Matriarchy in Drogobych Cover Image

Drohobycki matriarchat
Matriarchy in Drogobych

Anthropological Motifs in "Cinnamon Shops" by Bruno Schulz

Author(s): Marcin Całbecki
Subject(s): Gender history, Polish Literature, Ukrainian Literature, Cultural Anthropology / Ethnology, Culture and social structure , Interwar Period (1920 - 1939), Philology, Theory of Literature
Published by: Fundacja Terytoria Książki
Keywords: Bruno Schulz; schulz studies; literary theory; interwar period; polish literature;

Summary/Abstract: The paper is an attempt to analyze Schulz’s fiction in terms of Johann Jakob Bachofen’s idea of matriarchy. Particular emphasis has been put on “August,” the opening story of "Cinnamon Shops". In “August” which begins his “spiritual autobiography,” Schulz created a world whose center is constituted by three women, portrayed as if they had been archaic deities. By the same token, the beginning of Schulz’s private mythology seems parallel to the archaic core of the socio-religious order of Europe, i.e. matriarchy.

  • Issue Year: 5/2015
  • Issue No: 5
  • Page Range: 18-30
  • Page Count: 13
  • Language: Polish
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