Brunon Schulz’s ‘Spring’: History and myth

The most prevalent popular and critical images of Bruno Schulz present a Polish-Jewish writer and artist who turned away from politics and history in his creative work only to be devoured by the most violent political and historical forces in his life. This article attempts to reinsert Schulz’s writings into the social and political history of his day and age, focusing on an interpretation of his novella Spring (Wiosna). It argues that Schulz viewed the meaning and progression of history and politics in mythical terms. Accordingly, his stories contain ironic mythologizations of social, political and historical events. In Spring, Schulz captures, or rather constructs, the mythological essence of the disintegration of the Habsburg Empire, producing his own imaginative and contradictory commentary on the history of his native region during his own lifetime.