Western Ukraine produced four great writers between the wars: von Rezzori, Paul Celan, Joseph Roth and Bruno Schulz. Von Rezzori and Celan both grew up in Chernivtsi, Roth and Schulz in small towns in Polish-ruled Galicia. Von Rezzori was Austrian; Celan (born Paul Antschel), Roth and Schulz all Jews. Except for von Rezzori, still mixing with the literati in Italy, they all led tragic lives. Roth died a penniless alcoholic at a café table in Paris. Celan’s parents were both killed by the Nazis; haunted by survivors’ guilt, he threw himself into the Seine. Schulz, having just started being
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