Discussion: Bruno Schulz

[matt cardin]

In the interest of gathering ideas, I thought I'd raise this question: Where and how do you see the influence of Bruno Schulz operating in Ligotti's work? I first started reading Schulz's THE STREET OF CROCODILES, and also first started reading about Schulz himself, early in 2004, and was deeply impressed. As I may have mentioned before, I'm often more drawn to reading about authors -- their lives, deaths, and creative struggles -- than to reading their actual works, and although this isn't the case with Schulz, since THE STREET OF CROCODILES is so utterly compelling and engrossing, the story of his life, personality, aesthetic philosophy, and tragic death has loomed large in my thoughts and emotions in the months since I first delved into his world.

Ligotti has named him as a primary influence, and it's easy to see some immediate connections, especially in the area of their shared fascination with dummies and mannikins, and their speculations about the nature of the possible conscious subjectivity that might dwell within these human effigies. I'm also sensing a strong connection between the child narrator of THE STREET OF CROCODILES and the child narrator(s) of Tom's "Mrs. Rinaldi's Angel," "Miss Plarr," and "The Library of Byzantium." Both narrators display, in their voices and narrative consciousnesses, a foundational tendency to mythologize the events and environments that compose their lives. Both speak of, and apparently experience, the various aspects of their lives -- parents and family, weather and moods, and more -- in quasi-archetypal terms. The respective tones of the Schulzian and Ligottian approaches to this technique differ markedly, but I think there's still a fundamental kinship between them. As for the differences, Schulz seems, in my view, to hone in on an archetypal experience and outlook of wonder and terror, with a generous helping of surrealism thrown in, while Tom focuses more upon pure ontological horror, as we might expect from him. And of course he displays the same surrealist tendencies.

Speaking of surrealism, I'm also sensing a kinship between Schulz and some of Tom's other works that do not feature child narrators, such as "The Shadow at the Bottom of the World," "The Mystics of Muelenburg," and "The Chymist." Basically, wherever Tom delves into direct speculation and exposition about the ontological structure of the world, I'm getting a vibe that carries a distinct flavor or overtone of Schulzian philosophy, even where the Ligottian version doesn't deal at all with mannikins as Schulz does in the "Great Heresies" sections of THE STREET OF CROCODILES.

Does anybody have anything to point out to me here, or any help to offer? Surely somebody has read more of Schulz than I have, or has been longer acquainted with his work, and therefore possesses a more informed and/or deeply thought-out understanding of his work and the ways and places where it influences Ligotti's.

[ElHI]

Hi Matt,

Oeuvres Complètes (complete works for those who really cannot read ANY French...) was on top position on my Christmas list this year, but noboby bought it for me... As the title suggests, it contains more or less all the written works (none of his drawings though) of Bruno Schulz in a French translation, and it was published only a couple of months ago.

There's also an exhibition at the "Musée d'art et d'histoire du judaïsme" in Paris called Bruno Schulz, artiste et écrivain : La République des Rêves, up until 23rd January, and I WON'T be able to get there! (More, including some of his drawings in www.mahj.org, in French, I'm afraid)

So it was almost my Bruno Schulz year... I will try and comment once I have bought the aforementioned book, and read it. (I'll have to buy it myself, too bad!)

Best
Ronan

[matt cardin]

Thanks for the support, Ronan, and also for directing me to the Paris exhibition. I enjoyed viewing the art samples included in the downloadable brochure.

Sorry to hear you didn't receive the gift you wanted. When you do end up owning and reading the book, I'll be interested to hear your opinions and reactions.

[adam]

