The Street of Crocodiles and Other Stories (Penguin Classics)
Author:
Genre: Literature & Fiction
Book Type: Paperback
Author:
Genre: Literature & Fiction
Book Type: Paperback
Book Description
The Street of Crocodiles in the Polish city of Drogobych is a street of memories and dreams where recollections of Bruno Schulz's uncommon boyhood and of the eerie side of his merchant family's life are evoked in a startling blend of the real and the fantastic. Most memorable - and most chilling - is the portrait of the author's father, a maddened shopkeeper who imports rare birds' eggs to hatch in his attic, who believes tailors' dummies should be treated like people, and whose obsessive fear of cockroaches causes him to resemble one. Bruno Schulz, a Polish Jew killed by the Nazis in 1942, is considered by many to have been the leading Polish writer between the two world wars.
My Review
I enjoyed Shultz's imaginative portrayal of his childhood and insane father. He definitely had a skill for using metaphors and similes which were very colorful and unique. It is not necessarily a novel but a collection of short stories connected by tales of his father and family with a dreamlike quality of reality and fantasy. If you enjoy Kafka or Proust then you will enjoy Shultz's writing. It is truly a masterpiece of comic writing.
The Street of Crocodiles in the Polish city of Drogobych is a street of memories and dreams where recollections of Bruno Schulz's uncommon boyhood and of the eerie side of his merchant family's life are evoked in a startling blend of the real and the fantastic. Most memorable - and most chilling - is the portrait of the author's father, a maddened shopkeeper who imports rare birds' eggs to hatch in his attic, who believes tailors' dummies should be treated like people, and whose obsessive fear of cockroaches causes him to resemble one. Bruno Schulz, a Polish Jew killed by the Nazis in 1942, is considered by many to have been the leading Polish writer between the two world wars.
My Review
I enjoyed Shultz's imaginative portrayal of his childhood and insane father. He definitely had a skill for using metaphors and similes which were very colorful and unique. It is not necessarily a novel but a collection of short stories connected by tales of his father and family with a dreamlike quality of reality and fantasy. If you enjoy Kafka or Proust then you will enjoy Shultz's writing. It is truly a masterpiece of comic writing.
