Schulz and Economy. On the Experience of Modernity in “The Street of Crocodiles” Cover Image

Schulz i ekonomia. O doświadczeniu nowoczesności w „Ulicy Krokodyli”
Schulz and Economy. On the Experience of Modernity in “The Street of Crocodiles”

Author(s): Maciej Abramowski
Subject(s): Marxist economics, Economic history, Polish Literature, Sociology of the arts, business, education, Theory of Literature
Published by: Fundacja Terytoria Książki
Keywords: Bruno Schulz;economy of literature;modernity;Walter Benjamin;

Summary/Abstract: The paper focuses on the motifs characteristic of the experience of modernity, which appear in Bruno Schulz’s fiction – specifically, on those derived from modern economy and its influence on the individual’s reception of reality, such as metropolis, crowd, loneliness, commercial street, and commodity fetishism. The context includes the accounts of modernity proposed by Marx, Benjamin, Simmel, and Marshall Berman. In his description of the commercial street in “The Street of Crocodiles,” Schulz draws on the tradition of modernist literature, developing the traditional modes of description in terms of his own imagination and literary mythology. He approaches the economic modernity from a peripheral point of view, which allows his to perceive its aspects that are invisible in the center.

  • Issue Year: 12/2018
  • Issue No: 12
  • Page Range: 115-126
  • Page Count: 12
  • Language: Polish