably began on the same day that he started editing the text of A July Night*, the piece finally sent to Sygnały*, and continued for the next two days, Saturday and Sunday. Earlier illness and stay in Truskavets were not favourable to this kind of work, as Schulz reported to Zenon Waśniewski*: “I wanted to write back with the promised piece, but in the meantime I was invited to Truskavets [...], where I spent 9 days1 and where I could not get to writing. The weather was beautiful and this rest did me good. My sick leave is over and I have already started working at school”2. The end of the week allowed Schulz to start and continue his writing in a calmer atmosphere. On Friday, September 28 he sends the editorial office of Sygnały the A July Night, rewritten “in a hurry”.

However, Second Autumn intended for Kamena* requires more work. 

In the archives of the editor Waśniewski, there is the original handwriting of Second Autumn, which after his death was kept by his wife and in the 1970s was transferred to Jerzy Ficowski’s*3 collection. The only surviving literary manuscript of Schulz, consisting of six squared paper sheets, torn from a school notebook, written on one side in black ink, was reproduced several times4. It sheds a beam of light on the author’s writing technique of The Cinnamon Shops*, the origins of which are shrouded in mystery. When preparing the text for Kamena, Schulz probably used some earlier versions and notes. This is evidenced by the type of corrections introduced5. (sr) (transl. mw)

  • 1
    A few days earlier he wrote “I spent 10 days in Truskavets” (letter to Zenon Waśniewski dated September 30, 1934, [in:] Bruno Schulz, Dzieła zebrane, volume 5: Księga listów, zebrał i przygotował do druku Jerzy Ficowski, uzupełnił Stanisław Danecki, Gdańsk 2016, p. 75).
  • 2
    Letter from Bruno Schulz to Zenon Waśniewski dated October 6, 1934, [in:] Bruno Schulz, op. cit., p. 75.
  • 3
    The manuscript of Second Autumn is currently in the collection of the National Library. Cf. Katalog rękopisów Biblioteki Narodowej [Catalogue of manuscripts of the National Library], volume 26: Archiwum Jerzego Ficowskiego, reference numbers 14422–14644, opracowała Maria Gamdzyk-Kuźniak, Warszawa 2019, p. 181–182, ref. no. III14597.
  • 4
    Cf. a facsimile of the entire manuscript in: Bruno Schulz, Druga jesień, do druku podał i posłowiem opatrzył Jerzy Ficowski, Kraków 1973; Jerzy Ficowski, Regiony wielkiej herezji i okolice.; Jerzy Ficowski, Regiony wielkiej herezji i okolice. Bruno Schulz i jego mitologia, Sejny 2002, pp. 233–238; “Schulz/Forum” 4, 2014, pp. 55–66; single-page printing: Bruno Schulz, l’oeuvre graphique avec deux Tekstes inédits, Marseille 1988, p. 35; Jerzy Jarzębski, Schulz, Wrocław 1999, p. 167.
  • 5
    Cf. on this topic: Stanisław Rosiek, Jak pisał Bruno Schulz? Domysły na podstawie sześciu stron rękopisu jednego opowiadania, “Schulz/Forum” 4, 2014, pp. 53–74; French version: Comment Bruno Schulz écrivait-il? Conjectures à partir de six pages manuscrites de l’un de ses récits, [in:] Bruno Schulz: entre modernisme et modernité, articles réunis sous la direction de Małgorzata Smorąg-Goldberg et Marek Tomaszewski, Paris 2018, pp. 67–76.