Street of Crocodiles - post I

The introduction establishes that Schulz was a solitary man who once he had become well known for his writing eased off to try and recede into the background. He was also an artist and suffered a terribly random death at the hands of the SS as he left the ghetto to visit the other side of town and was shot by an officer who was envious that a fellow solider was protecting Schulz because he valued his artwork.

Bullet points from pages 9 – 62

* The story is based around a family, which you know from reading the introduction is Schulz’s own with his father suddenly stepping back from the family business to stay in bed and ponder the accounts

* As his father is left more to his own devices he is not only forgotten about and becomes smaller and thinner but in one sequence orders lots of birds eggs from all over the world and then starts a menagerie in the attic

* The father even starts imitating birds but things come to a head as the housekeeper drives them all out through a window and the father has to start again finding a reason for his existence

* The reason presents itself in the form of a sewing group between two of the shop workers that the father comes across and starts attending lecturing them on a second genesis and the problem with the current system wanting men to be nothing more than shop dummies

More tomorrow…