Translator’s commentary on two texts by Reiner Stech, both published in Polish for the first time. Kafka Day by Day is the fullest Kafka log so far, documenting almost “day by day” the events in the life of the Prague writer among his closest family members and friends, as well as, sometimes, in his broader social milieu. Besides, the log includes detailed information about the dating of Kafka’s particular texts, short summaries of letters written by him and addressed to him, reviews of his published works, and correspondence about him. Is This Kafka? consists of excerpts from memories, letters, and other documents, as well as unknown photos on which Kafka was recognized in the crowd. Apparently trivial anecdotes illustrate the rise of legends about Great Artists, which usually idealize them according to predetermined criteria and list, like lives of saints in the past, stories about “inexplicable” phenomena and “supernatural” events.
Records of the Holocaust survivors’ testimonies shed some new light on the “Black Thursday” of November 19, 1942 and Bruno Schulz’s death. Most importantly, contrary to the well-known testimonies of Tadeusz Lubowiecki and Emil Górski, the Drogobych Jews claim that Schulz was not murdered by Karl Günther, but by another Gestapo officer, Friedrich Dengg.