Discussion of The Messiah of Stockholm by Cynthia Ozick

A number of coincidences:  the second book of the year that was found on a Park Slope stoop.(No Kindles left out yet; only paper versions.)  The second book in a row about a real author--Bruno Schulz. Last month was Edith Wharton.   (Although that isn't so unusual others pointed out...we read a fictionalized version of Henry James.)  And, perhaps, the most surprising of all, one of the book group members relatives came from and died in Drohobych? Drogobych? Poland as did Bruno Schulz.

At once direct and arcane ... a self-portrait drawing by Bruno Schulz

What was the overall impression of the book?  Darkly funny short novel about a Swedish critic, Lars Andemening, who believes that he is the son of Bruno Schulz.  An abruptly ended short novel to some.  The themes--how humans are affected (or not) by great art or literature.  How obsessions can take over a life and lead to an exalted state that destroys ordinary relationships.( The critic has no friends, has to choose between having a typewriter or clean socks, his two wives stopped liking him fairly soon, and even his daughter is lost to him.)  How the search for The Messiah (Schulz's  lost novel and, possibly, the savior as well? B.B. We missed your input into spiritual matters--what is the significance of Lars' other name--Lazarus Baruch)  can lead to a kind of wonderful madness.   But once The Messiah is  found, the fevered search ended, the madness is gone, life becomes predictably comfortable and, alas, for Lars, mediocre.

One member couldn't purchase the  book, so she read the short story Dictation by Ozick.  Similarly, it is about great literature and writers--Henry James and Joseph Conrad--as they appear to their typists--typewriters.  And similarly the typists  believe themselves to be more connected/more important to these great geniuses than they actually are.   And they worship the writers and neglect their own lives and souls.

Another member got the book literally, but not figuratively.  Others said that was because she read the book once; they didn't get the book until they read it two times.  Intrigued, some members wondered if Bruno Schulz's existing works were readable. One member read it and felt that they were too phantasmagoric. Another member wondered if the style of  Messiah of Stockholm was written to imitate Schulz's writings. Other themes touched on--the difficulty of being an immigrant.

Thinking of getting Street of Crocodiles  by Schulz to see for myself.