Bruno Schulz’s Two Bodies Cover Image

Dwa ciała Schulza
Bruno Schulz’s Two Bodies

Author(s): Agata Bielik-Robson
Subject(s): Language and Literature Studies, Polish Literature
Published by: Fundacja Terytoria Książki
Keywords: Schulz; corporeality; thanatos; affirmation of materiality; Bloom

Summary/Abstract: A review of Jakub Orzeszek’s Ph.D. dissertation titled Differentiating Schulz. The First and Second Body of the Writer, in which the reviewer engages in a polemic with reading Schulz in terms of negative materiality. In her opinion, Orzeszek, as learned, insightful, and meticulous as he is, fell into a trap of reducing Schulz’s work to thanatocentric corporeality. Emphasis on the negative aspects of somatic materiality, such as pain, disfigurement, death, and the wish to be annihilated in the nothingness of the uterus/night, ignores other aspects of corporeality in Schulz’s fiction. Contrary to Orzeszek’s alleged logophobia opposed to her logophilia, the reviewer proposes a different reading of the topic, calling for a more affirmative and positive interpretation of corporeality present in Schulz’s work and suggesting an alternative version of materiality.

  • Issue Year: 2022
  • Issue No: 19-20
  • Page Range: 26-35
  • Page Count: 10
  • Language: Polish
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