Do you see what kind of a madhouse this town of Drohobycz is now, Dr Mann? People here never think and act as they should!Locked away in a dimly lit cellar in a provincial Polish town, the writer Bruno Schulz is composing a letter to Thomas Mann, warning him of a sinister impostor who has deceived the gullible inhabitants of Drohobycz. In return, he’s hoping that the great writer might help him to escape – from his apocalyptic visions, his bird-brained students, the imminent Nazi invasion, and a sadistic sports mistress called Helena. In Inside the Head of Bruno Schulz, Biller blends biographical fact with surreal fiction to recreate the world as seen through the eyes of one of the most original writers of the twentieth century.

The novella is published alongside two short stories by Schulz himself, ‘Birds’ and ‘Cinnamon Shops’. Maxim Biller is a critically acclaimed novelist, short story writer and journalist. He was born in Prague in 1960, but emigrated with his family to Germany in 1970 and now lives in Berlin.

He is the author of several story collections – with two stories published in the New Yorker – and two novels, Esra and The Daughter. He is also a columnist for the Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung and Die Zeit, and a recipient of the Theodor Wolff Prize, one of the most prestigious German awards for journalism. Bruno Schulz