Author: Nadia Terranova
Illustrator: Ofra Amit
Translator: Joanna Wajs
Year: 2016
Publisher: Tako
Place of publication: Wrocław
Pages: 40
ISBN: 9788361488101
Notes: Translation from Italian (2012).
Translations:
- Bruno. Il bambino che imparò a volare, Roma: Orecchio acerbo, 2012, pp. 40, ISBN: 9788896806234;
- Bruno. El niño que aprendió a volar, trans. Carlos Mayor, Mataró: A Buen Paso, 2012, pp. 40, ISBN: 9788494053320.
This picturebook presents scenes from the life of Bruno Schulz (1892–1942), a Jewish author with life-long ties to the town of Drohobych (in today’s Ukraine) whose works include two collections of short stories: Sklepy cynamonowe (The Street of Crocodiles, 1933) and Sanatorium pod klepsydrą (Sanatorium Under the Sign of the Hourglass, 1937). The writer and the illustrator of Bruno drew their inspiration from Schulz’s works. They presented their protagonist as a curious boy with his head in the clouds. The surrealist illustrations, while depicting real objects, places and people, have multiple layers of symbolic meaning. The text is written in rich language, reminiscent of Schulz’s prose, which leaves it open to the reader’s interpretation.
Like in Schulz’s life, the Holocaust appears suddenly and unexpectedly: “one day, the Nazis arrived in town.” The protagonist becomes excluded from society, and there is a mention of a ghetto being created. A scene of Bruno being shot in the street by a German soldier ends in an unexpected way, just like nothing was what it seemed in Schulz’s writing. The story is accompanied by the author’s afterword and the translator’s note. Moreover, “upon the Polish publisher’s request the author made changes to her piece for this edition.”
Bibliography:
- Dymel-Trzebiatowska, H., Krótka lekcja latania. Werbalno-graficzna biografia Brunona Schulza, „Schulz/Forum”, no. 8, 2016, pp. 171–175;
- Klimek, I., Nie potrzeba skrzydeł, „Znak”, no. 739, 2016, pp. 105–197;
- Rybak, K., Obrazowanie Zagłady. Narracje holokaustowe w polskiej literaturze XXI wieku dla dzieci i młodzieży, Warszawa 2023 (s. 219).