Masochistic love as the game of power in Eastern Europe – Bruno Schulz

Abstract

Bruno Schulz is one of the most famous Polish-Jewish artists in the world. Socio-cultural circumstances and individual preferences enabled Schulz to create his expression of love, which was unique and inconsistent with the prevailing standards. The article aims to analyse the concept of masochism experienced in non-WEIRD culture, i.e., in Eastern Europe, using Bruno Schulz as an extraordinary example. The analysis will concern his erotic love expressed in the form of masochistic desires. The theoretical context will be provided to a large extent by a psychological theory originating from non-WEIRD culture, i.e., the theory of striving for power developed in Kazimierz Twardowski's School (Lvov-Warsaw School) in the first half of the 20th century. Accepting the theory developed in that region and at that time allows us to look at masochistic tendencies not as a disorder and pathology but as a potentially important source of individual power and strength. The Eastern Poland of that time was dominated by traditional family values `and a rigorous sexual ethos, which created an oppressive space for non-standard forms of erotic love. In the case of Schulz, these were sadomasochistic tendencies that could be expressed through appropriate artistic and literary means. The study of Schulz's masochism is supplemented by the analysis of his patriotic attitude, which he also could not express overtly (for political reasons, i.e., Soviet and Nazi oppression). He consciously accepted the sadomasochistic relationship with the Soviet regime to act against it. In both cases, his masochism seems to express a specific game of power and not the pathological, destructive perversion. Schulz's masochism was deeply rooted in socio-cultural circumstances of Galicia, and it needs non-WEIRD explanations to understand its nature better. It does not correspond to the psychiatric categories of the first half of the 20th century, but it is closer to the modern concept of masochism, which is understood as a dimension and not a category. Masochism can be a positive force, essential in maintaining mental balance.