The Afterlife of Schulz, or Schulzology: What Is It Good For?

In 2012, a number of events were held to mark both the centenary of the birth and the 70th anniversary of the death of the Drohobych-born writer Bruno Schulz, including memorial, public awareness and academic projects which resulted in numerous publications that helped ensure the continued vigorous growth of Schulzology in the 21st century. The year 2013 likewise provided a major impetus for the popularization of Schulz’s achievements, since in this year the copyrights to Schulz’s works expired, allowing them to be freely reproduced. A review of the most recent published works in Schulzology serves as an opportunity to ask questions of a more general nature about trends in research on Schulz’s work, which is dominated by W. Panas’ cabbalistic interpretation. This includes other readings of the author of „The Street of Crocodiles” from within a Jewish context, efforts at a radical reorientation in research and philosophical hermeneutics (M.P. Markowski), attempts to read Schulz’s work in terms of political problematics, and the phenomena of the “celebritisation” of literary criticism.