He must be the ultimate writer’s writer.īruno Schulz is unusual in that he did not travel. And next to that pure poetry of fruit, she unloaded sides of meat with their keyboard of ribs swollen with energy and strength.Īnd that’s why I love Schulz, the language, intensity, the philosophy and the disturbing visionary world but I also love him because of his background, and the fact that, in spite of every possible difficulty, he kept writing. …the shiny pink cherries full of juice under their transparent skins, the mysterious black morellos that smelled so much better than they tasted, apricots in whose golden pulp lay the core of long afternoons. Originally called Cinnamon Shops, you taste these stories on your tongue, you’re lured by their richness of language, and before you know it you’re hooked by their logic, your mind entangled in Schulz’s nightmarish mythology. I’ve pasted a draft of my article below in case anyone’s interested in Schulz but do foray over via the link to glean lots of quirky writing and reading stuff from Over the Red Line. It’s here if you want a quick read, and was displayed on the London underground for a while, a fact that fills me with an inordinate degree of pride! Over the Red Line asked me to write the review because my very short story ‘Gloves of Gdansk’, which is a sort of homage to Bruno Schulz, won the Litro Poland/Schulz prize. I won’t go on about it because it’s all in the review.

It’s here, and although intense and fantastical, it doesn’t demonstrate the sensuousness of Schulz’s writing. The Quay brothers made an animated film of ‘Street of Crocodiles’ in the eighties. Schulz is an extraordinary writer and whilst I’m reading the mostly ‘indoor’ life of these stories, I can’t help feeling that I’m also inhabiting, and even directly experiencing, the incredible riches of Schulz’s imagination.

It will give you a taste of what to expect. If you haven’t read ‘The Street of Crocodiles’ by Bruno Schulz, head on to Over the Red Line, where my review is up.

The street of crocodiles