Nocturnal Apparitions

Translated by Stanley Bill
$17.95 US
Steerforth Press | Pushkin Press Classics
24 per carton
On sale Feb 24, 2026 | 9781805333319
Sales rights: US,CAN,OpnMkt(no EU)

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A gorgeous collection of cult classic Polish author Bruno Schulz’s 15 most captivatingly strange and beautiful short stories

“An accessible, exhilarating introduction to Schulz's oeuvre.” —Washington Post


Beloved by famous authors from Salman Rushdie to Jonathan Safran Foer, Bruno Schulz remains one of the great transformers of the ordinary into the fantastical. The stories in this collection are rich, tangled, and suffused with mystery and wonder. In the narrowing, winding city streets, strange figures roam. Great flocks of birds soar over rooftops, obscuring the sun. Cockroaches appear through cracks and scuttle across floorboards. Individuals careen from university buildings to dimly lit parlor rooms, through strange shops and endless storms.

These 15 stories provide an exciting, accessible introduction to Schulz’s work, from mesmerizing classics like “August” and “The Age of Genius,” to the hidden gem “Undula,” a recently discovered story believed to be Schulz’s first-ever published work. Set in a phantasmagoric version of the Eastern European city where the author was born and died, they showcase Schulz's darkly modern sensibility, crowded with moments of stunning beauty. What emerges is a nightmarish reality where the boundaries of time and space are compromised and made strange.

A cult classic author whose career was tragically cut short by his murder during World War II, the world of Schulz’s imagination – overpowering and utterly unique – is ripe for rediscovery.
Translators’ Foreword
August
Visitation
Birds
Cinnamon Shops
The Street of Crocodiles
Cockroaches
The Gale
The Night of the Great Season
The Book
The Age of Genius
My Father Joins the Fire Brigade
The Sanatorium under the Hourglass
Father’s Last Escape
Undula
"An accessible, exhilarating introduction to Schulz’s oeuvre."
--The Washington Post

“Stanley Bill’s translations come as an invigorating reminder of the uncanny verbal sorcery behind this unique voice and vision.... The results, hauntingly phrased, can be suitably weird—but never impenetrable... Bill catches the outrageous wit of Schulz’s nightmare tableaux,”
--The Wall Street Journal

About

A gorgeous collection of cult classic Polish author Bruno Schulz’s 15 most captivatingly strange and beautiful short stories

“An accessible, exhilarating introduction to Schulz's oeuvre.” —Washington Post


Beloved by famous authors from Salman Rushdie to Jonathan Safran Foer, Bruno Schulz remains one of the great transformers of the ordinary into the fantastical. The stories in this collection are rich, tangled, and suffused with mystery and wonder. In the narrowing, winding city streets, strange figures roam. Great flocks of birds soar over rooftops, obscuring the sun. Cockroaches appear through cracks and scuttle across floorboards. Individuals careen from university buildings to dimly lit parlor rooms, through strange shops and endless storms.

These 15 stories provide an exciting, accessible introduction to Schulz’s work, from mesmerizing classics like “August” and “The Age of Genius,” to the hidden gem “Undula,” a recently discovered story believed to be Schulz’s first-ever published work. Set in a phantasmagoric version of the Eastern European city where the author was born and died, they showcase Schulz's darkly modern sensibility, crowded with moments of stunning beauty. What emerges is a nightmarish reality where the boundaries of time and space are compromised and made strange.

A cult classic author whose career was tragically cut short by his murder during World War II, the world of Schulz’s imagination – overpowering and utterly unique – is ripe for rediscovery.

Table of Contents

Translators’ Foreword
August
Visitation
Birds
Cinnamon Shops
The Street of Crocodiles
Cockroaches
The Gale
The Night of the Great Season
The Book
The Age of Genius
My Father Joins the Fire Brigade
The Sanatorium under the Hourglass
Father’s Last Escape
Undula

Praise

"An accessible, exhilarating introduction to Schulz’s oeuvre."
--The Washington Post

“Stanley Bill’s translations come as an invigorating reminder of the uncanny verbal sorcery behind this unique voice and vision.... The results, hauntingly phrased, can be suitably weird—but never impenetrable... Bill catches the outrageous wit of Schulz’s nightmare tableaux,”
--The Wall Street Journal