August 7, 1935, Wednesday

Zakopane. Bruno Schulz sends a letter to Zenon Waśniewski, in which he complains about loneliness. He meets with Stanisław Ignacy Witkiewicz.

Schulz regrets that Waśniewski cannot come to Zakopane immediately, because, as he claims, he plunges into boredom and loneliness: “Contrary to expectations, I live here very lonely”1. Schulz is resting (“I try to physically come back to myself”), despite the fact that before leaving, he declared that he would devote part of the day to literary work. He is probably not in a position to work due to his bad mental state2, because in Zakopane the tension between him and Józefina Szelińska about their relationship and moving to Warsaw begins to grow3. Before his departure, Schulz expressed his fears about the engagement, and almost two years later he would write about the situation in Zakopane: “At that time, I was not the master of my nerves, my nervousness and my despair”4.

In a letter to Waśniewski, Schulz claims that he does not meet anyone – except Witkiewicz and Jerzy Płomieński5, although it is known from Witkacy’s letters that meetings in his villa attracted many extraordinary personalities this summer, including Debora Vogel6, Roman Ingarden*7, Kazimierz Czachowski8 and Stefan Szuman*. Moreover, Schulz and Szelińska visit Maria Kasprowiczowa* in the Harenda villa9 and take walks in the Zakopane park. At the same time, the first ever Mountain Festival10, a festival of folk culture, takes place11.

That day, he also goes to the villa “Na Antołówce”, where he meets Stanisław Ignacy Witkiewicz and probably Adam Stawarski12, Jerzy Płomieński and Roman Ingarden13.

See also: March 15, 1934, March 24, 1934, April 2, 193 [4], April 24, 1934, June 5, 1934, June 23, 1934, August 28, 1934, September 14, 1934, September 30, 1934, October 6, 1934, October 15, 1934. November 7, 1934, November 15, 1934, December 19, 1934, January 28, 1935, March 16, 1935, [March 25, 1935], June 24, 1935, July 13, 1935, July 24, 1935, July 25, 1935, July 31, 1935, August 3, 1935, August 14, 1935, August 24, 1935, late 1935 / early 1936,, August 4, 1937, [January 5, 1938], April 24, 1938. (ts) (transl. mw)

  • 1
    Bruno Schulz, Księga listów, collected and prepared for printing by Jerzy Ficowski, supplemented by Stanisław Danecki, Gdańsk 2016, letter to Zenon Waśniewski, p. 89.
  • 2
    Schulz’s well-being is also influenced by the fact that he does not like crowds, big cities, folk concerts or hiking in the mountains – and yet he stays in Zakopane during a folk festival attended by thousands of people from all over the country.
  • 3
    Szelińska, talking about the summer of 1935 spent in Zakopane, wrote: “And the misunderstandings, rather the internal struggle began just when we decided to move to Warsaw”, quoted after: Jerzy Ficowski, Wprowadzenie do księgi listów do wydania z 2002, [in:] Bruno Schulz, Księga listów…, p. 21.
  • 4
    Bruno Schulz, Księga listów…, p. 90.
  • 5
    A literary critic, essayist and literary historian, this friend of Witkacy, whom he calls “Płomieńsio”, described his acquaintance with Witkacy and the adventures related to Schulz. See Jerzy Eugeniusz Płomieński, Polski „pontifex maximus” katastrofizmu [in:] Stanisław Ignacy Witkiewicz. Człowiek i twórca. Księga pamiątkowa, edited by Tadeusz Kotarbiński and Jerzy Eugeniusz Płomieński, Warszawa 1957; see biography.
  • 6
    Witkacy’s annotation leaves no doubt: “Schulz came – I was with him and Debora – discussion” (Stanisław Ignacy Witkiewicz, Listy do żony (1932–1935), prepared for printing by Anna Micińska, edited and annotated by Janusz Degler, Warszawa 2010, p. 310–311).
  • 7
    Witkiewicz lists the names of Schulz and Ingarden four times in the same sequence as those who visit him (ibid., letters no. 899, 900, 903, 906). Szelińska also remembered the meeting with Ingarden (a letter to Jerzy Ficowski of November 20, 1973).
  • 8
    Literary critic, literary historian, translator, friend of Stefan Szuman (Szuman allegedly asked him to publish The Street of Crocodiles).
  • 9
    “The holidays of 1935 we spent in Zakopane, often meeting Witkacy and Wittlin, and visiting Harenda a few times only”, quoted after: Jerzy Ficowski, Wprowadzenie do Księgi listów…, p. 21.
  • 10
    The Feast of the Mountains lasted from 4 to 11 August 1935; as part of the festival, competitions of highlander folk groups, concerts, fairs, exhibitions, group trips and lectures were organized (Walery Goetel, Święto Góry, “Wierchy. Yearbook devoted to the mountains and the highlander region”, R. 13, 1935, p. 208–211).
  • 11
    Schulz’s loneliness thus seems to be a feature of his existence or, less likely, a pose, rather than an objective lack of friends, acquaintances and attractions.
  • 12
    Lawyer, philosopher, literary critic, friend of Witkacy, author of an article about his portraits (Stanisław Ignacy Witkiewicz, Listy do żony (1932–1935), p. 455–456 (footnote no. 1 to letter no. 685).
  • 13
    See ibid, pp. 315.