“The Cinematic Novel” and the Materiality of the Text: Jan Brzękowski’s Bankructwo profesora Muellera [Professor Mueller’s Bankruptcy]

Abstract

The article analyzes Jan Brzękowski’s cinematic novel Bankructwo profesora Muellera [Professor Mueller’s Bankruptcy] from the perspective of avant-garde experiments with novelistic conventions. It demonstrates how the imitation of silent film forms was translated into the “bibliographic code” (G. Bornstein), giving rise to an innovative typographic layout, thanks to which the materiality of the text (typographic composition, different typefaces, fonts, and letters) became one of the key aspects of the work. Moreover, the article draws attention to graphic design created by other artists (Witkacy, S. Taeuber-Arp, H. Stażewski).