Kafka

By Klaus Wagenbach

Franz Kafka gave a name to a central facet of modern experience - the ‘Kafkaesque’ - and created some of the most haunting images in 20th century literature.

Franz Kafka died almost unacknowledged but he is now recognised as one of the greatest authors of the 20th century and the creator of some of modern literature’s most unsettling and memorable images.  As this biography shows, this world was very much Kafka’s own: his personal life was as complicated and troubled as anything in his books. Klaus Wagenbach offers an acute portrait of a mind torn between the attractions of the world, including a series of intense relationships with women, and his desire for solitude. The result was writing, which, according to Albert Camus, takes us ‘to the limits of human thought.’

'These are useful additions to any thinking person's library... Klaus Wagenbach's volume on Kafka includes reproductions of Kafka's letters, original book covers and a well-drawn map of Prague showing the places mentioned in the text.'

Adam Lebor, New Statesman

Klaus Wagenbach is a publisher and renowned Kafka expert. He has written six books on Kafka, including Kafka: A Biography of his Youth and Kafka’s Prague.

Ritchie Robertson is a Professor at St John’s College, Oxford and the author of Kafka: Judaism, Politics and Literature. He has written the introduction to this biography.

Contents: Introduction by Ritchie Robertson - Fame-too late for the author - The son of a shopkeeper, lost in Prague - What does a boy learn at an Imperial and Royal Secondary School? - University, society and language in the capital of Bohemia - ‘Description of a Struggle’:the insurance official, his job, his plans and his journeys - The only way to write! - Life or literature? Kafka’s engagements and The Trial - The Wound - A naked man among the clothed - Notes - Map of Prague - Chronology - List of Works - Further Reading - Index