May 1934

Warsaw. Zofia Nałkowska is in relationship with Bogusław Kuczyński. From now on, her contact with Schulz will not be of amorous nature any more.

Zofia Nałkowska* meets Bogusław Kuczyński* in February 1934. Intellectually fascinating, twenty-three years younger1, Kuczyński becomes her secretary. However, over time, the acquaintance acquires more and more private character. Starting with the second half of April 1934 (i.e. after Schulz’s weekly stay with Zofia Nałkowska in Warsaw – see April 1934*), the Diaries more and more often mention meetings with Kuczyński, their night walks around Warsaw, as well as more and more reflections expressing their growing mutual interest2. Since the beginning of May 1934, it is already possible to talk about the relationship of Nałkowska and Kuczyński.

In the Diaries, words of happiness about the new relationship are accompanied by reflections demonstrating a sense of guilt towards the betrayed, abandoned Schulz. There are also attempts at self-justification, which define Nałkowska’s relationship with Schulz as a form of a peculiar cult, adoration, which could not be fulfilled in the form of a permanent relationship. On 10 May 1934, Nałkowska mentions the letters she has received from Schulz: “Letters from Bruno Schulz come, providing me with the old silent sweetness, shy delight, all happy from worship. And I’m not in that place anymore. There is breath-taking emotion near me, a childish seriousness of passion, the iron grip of the arms, surprising like a bulldog jaw. And the obvious certainty that it is time to take on oneself and spread out on others whole sacks, whole “tons” of suffering”3. On 19 May 1934, she notes: “Oh dear who does not yet know. I am not, of course, the content of his existence to the extent that it seems from his letters, from his lovely words. It isn’t even called love. It was rather a worship, a proclamation of my glory. And it came not from my quality or not just from it – but from his nature, craving for humility and abandon in worship and here, finally, there was an objective justification (in my ‘perfection’) of these sinful desires, an opportunity to live them in a higher erotic sphere. I speak in the past tense, but this is still. Only I am not in that place any more”4. (mr) (transl. mw)

See also: 21 April 1934*, 15 May 1934*, 20 July 1935*. 

  • 1
    The earliest characterisation of Bogusław Kuczyński is found in an entry of 2 March 1934: “A new, interesting talent, and a more unusual, pure and noble, with the growth of spiritual life of a twenty-six-year-old man” (Zofia Nałkowska, Dzienniki IV: 1930–1939. Część 1 (1930–1934), opracowanie, wstęp i komentarz Hanna Kirchner, Warszawa 1988, p. 412.
  • 2
    Entry of 18 April 1934: “Buki, Rudnicki, Kuczyński. The latter grows in magnitude, grows before our eyes, still reveals his new perspectives and depths. A walk the day before yesterday on the Vistula boulevard. Old Town at night. Yesterday at the theatre with Rudnicki, long walk home, conversation. Today again Kuczyński. It is difficult to express in words who he is. There is a lot to say. Shyness and pride, bitter and threatening youthfulness, a strengthening of oneself at the heart of the world. In a short time, it turns out that it is his friendship for me that is a real honour” (ibidem, s. 443).
  • 3
    Ibid., p. 447.
  • 4
    Ibid., p. 449.