before March 15, 1934

Chełm Lubelski. Zenon Waśniewski writes a letter to Bruno Schulz, in which he introduces himself as a former college friend and invites him to cooperate with Kamena.

With a lost letter, Zenon Waśniewski reconnects with Schulz after twenty years. In the period of 1910–1912 they studied at the Faculty of Civil Engineering of Lviv Polytechnic*. Later they parted ways, but their current life situation is similar. They both work as teachers and are active in the arts and literature. Waśniewski and Kazimierz Andrzej Jaworski founded the literary magazine Kamena*1, which is looking for collaborators. The idea of inviting Schulz to cooperate was within reach. Jaworski wrote about it years later: “When Cinnamon Shops were published in 1934 and Bruno Schulz triumphantly entered literature, Zenek, after reading this book, confessed to me that its author was his colleague from Lviv Polytechnic and that they sat at the same table during lectures for two years. We agreed that there was a unique chance that could not be missed: to involve Schulz in Kamena would add glamour to our magazine. It is true that several years have passed since my colleagues parted ways, but it is possible that the ex-architect, now a widely praised writer, would remember Zenek. Waśniewski obtained Schulz’s address and sent him a letter with memories of distant Lviv times”2. The issues of Kamena that have been published so far are attached to the letter. (sr) (transl. mw)

  • 1
    The first issue of literary monthly Kamena was published in September 1933. The monthly was published in Chełm.
  • 2
    Kazimierz Andrzej Jaworski, W kręgu „Kameny”, Lublin 1965, p. 113.