The Book of the Dead: A Project Cover Image

Projekt księgi umarłych
The Book of the Dead: A Project

Author(s): Jakub Orzeszek
Subject(s): Anthropology, Comparative Study of Literature, Polish Literature, Cultural Essay, History of Antisemitism, Philology, Theory of Literature
Published by: Fundacja Terytoria Książki
Keywords: Bruno Schulz;Holocaust;Trauma Theory;Polish Literature;Commemoration;

Summary/Abstract: The paper sheds light on the postwar reception of Schulz’s work and biography, usually underestimated by scholars. It reveals that at the very beginning of that period Jerzy Ficowski cooperated closely with the Jewish Society for the Encouragement of Fine Arts and later Jewish Historical Institute in Warsaw, although his collaboration was rather unofficial and relied on mutual information transfer. It also presents the results of research conducted in the Archives of the Jewish Historical Institute, particularly an analysis of the documents from the Ernestyna Podhorizer-Sandel and Józef Sandel files. These are mainly biographical notes on Bruno Schulz and other Polish-Jewish artists murdered by the Nazis during World War II that were to be included the monumental and unfinished Sandels’ Polish-Jewish Artists Lexicon. The main question is how the Holocaust narrative influenced Schulz’s mainstream reception in the future.

  • Issue Year: 11/2018
  • Issue No: 11
  • Page Range: 143-152
  • Page Count: 10
  • Language: English, Polish