Sanatorium Under the Sign of the Hourglass [Paperback]

Bruno Schulz (Author), Celina Wieniewska (Translator)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 30, 1997

This is the second and final work of Bruno Schulz, the acclaimed Polish writer killed by the Nazis during World War II. In the words of Isaac Bashevis Singer, "What he did in his short life was enough to make him one of the most remarkable writers who ever lived." Weaving myth, fantasy, and reality, Sanatorium Under the Sign of the Hourglass, is, to quote Schulz, "an attempt at eliciting the history of a certain family . . . by a search for the mythical sense, the essential core of that history."

Editorial Reviews

Language Notes

Text: English (translation)
Original Language: Polish

Product Details

• Paperback: 200 pages
• Publisher: Mariner Books (May 30, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0395860237
• ISBN-13: 978-0395860236
• Product Dimensions: 8.1 x 5.5 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.5 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #467,988 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Impt.: Hourglass alludes to Obitutuary in Polish., August 17, 2003

By 

toothygrin "toothygrin" (San Francisco, CA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Sanatorium Under the Sign of the Hourglass (Paperback)

This fiction is like looking out a window at a Las Vegas water show under colored lights: riotious, gorgeous and original. Everything by this Galician Polish Jewish writer/artist is genius.
The title story "The Sanitorium Under the Sign of the Hourglass" deals with Schulz's fantastic visit to his deceased father in the afterworld.

In Polish the title literally reads "the Sanitorium beneath the hourglass." However, the term Hourglass (klepsydra) is also used for death notices that are posted on bulletin-boards in public squares. Hence the allusion to a death notice in the title.

26 of 31 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars When They Died, January 25, 2001

By 

[e-mail] (PARISFRANCE) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Sanatorium Under the Sign of the Hourglass (Paperback)

A collection of short stories by the acclaimed Polish author killed by the Nazis during World War II. Unrecognized still even after the war, Schulz is in some circles now considered the finest modern Polish-language prose stylist. His stories are dreamlike reflections on life in the modest Jewish quarter of Drohobycz, the town of his birth. Both his fiction and drawings are notable for their erotic tenor and their acute anticipation of the emptiness produced by modern civilization.

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Beautiful prose, June 15, 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: Sanatorium Under the Sign of the Hourglass (Paperback)

Schulz has an ability to make even the most ordinary event revolutionary and poetic. A book transforms into a magical, almost living entity in the young narrator's mind. A look into a friend's stamp collection draws allusions to Alexander the Great's quest for world domination. His descriptions bring life to every minute detail. I only wish I knew Polish to read the original words.