Briefe 1900 - 1912

by Franz Kafka, Hans-Gerd Koch

Im Werk Franz Kafkas nehmen Briefe eine zentrale Stellung ein. Im Schloss (1926) etwa hängt der Landvermesser K. ein Legitimierungsschreiben seiner Vorgesetzten wie ein Porträt an die Wand, um sich seiner Identität zu versichern. In Amerika (1927) wird der Protagonist Karl Roßmann durch ein paar Zeilen seines Onkels aus dessen Landhaus verstoßen. Und in Das Urteil (1916) beschuldigt ein Vater seinen Sohn, "falsche Briefchen" zu einem vermeintlichen Jugendfreund nach Russland geschickt zu haben, bevor er ihn zum "Tode des Ertrinkens" verurteilt. Kafkas eigener Brief an den Vater wiederum, mit dem der Prager Schriftsteller 1919 gegen das Schreckbild des autoritären Familienoberhaupts anzuschreiben versuchte, ist längst selbst Literatur geworden. In dem nun vorliegenden ersten Band von Kafkas Korrespondenz, der in kritischer Edition alle privaten und beruflichen Schreiben zwischen 1900 und 1912 versammelt, kann man nachlesen, wie wichtig der postalische Verkehr dem angehenden Autor auch im wirklichen Leben war. "Wenn man einander schreibt, ist man durch ein Seil verbunden", heißt es diesbezüglich in einem Brief an Oskar Pollack vom 20. Dezember 1903, "hört man dann auf, ist das Seil zerrissen". Und bereits hier erweist sich Kafka als kommender Meister der kurzen Prosaform. So sendet der damals 19-Jährige am 28. August 1902 auf einer Postkarte an den Schulfreund Paul Kisch folgende hübsche Zeilen nach "Was kann man am Vormittag besseres thun als mit Blinzelaugen zwischen dunklen Feldern und blühenden Wiesen liegen? Nichts. Womit kann man den Nachmittag besser beginnen als dass man dem Paulchen eine Karte schickt. Da hast Du sie. Franz". --Thomas Köster

Genres: Nonfiction

687 pages, Hardcover

First published September 1, 1999

About the author

Franz 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.

Reviews

[spass_mit_buechern · Rating 5 out of 5]

Was ein Einstieg in die Briefwelt Kafkas! Von der innigen Freundschaft zu Max Brod bis zur totalen Obsession für Felice Bauer. Ich bin so froh, daß ich mir die Briefe bis zum Schluss aufgehoben habe. Und teilweise schreibt Kafka so lustig, vor allem wenn man die amtlichen Schriften gelesen hat. Ein Fest aber auch ein wahnsinniger Ritt auf einen nie ruhenden Geist.