The Republic of Dreams: Bruno Schulz’s Father and Surrealism vs. G. Garfield Crimmins’ Dreamlike Utopia
A while ago, while watching the stop-motion film Streets of Crocodiles, I became deeply immersed in the world of Bruno Schulz and discovered a story called The Republic of Dreams. It's not the same as the Crimmins story; Schulz's tale involves his father, who he makes the villain.
This resonated with me, as I saw a connection to my own relationship with my father. That's when I decided to mix these stories, creating my villain, Ottomoon, from the Republic of Utopia. The "Ottomoon Garden" reflects his emotional journey, shaped by loneliness and the egoism that emerges when love is lost (Drawing to come)
The Republic of Dreams: A Reverie by G. Garfield Crimmins
The Republic of Dreams: A Reverie by G. Garfield Crimmins is a whimsical and surreal adventure that blends magical realism with an eccentric narrative. Set in the dreamlike Republic des Reves, a tropical realm located "between the Sea of Clouds and the Sea of the Unseen" near Bermuda, the book follows the narrator’s arrival in 1936—either through a Dadaist dream or a case of mistaken identity.
Guided by the fantastical Nadja La Claire, the narrator embarks on a journey through a land where liberty, love, and poetry reign. Streets are named for indulgent pleasures like the Avenue of Soft Winds and Boulevard of Splendid Food and Wine.
Presented with whimsical illustrations, postcards, foldout maps, and telegrams, Crimmins' story invites readers into a playful, oneiric world full of subversive plots and surreal experiences. The narrator, adopting the identity of Victor La Nuage, joins a society led by Dr. Prometheus to foil the League of Common Sense, a group intent on bringing order to the unruly realm.
A New Drawing is coming!! inspired by the images below.
- Liberty ,not licence , but freedom in that an individual can realize their dreams to the fullest .
- Love , the highest state of achievement ,the instrument needed to practice poetry .
- Poetry , the rendering of the dream intotangible form and shape by action ,thought or deed .
The Republic of Dreams, Bruno Schulz
In The Republic of Dreams, Bruno Schulz crafts a surreal, cyclical world where time and space operate differently than in ordinary cities.
The speaker describes a small Polish town where nothing happens in vain, and where every moment is imbued with gravity, fate, and meaning. The city retains its mysteries and unexplainable events, with everything from sunsets to furniture holding significance. Schulz’s father, a fabric merchant with esoteric interests, plays a central role as an imaginative yet mentally unraveling figure.
His loss of sanity is portrayed with tenderness, evoking a complex mix of affection and frustration. Time in Schulz’s world is malleable—defined by cyclical patterns and a "13th month" that symbolizes things outside of ordinary time. Characters live in a world of metaphysical signs and parables, where the boundaries between the real and the fantastic blur.
Schulz’s writing reflects a childlike openness to the marvelous, unbound by the material constraints of adulthood. His work, tragically cut short by his death at the hands of an SS officer, leaves readers with a lingering sense of unfinished wonder.
