Ladies and gentlemen!

Today we are opening the exhibition in commemoration of distinguished Galician Bruno Schulz. Naturally, that first of all we will speak of his graphics, drawings and murals — those scarce visible tracks the murdered artist left. But I would like to lay emphasis on the part of his artistic heritage closest to me that is his writings.

Person’s self-concept often does not coincide with the actual state of things. For instance, Mircea Eliade, a distinguished Romanian philosopher and student of religion considered himself to be first and foremost a novelist, and his studies were just a way to earn his living. Bruno Schulz believed drawing to be his avocation. He made himself known as a writer rather late in his life and left behind him a middle-sized volume of original short stories, critical essays and letters. Researchers affirm that translations of Kafka were made by Schulze’s fiancйe Jozefina Szelinska and the only reason why Schulze was mentioned as a translator on the cover was that he was, as one might put it in terms of modern advertising, a fashionable “brand” in circles of Warsaw intelligentsia. We still cherish the hope that someday in somber archives of Russian or German security services the last Schulze’s novel “Messiah” will be found, which he had put in one of the parcels that he later gave to his friends and acquaintances, apprehending the inevitable death.

Firstly, aspiring to self-realization, but also, to earn for his family living, that got into difficulties after catastrophic destructions of the World War I and death of the father, Bruno Schulz concentrated his artistic energy оn creation of the drawing cycle “Book of Idolatry” comprising illustrations and ex-librises for cognoscenti from Lviv-Drohobych milieu. Only yielding to persuasion of psychology professor Stefan Shuman, 40 years old provincial teacher prepares a collection of stories and starts to look for publisher. Publication of “Cinnamon Shops” in 1933 is a result of a lucky train of events, not least due to acquaintance and close friendship with Zofja Nałkowska. For his creativity only six subsequent years were left, and what came afterwards, – drama of Soviet and catastrophe of Nazi occupation, — whirlwind of history wrested a pen from Schulze’s grasp and interrupted his mighty talent at the beginning of its development.

We can engage into speculations on the subject “what could have become of Schulz if he had escaped, had not died in that manhunt on black November day in 1942?” Maybe he would have gone to America and become someone like Isaac Bashevis Zinger? Or maybe he would have followed into Agnon’s steps? However, most probably, he would have continued writing in Polish and his walk of life would have probably reminded biography of his great friend and opponent Witold Gombrovicz. I even think, that he would have been closest to the milieu of the Paris magazine “Culture”. Still, these are nothing but fancies, efforts to surmount cruel space and time the way Schulz could have done, by painting it with unordinary colors and events; to outwit physics, to subdue by somnambular visions the realia of the stepmother-province.

It is impossible to dislike Schulz-writer, even only for the reason that nobody managed to describe Galician summer heat, discontinuity of our time and tyranny of our maidens better than he did.

Schulz waited long to win the recognition in Poland, in environment that was not separated from him by the language barriers. Only in the second half of the XX century he became an accredited authority of the worldwide scale. The longest way he had to cover to get to his countrymen-Ukrainians. Naturally, the publication of the texts of “decadent” from Drohobych was out of the question in Soviet times. Already at the decline of the “old regime” interpretations of political prisoner Ivan Gnatiuk appeared in the print. Approximately at the same time entire circle of Schulze admirers appeared, comprising young translators of his works in to Ukrainian and Russian. Mykola Yakowyna and Taras Wozniak, founders of the “Ji” magazine, for which the figure of fabulator from Drohobych became significant and emblematic, emerged from this milieu. At the beginning of the 90ies, publishing house “Proswita” in Lviv with the support of “School and Pedagogic Publishing House” from Warsaw published 10 thousand copies of the book comprising all prose heritage, in magical, very subjective and epoch-oriented but not very literal translation by Andrij Shkrabjuk. The time has come for new translations and they are promised to appear this autumn.

Meanwhile, a new generation of Ukrainian Schulz admirers has appeared and is very active; here it is represented by Educational Resource Center — co-organizer of this exhibition, project “Bruno Schulz and multicultural tradition of Galicia”. So, we hope that barriers of inapprehension will be breached and interesting and important element of our regional identity will be adopted by modern cultural discourse fully and with profit for us all.