Schulz in a Prayer-Book, or „Mesjasz” by Wojciech Żmudziński

Abstract

Wojciech Żmudziński’s novel is another story of the lost manuscripts by Bruno Schulz. The author presents a surreal vision of the world in which the found Messiah is a guide for the perplexed and a prophecy about the coming Savior. Żmudziński adopted a number of Schulzean motifs, paraphrased fragments of The Sanatorium under the Sign of an Hourglass, and created a new version of Schulz’s biography. Unfortunately, all those devices are just meaningless props and a backstage which the author needs to express his own worldview, thus presenting a false image of Schulz and his work.