Rocznik Komparatystyczny

In the article the author introduces the beginnings of the artistic work of the writer and painter, Peter Weiss (1916–1982) who created his early novels and paintings in exile in London, Czechoslovakia and Sweden. Short forms of prose and surrealist paintings reveal the area of his interests, reading and inspiration (e.g. Hermann Hesse, E.T.A. Hoffmann, Hieronymus Bosch, Pieter Brueghel and others). In the paper the subject of a detailed analysis are the typescripts of his two short novels, written in 1936 and 1937 and published in pieces (Skruwe – aus den Aufzeichnungen von Peter Ulrich Weiss and Die Insel. Eine Art Flugschrift. Vor Augen geführt durch Skruwe), as well as his painting compositions of that time. Both literary attempts and paintings inspired by personal experiences and books by H. Hesse document the struggle of the young author with the artistic form in paintings, as well as with the word and literary material in his writings, they also mark an important stage in his creative activity. The sources of his artistic quest are also documented in his correspondence with Hermann Hesse.