November 1, 1936, Sunday

(A) Lviv. A critical sketch by Bruno Schulz, Nowy poeta (New Poet), is published in the 23rd issue of the “Sygnały” magazine. 

(B) Warsaw. In the 44th issue of “Tygodnik Ilustrowany”, a letter by Bruno Schulz is published, referring to the article by Jan Emil Skiwski entitled Łańcuch szczęścia (Chain of happiness).

(A) This is a review of Juliusz Wit’s book of poetry Lampy (Warszawa 1936). Not hiding personal affiliations (the poet was a friend of Schulz) and declaring his lack of competences justifying the evaluation of Wit’s poetic achievements, the author of The Street of Crocodiles in very favourable words emphasizes their avant-garde character and the peculiar authenticity of the poet, who uses the achievements of the genre individually1. (mw)

(B) Skiwski’s article was published in “Tygodnik Ilustrowany” on October 18th. In it, the author wrote about snobbery2 and literary errors, self-love and pretentiousness by Schulz and Gombrowicz3 – authors of open correspondence published in Studia. In response, Schulz sent a letter to the editor of “Tygodnik” Wacław Czarski, entitled Zamiast odpowiedzi4. In it, he expresses his aversion to polemics with such primitively presented arguments and criticism directed at him: Skiwski. Also, I do not suppose that I am a snob, hungry for cheap and trivial successes, and I do not think that my literary activity so far does not entitle me to make such a claim”.

See also: November 1936, November 26, 1936, November 29, 1936, December 1936, December 1, 1936. (ts) (transl. mw)

  • 1
    Bruno Schulz, Nowy poeta, “Sygnały” 1936, No. 31, p. 11; reprinted in: idem, Dzieła zebrane, volume 7: Szkice krytyczne, editorial concept by Włodzimierz Bolecki, commentaries and footnotes by Mirosław Wójcik, edited by Piotr Sitkiewicz, Gdańsk 2017, pp. 72–76, footnotes pp. 222–225.
  • 2
    Critics associated with the national movement were obsessed with “literary snobbery”, which can be seen, for example, in the articles by Stanisław Piasecki, editor-in-chief of the weekly “Prosto z Mostu”.
  • 3
    See Jan Emil Skiwski, Łańcuch szczęścia, “Tygodnik Ilustrowany” 1936, No. 42, p. 794 (available on-line: http://cyfrowa.chbp.chelm.pl/dlibra/docmetadata?id=7367&from=publication&tab=1); reprint: Witold Gombrowicz, Polemiki i dyskusje. Varia 2, Kraków 2004.
  • 4
    The letter was published on the last pages of “Tygodnik Ilustrowany”, alongside advertisements for a mild laxative, toothpaste and powder. See Bruno Schulz, Zamiast odpowiedzi, “Tygodnik Ilustrowany” 1936, No. 44, p. 848; reprinted in: idem, Dzieła zebrane, volume 7: Szkice krytyczne, editorial concept by Włodzimierz Bolecki, commentaries and footnotes by Mirosław Wójcik, edited by Piotr Sitkiewicz, Gdańsk 2017, pp. 77, footnotes p. 225–228; vol. 5: Księga listów, collected and prepared for printing by Jerzy Ficowski, supplemented by Stanisław Danecki, Gdańsk 2016, p. 99–100.