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Dnevnici - Svezak 1 1909-1912
Ob Kafkovih dnevnikih moramo pomisliti na izjemno široki pisateljski razpon, ki ga nudi dnevniški medij. V Kafkovem primeru so dnevniški zapiski v teku let doživeli veliko preobrazbo. Začetni dnevniški zapiski, ki jih prinaša prva od treh načrtovanih knjig Kafkovih dnevnikov, so pisani sicer kot zasebne beležke, ki pa so deloma izjemno literarizirane, prehajajo v prozo in esej ter se še umeščajo v praško tradicijo tistega časa, ko ni bilo neobičajno, da so si ljudje v Kafkovi družbi prebirali iz svojih dnevnikov, jih v primerih obnavljanja skupnih doživetij celo primerjali in po potrebi korigirali. V zgodnjih Kafkovih dnevnikih tako kar mrgoli izjemno natančnih popisov situacij, s posebno pozornostjo za geste in telesnost ljudi. Kasneje se Kafkova pozornost postopoma premesti na opisovanje spominov in domislic. Pisanje dnevnikov postaja za Kafko medij za samostabilizacijo in pomiritev, za sidranje v jeziku.
232 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2008
28 people are currently reading
159 people want to read
About the author
Franz Kafka
3,231 books38.6k followersFranz Kafka was a German-speaking writer from Prague whose work became one of the foundations of modern literature, even though he published only a small part of his writing during his lifetime. Born into a middle-class Jewish family in Prague, then part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Kafka grew up amid German, Czech, and Jewish cultural influences that shaped his sense of displacement and linguistic precision. His difficult relationship with his authoritarian father left a lasting mark, fostering feelings of guilt, anxiety, and inadequacy that became central themes in his fiction and personal writings.
Kafka studied law at the German University in Prague, earning a doctorate in 1906. He chose law for practical reasons rather than personal inclination, a compromise that troubled him throughout his life. After university, he worked for several insurance institutions, most notably the Workers Accident Insurance Institute for the Kingdom of Bohemia. His duties included assessing industrial accidents and drafting legal reports, work he carried out competently and responsibly. Nevertheless, Kafka regarded his professional life as an obstacle to his true vocation, and most of his writing was done at night or during periods of illness and leave. Kafka began publishing short prose pieces in his early adulthood, later collected in volumes such as Contemplation and A Country Doctor. These works attracted little attention at the time but already displayed the hallmarks of his mature style, including precise language, emotional restraint, and the application of calm logic to deeply unsettling situations. His major novels The Trial, The Castle, and Amerika were left unfinished and unpublished during his lifetime. They depict protagonists trapped within opaque systems of authority, facing accusations, rules, or hierarchies that remain unexplained and unreachable. Themes of alienation, guilt, bureaucracy, law, and punishment run throughout Kafka’s work. His characters often respond to absurd or terrifying circumstances with obedience or resignation, reflecting his own conflicted relationship with authority and obligation. Kafka’s prose avoids overt symbolism, yet his narratives function as powerful metaphors through structure, repetition, and tone. Ordinary environments gradually become nightmarish without losing their internal coherence. Kafka’s personal life was marked by emotional conflict, chronic self-doubt, and recurring illness. He formed intense but troubled romantic relationships, including engagements that he repeatedly broke off, fearing that marriage would interfere with his writing. His extensive correspondence and diaries reveal a relentless self-critic, deeply concerned with morality, spirituality, and the demands of artistic integrity. In his later years, Kafka’s health deteriorated due to tuberculosis, forcing him to withdraw from work and spend long periods in sanatoriums. Despite his illness, he continued writing when possible. He died young, leaving behind a large body of unpublished manuscripts. Before his death, he instructed his close friend Max Brod to destroy all of his remaining work. Brod ignored this request and instead edited and published Kafka’s novels, stories, and diaries, ensuring his posthumous reputation.
The publication of Kafka’s work after his death established him as one of the most influential writers of the twentieth century. The term Kafkaesque entered common usage to describe situations marked by oppressive bureaucracy, absurd logic, and existential anxiety. His writing has been interpreted through existential, religious, psychological, and political perspectives, though Kafka himself resisted definitive meanings. His enduring power lies in his ability to articulate modern anxiety with clarity and restraint.
