The Street of Crocodiles (Masterplots II: Short Story Series, Revised Edition)
At a glance:
- Author: Bruno Schulz
- First Published: 1934
- Type of Plot: Fantasy
- Time of Work: The early twentieth century
- Setting: A small town anywhere in the Western world
- Principal Characters: A town, The inhabitants of the town, A store clerk, Other salesclerks, City cabs, Trolleys, Trains, Prostitutes
- Genres: Short fiction, Fantasy
- Subjects: Values, Philosophy or philosophers, Twentieth century, Surrealism, Reality, Corruption, Materialism, Commerce
The Story
A discussion of “The Street of Crocodiles” must begin with the difficulty of identifying its central figure or hero. The first sentence reads in a deceptively clear and straightforward fashion: “My father kept in the lower drawer of his large desk an old and beautiful map of our city.” Later, very little is clear. As in the works of Franz Kafka, a “terrible ambiguity” seems to hang over the story. It is not a story about the father, nor is it really a story about the narrator's town, even though that town is the principal character. It is a story about...
[The entire page is 1219 words long]
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