I have only read STREET OF CROCODILES, but the major influence that I notice from Schulz's work is coupled to the surrealism that Matt mentioned. One of the things that really jumped out at me while I was reading was the way that you get sucked into the atmosphere of the story, not so much the plot itself. I got the impression that it wasn't really the plot driving the story, but rather the psychological/emotional atmosphere. Like Ligotti, Schulz's writing gets underneath my skin in a way that is very difficult to describe precisely because it can't be connected directly to what is going on in terms of plot (in many cases at least). In my opinion, the surreal aspects added to otherwise uninteresting day to day events is what makes Schulz amazing. But not because of the surreal itself, rather the surreal is simply a vehicle for conveying a certain emotional or psychological state. For me, that is the connection to Ligotti: Using the weird/surreal/etc. to infect the reader with a particular (and not necessarily comfortable) state of mind. So it is really more about how you FEEL while reading the stories, not so much what's really going on in them. Most people are not prepared to deal with this type of story, which is why, I think, that more people aren't into Ligotti and similar types of literature; it requires a "suitable disposistion" to be susceptible to it (there's a great quote from SIDESHOW, if I remember correctly, that says something to this effect). This ability to not only convey the author's mental state on the reader but to make them feel it as well using nothing more than carefully crafted text is the major influence from Schulz that I see in Ligotti's work (though by no means the only one).

[matt cardin]

Interesting thoughts, Adam, and much appreciated. I personally think you're dead-on when you say,

Quote Originally Posted by adam

For me, that is the connection to Ligotti: Using the weird/surreal/etc. to infect the reader with a particular (and not necessarily comfortable) state of mind. So it is really more about how you FEEL while reading the stories, not so much what's really going on in them....This ability to not only convey the author's mental state on the reader but to make them feel it as well using nothing more than carefully crafted text is the major influence from Schulz that I see in Ligotti's work (though by no means the only one).

In truth, I'm as much interested in the idea you're expressing for its value in understanding and appreciating Ligotti's work as for its help in elucidating a line of influence between Schulz and him. I love Tom's use of a highly oblique style of narrative presentation, so that, as you point out, the overall point is the evocation of mood and emotion -- and also, in my experience, a sense of unfolding spiritual and philosophical enlightenment (or endarkenment, as the case may be) --- with the actual narrative story being communicated lightly and subtly, almost as if by accident. My favorite single instance of this is found in his "Ghost Stories for the Dead," where the barely articulated story of a burgeoning metaphysical disruption, and of a person who abducts and tortures people (if I'm recalling correctly; it's been awhile since I read it, and the plot was so obliquely presented that it's vague in my memory), serves mainly as a background, and perhaps also an excuse, to reflect upon the infinite despair of existence. I suppose it's this inversion or transposition of the normal mode of telling a story, this foregrounding of what usually serves as philosophical subtext, and concomitant backgrounding of what usually serves as front-and-center narrative, that draws to Ligotti so many people with an extremely reflective cast of mind, since this mode of fictional presentation mirrors their customary existential experience of daily life. That is, they experience the objective world, more acutely and consciously than most people do, as arriving through a filter of their subjective impressions and internal colorations, and this potent awareness of their inner states, and the elevation of its importance over that of the external world, leads them to fasten upon fictional representations that mirror this. As Tom himself points out in his essay "The Consolations of Horror," the one true consolation is that sombody has shared your experiences and insights and made of them a work of art.

[EddieMA]

Hi all, I have just found websites where some drawings by Bruno Schulz himself are displayed:

http://www.europalia.pl/www.europalia.pl/en/schulz.html

http://david.juden.at/kulturzeitschr..._Stephani1.htm

It seems he was not only a wonderful writer, but also a great artist, no?

[yellowish haze]

Doesn't he look like some kind of weird version of Bela Lugosi on that first photo in the first link provided by EddieMA. Oh actually I remember that dr. Bantham already compared ME to Lugosi. I guess all poles are the same.

[EddieMA]

Hey, but Bela Lugosi was Hungarian
How did you know I'm madly in love with Bela?? Have been for at least 10 years or more, being an old hag myself ;)

[yellowish haze]

Yeah, he was such a funny actor. I best remember him from "Dracula" of course, and especially because of the way he stairs at you with those eyes of a maniac shining with the light (being poured from a flashlight by somebody from behind the camera) pretending to be scary and saying in this cheesy hungarian accent of his "I am Dracula". He made me laugh, oh yes he did, he did, he did, he did, he did.

[EddieMA]

You think he was ridiculous, a bad actor? Well, then, I guess you haven't seen some of the new movies there are. Pray watch "van Helsing" and you'll know for sure what *bad* means. Meanwhile, I keep adoring Bela Lugosi for what he was: an original, a real actor, funny maybe, but great nonetheless. I do love him.