Kafka studied law at the German University in Prague, earning a doctorate in 1906. He chose law for practical reasons rather than personal inclination, a compromise that troubled him throughout his life. After university, he worked for several insurance institutions, most notably the Workers Accident Insurance Institute for the Kingdom of Bohemia. His duties included assessing industrial accidents and drafting legal reports, work he carried out competently and responsibly. Nevertheless, Kafka regarded his professional life as an obstacle to his true vocation, and most of his writing was done at night or during periods of illness and leave. Kafka began publishing short prose pieces in his early adulthood, later collected in volumes such as Contemplation and A Country Doctor. These works attracted little attention at the time but already displayed the hallmarks of his mature style, including precise language, emotional restraint, and the application of calm logic to deeply unsettling situations. His major novels The Trial, The Castle, and Amerika were left unfinished and unpublished during his lifetime. They depict protagonists trapped within opaque systems of authority, facing accusations, rules, or hierarchies that remain unexplained and unreachable. Themes of alienation, guilt, bureaucracy, law, and punishment run throughout Kafka’s work. His characters often respond to absurd or terrifying circumstances with obedience or resignation, reflecting his own conflicted relationship with authority and obligation. Kafka’s prose avoids overt symbolism, yet his narratives function as powerful metaphors through structure, repetition, and tone. Ordinary environments gradually become nightmarish without losing their internal coherence. Kafka’s personal life was marked by emotional conflict, chronic self-doubt, and recurring illness. He formed intense but troubled romantic relationships, including engagements that he repeatedly broke off, fearing that marriage would interfere with his writing. His extensive correspondence and diaries reveal a relentless self-critic, deeply concerned with morality, spirituality, and the demands of artistic integrity. In his later years, Kafka’s health deteriorated due to tuberculosis, forcing him to withdraw from work and spend long periods in sanatoriums. Despite his illness, he continued writing when possible. He died young, leaving behind a large body of unpublished manuscripts. Before his death, he instructed his close friend Max Brod to destroy all of his remaining work. Brod ignored this request and instead edited and published Kafka’s novels, stories, and diaries, ensuring his posthumous reputation.
The publication of Kafka’s work after his death established him as one of the most influential writers of the twentieth century. The term Kafkaesque entered common usage to describe situations marked by oppressive bureaucracy, absurd logic, and existential anxiety. His writing has been interpreted through existential, religious, psychological, and political perspectives, though Kafka himself resisted definitive meanings. His enduring power lies in his ability to articulate modern anxiety with clarity and restraint.
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
June 23, 2019
Assim como todos os mortais, Kafka também sentia raiva, inveja, sentia-se depressivo (talvez mais que muitos).
Entretanto, Kafka com inveja é assim:
"Inveja de um suposto sucesso de Baum, de quem, contudo, gosto muito. A propósito disso, a sensação de ter no meio do corpo um novelo que se enrola rapidamente com um número infinito de fios que ele puxa para si da borda de meu corpo."
E Kafka depressivo é assim:
"Hoje cedo, pela primeira vez desde muito tempo, outra vez a alegria com a ideia de uma faca sendo torcida em meu coração."
Estes diários serão muito ricos para quem, como eu, é apaixonado pela obra e a escrita de Kafka. Aqui, temos relatos sobre sua relação com o pai, a família, a arte, e, especialmente, sobre sua relação com a escrita e o trabalho - e a sua crescente angústia de não poder escrever.
Para quem não tem interesse nestas anotações pessoais sobre a vida do escritor ou no seu processo de elaboração, entretanto, pode ser um pouco cansativo. Há trechos e trechos de pequenos textos reescritos com pequenas alterações, muitos relatos sobre peças de teatro e óperas, etc.
Entretanto, Kafka com inveja é assim:
"Inveja de um suposto sucesso de Baum, de quem, contudo, gosto muito. A propósito disso, a sensação de ter no meio do corpo um novelo que se enrola rapidamente com um número infinito de fios que ele puxa para si da borda de meu corpo."
E Kafka depressivo é assim:
"Hoje cedo, pela primeira vez desde muito tempo, outra vez a alegria com a ideia de uma faca sendo torcida em meu coração."
Estes diários serão muito ricos para quem, como eu, é apaixonado pela obra e a escrita de Kafka. Aqui, temos relatos sobre sua relação com o pai, a família, a arte, e, especialmente, sobre sua relação com a escrita e o trabalho - e a sua crescente angústia de não poder escrever.
Para quem não tem interesse nestas anotações pessoais sobre a vida do escritor ou no seu processo de elaboração, entretanto, pode ser um pouco cansativo. Há trechos e trechos de pequenos textos reescritos com pequenas alterações, muitos relatos sobre peças de teatro e óperas, etc.
July 9, 2025
3.5/5
December 6, 2019
Kafka je tak strašně obskurní a zároveň tak intimní a ve svém myšlení povědomý. Jeho pozorovací talent. Detaily, kterých se dotýká. A jádro, ke kterému se propracovává. Asi nejvíc mě zaujal jeho pohled na psaní - je to něco chorobného, ale zároveň nezbytného pro jeho existenci. Tělem i duší. Celou bytostí. Ta identifikace s tím je pro mě tak silná. Všechny ty pochyby - o sobě, o svém psaní, o místě ve světě, v kterém se nalézáte. Občas se nechávám unášet představou, jak asi zněl Kafkův hlas, zajímalo by mě, jestli odrážel to veliké vnitřní napětí, celý ten makabrózní vesmír. Číst tyhle texty, které měly být zničeny, není pozitivní ani negativní zkušenost, ale někdy mi při tom spojení, těch povědomých pocitech, srdce zvláštně bije. Tohle je moje "comfort literature" (comfort food), pomáhá mi to. A přitom je fascinující, jak je to vlastně jen obyčejný život, obyčejný člověk, obyčejné situace.
