Schultz's Bride

Literary biography of Józefina Szęlińska (1905–1991), the fiancée of Bruno Schulz (1892–1942), a Polish writer and artist, thanks to whom Drohobych became an important point on the world artistic and literary map. The love between these two people lasted only four years, but for the rest of her life she remained with Józefina, or Juna, as he called her. A baptized Jewess, she constantly struggled with her Jewish shadow, which did not save her from the anti-Semitic purges in the Polish People's Republic. A Polish scholar, a high school teacher, she loved romantic poets and read Rilke's poetry with Bruno. Most of all, she wanted to be with Bruno, to devote herself completely to him. A Catholic, so she could not officially marry a man of the Jewish faith. A woman who did not want to share her lover with other women or his obsession with art. Because of her lost dream, she attempted suicide – she remained alive, but without Bruno. The second attempt – many years later – was successful. She never stopped thinking about him and punishing herself for not being able to save him from death, at least trying to save him… Agata Tuszynska’s book is about passionate love and terrible death, about literature and art, about human life and its defenselessness.