Auto/biografie (z) listów. Schulz – Ficowski – Kandziora

Abstract

This article discusses the practical ways of using letters in the biographer’s workshop and in a biographical story on the example of Jerzy Ficowski’s work on the biography of Bruno Schulz and Jerzy Kandziora’s work on the biography of Jerzy Ficowski. Correspondence is understood as a form of relational auto/biography and the key causal factor of the biography. The role of the correspondents as informers and co-authors of the biography is particularly emphasized, similarly to the peculiar location of the letter in archives (often private) and the importance of the history of the letters themselves – lost, found, missing – in the work process and in the biographical narrative. The letter is framed as an indispensable source material (creating a timeline of life and work), a contribution to the psychological and sociological analysis of the protagonist (a “multiple self-portrait”), a source of knowledge about the creative process, and the protagnist’s organizational activity.

Keywords

• correspondence (letter)
• archive
• life writing
• auto/biography
• biography