Letters to Friends, Family and Editors

This volume presents Kafka as son, brother, student, friend, lover, writer, critic, and reveals his fascination for life in all its complex, absurd and tragic manifestations. Though aware of the precariousness of letter-writing, Franz Kafka entrusted to letters many of his thoughts, impressions, experiences and expectations.

These letters – which follow Kafka’s life from his student years through his experience as an insurance clerk to his final days, and explore his friendships with Max Brod, Felix Weltsch and Oskar Baum – confirm his place as one of the great letter-writers of the twentieth century.

'These magnificent letters, meticulously set up and annotated, show us aspects of Kafka that were only hinted at in earlier collections and help us to trace his development, from unhappy young law student and insurance manager-administrator to novelist and short-story writer of originality and genius.' Publishers Weekly