Figures of Infirmity: People with Disabilities in Bruno Schulz’s Short Stories

The article discusses Bruno Schulz’s disabled characters, focusing on the stories “Dodo” and “Edzio”, in terms of the situation of disabled people during the interwar period. Highlighted are the problems faced by disabled persons who are portrayed in these stories. The attitude of the narrator to disabled characters is also analyzed: on the one hand, he is fascinated by people with deformities, who to him are a form of degenerated matter, and speaks about them with irony; on the other hand, he looks at them through the prism of the difficulties they encounter in life (social exclusion, a lack of self-realization, physical barriers, an inability to use free time, poor social conditions, unsatisfied basic needs).