October 11, 2022
I'll miss you
October 18, 2025
Warum 5 Sterne? Kafka vermischt Persönliches mit Literatur, sodass die Grenzen zwischen Autobiographie und Fiktion- wenn nicht aufgehoben - dann doch fließend sind. Auf Anraten Brods hat Kafka 1909 angefangen, zu notieren und früh sollte sich herausstellen, dass er dies nicht auf ein ,Ziel’ hin tat, sondern dass das Schreiben bereits Selbstzweck ist und daher ebenso erfüllend sein kann, wenn es heißt:
,,Die besondere Art meiner Inspiration in der ich Glücklichster und Unglücklichster jetzt um 2 Uhr nachts schlafen gehe […] ist die, daß ich alles kann, nicht nur auf eine bestimmte Art hin. Wenn ich wahllos einen Satz hinschreibe z.B. Er schaute aus dem Fenster so ist er schon vollkommen.“ (Tagebuchaufzeichnung vom 19.11.1911)
Das Ganze hat natürlich den Charakter eines Trainingsplatzes, auf dem Kafka mit seinen Werkzeugen hantiert, bastelt und baut. Als Leser darf man dann den Ergebnissen - selbst Fragmente zählen meiner Meinung nach dazu - seiner Versuche beiwohnen. Und eben das ist so faszinierend.
,,Die besondere Art meiner Inspiration in der ich Glücklichster und Unglücklichster jetzt um 2 Uhr nachts schlafen gehe […] ist die, daß ich alles kann, nicht nur auf eine bestimmte Art hin. Wenn ich wahllos einen Satz hinschreibe z.B. Er schaute aus dem Fenster so ist er schon vollkommen.“ (Tagebuchaufzeichnung vom 19.11.1911)
Das Ganze hat natürlich den Charakter eines Trainingsplatzes, auf dem Kafka mit seinen Werkzeugen hantiert, bastelt und baut. Als Leser darf man dann den Ergebnissen - selbst Fragmente zählen meiner Meinung nach dazu - seiner Versuche beiwohnen. Und eben das ist so faszinierend.
July 17, 2011
"Beschneidung in Rußland. In der ganzen Wohnung, wo sich nur Türen finden, werden handtellergroße mit kaballistischen Zeichen bedruckte Tafeln aufgehängt, um die Mutter in der Zeit zwischen der Geburt und der Beschneidung vor bösen Geistern zu schützen, die ihr und dem Kind um diese Zeit besonders gefährlich werden können, vielleicht weil ihr der Körper so sehr geöffnet wurde und also allem Bösen bequemen Eingang bietet und weil auch das Kind solange es nicht in den Bund aufgenommen ist, dem Bösen keinen Widerstand leisten kann. Deshalb wird auch, damit die Mutter keinen Augenblick allein bleibe, eine Wärterin aufgenommen. Zur Abwehr der bösen Geister dient es auch daß während 7 Tagen nach der Geburt mit Ausnahme des Freitag 10-15 Kinder, immer andere, gegen Abend unter Führung des Belfer (Hilfslehrer) zum Bett der Mutter vorgelassen werden dort das Schema Israel aufsagen und dann mit Süßigkeiten beschenkt werden. Diese unschuldigen 5-8 Jahre alten Kinder sollen die bösen Geister, die gegen Abend am meisten drängen, besonders wirksam abhalten. Freitag wird ein besonderes Fest abgehalten, wie überhaupt während dieser Woche mehrere Gastmähler einander folgen. Vor dem Tag der Beschneidung werden die Bösen am wildesten, deshalb ist die letzte Nacht eine Wachnacht und man verbringt sie bis gegen Morgen wachend bei der Mutter. Die Beschneidung erfolgt meist in Gegenwart von oft über 100 Verwandten und Freunden. Der angesehenste der Anwesenden darf das Kind tragen. Der Beschneider, der sein Amt ohne Bezahlung ausübt, ist meist ein Säufer, da er beschäftigt, wie er ist, an den verschiedenen Festessen sich nicht beteiligen kann und daher nur etwas Schnaps herunterschüttet. Alle diese Beschneider haben deshalb rote Nasen und riechen aus dem Mund. Es ist daher auch nicht appetitlich, wenn sie, nachdem der Schnitt ausgeführt ist, mit diesem Mund das blutige Glied aussaugen wie es vorgeschrieben ist. Das Glied wird dann mit Holzmehl bedeckt und ist in 3 Tagen beiläufig heil."
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews