Einstein in Kafkaland: How Albert Fell Down the Rabbit Hole and Came Up with the Universe

by Ken Krimstein

“Clever, charming, amusing, and just plain brilliant. Ken Krimstein is the most inventive graphic biographer on the planet-and certainly the only one who could explain both Einstein and Kafka. A page turner on gravity and relativity!” -Kai Bird, Pulitzer Prize-winning co-author of American Prometheus, the biography that inspired the Oscar-winning film Oppenheimer

From the award-winning New Yorker cartoonist, a graphic narrative revealing the pivotal year in Prague when Einstein became “Einstein,” Franz Kafka became “Kafka,” and the world changed forever.

During the year that Prague was home to both Albert Einstein and Franz Kafka from 1911-1912, the trajectory of the two men's lives wove together in uncanny ways-as did their shared desire to tackle the world's biggest questions in Europe's strangest city. In stunning words and pictures, Einstein in Kafkaland reveals the untold story of how their worlds wove together in a cosmic battle for new kinds of truth.

For Einstein, his lost year in Prague became a critical bridge set him on the path to what many consider the greatest scientific discovery of all time, his General Theory of Relativity. And for Kafka, this charmed year was a bridge to writing his first masterpiece, The Judgment. Based on diaries, lectures, letters, and papers from this period amid a planet electrifying itself into modernity, Einstein in Kafkaland brings to life the emergence of a new world where art and science come together in ways we still grapple with today.

Genres: Graphic Novels, Science, Comics, History, Nonfiction, Biography, Philosophy

227 pages, Kindle Edition

Published August 20, 2024

About the author

KEN KRIMSTEINS cartoons have been published in the New Yorker, Punch, National Lampoon, the Wall Street Journal, Narrative, three of S. Grosss cartoon anthologies, King Features The New Breed syndicated panel, Cosmopolitan, Science, Psychology Today, and more. He has written for New York Observers New Yorkers Diary and has published pieces on humor websites, including McSweeneys Internet Tendency, Yankee Pot Roast, and Mr. Bellers Neighborhood."

Reviews

[Oscar · Rating 1 out of 5]

This wasn't good.

[Rod Brown · Rating 2 out of 5]

Well, this is the closest yet I've come to liking a book by Ken Krimstein. This book and his previous two have all made various "best of the year" lists for graphic novels, so I keep checking them out, but I just don't really connect with his style.

First, I have trust issues with Krimstein. His previous books were presented as nonfiction biographies, but I questioned his perspective on the material and his adherence to facts. At least this book is presented as historical fiction -- narrated by an animated skeleton and featuring cameos of various characters from Alice in Wonderland -- so he can B.S. all he wants and I don't have to fret over it.

I like the idea of trying to connect Einstein to Kafka, but apparently there isn't much to it, as Krimstein isn't able to make many connections between the two other than one tea party, a brief conversation, and general geographic proximity. He instead pads the book out with a lot of Alice in Wonderland references, from which I infer he thinks Kafka and Lewis Carroll are interchangeable due to their use of absurdity. While I appreciated the parts of the story that had Einstein reconciling his Theory of Relativity with gravity, the fantasy elements proved distracting at best and annoying a bit too often. And Kafka gets short shrift, with the story doing little to explain his jump from insurance man to author.


(Best of 2024 Project: I'm reading all the graphic novels that made it onto one or more of these lists:
• Washington Post 10 Best Graphic Novels of 2024
• Publishers Weekly 2024 Graphic Novel Critics Poll
• NPR's Books We Love 2024: Favorite Comics and Graphic Novels

This book made the PW list.)


FOR REFERENCE:

Contents:
• Author's Note: This Much Is True
• Overture
• Chapter I. Down the Rabbit Hole - April 1, 1911
• Chapter II. The Pool of Tears
• Chapter III. Meet Max Abraham
• Chapter IV. "The People Are So Happy Here!"
• Chapter V. Prelude to Berta Fanta's Mad Tea Party - May 24, 1911
• Chapter VI. Heeeeeeeere's Mileva!!!
• Chapter VII. Berta Fanta's Mad Tea (After)Party - May 24, 1911
• Chapter VIII. Let's Bend Light
• Chapter IX. The Crime of the Century - August 21, 1911
• Chapter X. Albert & Paul's Lost Weekend - February 23rd, 1912
• Chapter XI. The Duel of Pens
• Chapter XII. A Knock at the Door
• Chapter XIII. wtf
• Chapter XIV. Einstein's Unified Theory of E̶v̶e̶r̶y̶t̶h̶i̶n̶g̶ It All - July 25, 1912
• Coda: The Gravitating Mass of Kafkaland
• Acknowledgements
• Further Reading, Listening, Viewing . . .
• Notes
• What the Hell Was Going On? A Timeline

[Shai · Rating 5 out of 5]

Einstein in Kafkaland is a graphic novel written about the year in which Einstein and Kafka focused on the works for which they are best known. Kafka was attempting to get a book published and Einstein was wrapping his mind around the missing link for his theorem. The work that came out of this year still impacts us and our knowledge of science and literature today.

This was a fun book to read - lighthearted, informative, and even humorous at times with facts about Einstein and Kafka dropped in for good measure. Ken Krimstein does a great job of narrating the book (via the viewpoint of a medieval skeleton found on the town clock tower) and keeping a good pace. I read 80 pages in one sitting.

Another aspect of the book that I enjoyed were the graphics. The illustrations for the book were lively and visually interesting and the text was the perfect length for each page. Krimstein was able to marry the text and the illustrations perfectly.

I believe this book is meant for an older audience - i.e. late middle school / high school, adults could read it as well and find it enjoyable. I would recommend this book for those who would like to learn more about an incredible time in history and Kafka & Einstein's accomplishments.

[Ivonne Rovira · Rating 5 out of 5]

I never knew that Albert Einstein and Franz Kafka were both in Prague from April 1911 to July 1912. That much is true, and they ran in the same social circles. But did they know each other? Award-winning New Yorker cartoonist Ken Krimstein not only imagines their meeting, but he details their friendship and the incidents that led one to declare that he had the key to “solving gravity” and the other to publishing the short story “The Judgement,” which would launch his literary career.

At the time Einstein was not a household name, but a mere cash-strapped patent clerk who’d just landed a much-desired university teaching job, while Kafka was still an unknown dour insurance executive who’d published nothing. Krimstein brings their imagined relationship alive in this wonderful graphic novel — one narrated by the skeleton on Prague’s Astronomical Clock, built in 1410. Einstein in Kafkaland is full of magical realism (including the White Rabbit from Alice in Wonderland), but that just adds to a novel that is Krimstein’s Gedankenexperiment (thought experiment). Highly, highly recommended.

In the interest of full disclosure, I received this book from NetGalley and Bloomsbury Publishing in exchange for an honest review.

[Nora Mann · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read in one sitting. Found myself occasionally lost until the rabbit hole metaphor proved itself. This was a great read.

Makes complex physics and philosophy not easy or accessible but more like something we all deal with each day.

[Emily Anderson · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5ish. Idk, I expected more Kafka based on the title? And I’m always intrigued by Einstein’s complexities/contradictions, but this didn’t quite do it for me. I enjoyed a lot of the graphics though. Appreciate the style and the humor when it lands.

[Trevor Seigler · Rating 4 out of 5]

An unexpected delight, this graphic novel uses the real-life intersection of one of science's greatest minds with one of literature's most talented minds to show how both men came to understand the universe. It's also illustrated beautifully.

"Einstein in Kafkaland," by Ken Krimstein, uses the fact that Albert Einstein held a job in Prague in 1911-1912, the same time that Franz Kafka, a Prague native, was realizing his genius as a writer to posit that the two men fed off of each other and influenced each to greater heights in his respective fields. It's a tantalizing premise, and while much of the interaction is speculative, I think Krimstein forms a convincing portrait of Einstein being inspired by Kafka's worldview to shape his own view of the universe.

Graphic novels have the license to explore issues in ways that conventional prose might not, and "Einstein in Kafkaland" probably wouldn't have worked as a novel or speculation of essay or non-fiction. But as a graphic novel, it's very entertaining. I'm more a fan of Kafka than Einstein (I understand Franz better than Albert, when it comes to their work, but that's not saying that I understand Kafka either), but this was a fun read.

[Bücherwolf · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ein grandioser Graphic Novel!

Ken Krimstein beleuchtet die Zeit in Prag von 1911 bis 1912, in welcher sowohl Kafka als auch Einstein in der Stadt waren. Es gibt zwar keine Aufzeichnung, dass sich Einstein und Kafka während dieser Zeit je getroffen haben, dennoch hat sich das Leben beider Persönlichkeiten genau zu dieser Zeit so gewandelt, dass sie zu diesen Persönlichkeiten wurden, die wir heute kennen. Einstein legte seine letzten Zweifel an der Relativitätstheorie ab, Kafka schrieb "Das Urteil", das für ihn der Durchbruch in der Literaturwelt war.
Ken Krimstein spinnt diese Zeit in Prag gedanklich weiter und erschafft eine Reihe magischer Ereignisse und Begegnungen dieser zwei Persönlichkeiten, die sie zu den Genies machten, die wir heute kennen.

Leider ist Kafka nur ein kleiner Nebencharakter. Einsteins Forschung an der Relativitätstheorie liegt im Mittelpunkt der Handlung. Das fande ich relativ schade, da ich gerne noch mehr über Kafkas Geschichte gelesen hätte.

Trotzdem ist dieser Graphic Novel unfassbar gut gemacht, sehr kreativ ausgearbeitet und wirklich ein einzigartiges Leseerlebnis!

[Evelyn · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is a trip down the rabbit hole literally and figuratively as the author inspired by Alice in Wonderland speculates about how Einstein formulated his Theory of General Relativity.

The author uses Einstein’s year in Prague as the focal point for the story. He has Einstein cross paths with Kafka. The reason for including Kafka as a character other than his presence in Prague and his appeal to potential readers is a mystery. Their meeting and the brief subplot revolving around Kafka’s life and interest in writing are clearly speculative. They have little bearing on the main plot because according to extant records Kafka had no influence on Einstein or his theories.

The book is quite dizzying as it follows the different plot lines and the development of Einstein’s theory. It’s not very satisfying because the story gravitates all over the place. Characters are not well developed. The story ends with no clear resolution of the main plot of any of the subplots. It doesn’t even make Einstein’s Theory of Relativity comprehensible to the average reader.

In the end I began to wonder what I read, why I read this book, and what this graphic novel was truly about.

[Mariga Temple-West · Rating 5 out of 5]

In 1912, Albert Einstein and Franz Kafka were in Prague at the same time, marinating in the rich intellectual scene of the city, the seeds of their masterpieces germinating. Both men strove to shatter the boundaries of human understanding, Kafka with literature, Einstein with theoretical physics. Both ultimately succeeded and the seeds of their success started in Prague.

Ken Krimstein's illustrations whimsically capture the essence and mood of early 20th century Prague, full of looming towers, shadows, and jumbled buildings. The entire story is narrated by the skeleton from the Old Town clock tower, who's been there since the Middle Ages and "seen it all".

While the story includes biographical background of the two men, it is also heavy on science. A lot of the story is devoted to explaining, largely, what Einstein was trying to accomplish. It gets a little dizzying. But it's wonderful when the scientist and the writer smash through the boundaries.

Thank you to Bloomsbury Press for sending me the arc!

[Amanda R Sims · Rating 3 out of 5]

The graphics are fine. It wasn't gorgeous to look at, but it was raw and dreamlike. I found the amount of text at once sometimes hard to read, but I'm not a big graphic novel reader so that might be on me. I don't know much about Einstein, but I do know Kafka. I felt the representation of him was artificial. It didn't seem dark and introspective enough for him to be realistic given the nature of his body of work and his life. There were many jokes that also fell flat for me. The idea of this story was exciting, but I didn't really enjoy reading it even as it seemed to descend further down the rabbit hole. 

Thanks to NetGalley and Bloomsbury USA for the opportunity to review this ARC!

[Eaon · Rating 4 out of 5]

super fascinating and a piece of history i never knew about :D

[Bogdan Panajotovski · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dobar uvod u razumevanje i jednog i drugog uz dobru poveznicu i najpoznatiju Ajnštanovsku referencu u književnosti - rupu iz Alise u zemlji čuda. Sve je dovoljno jasno da zainteresuje, za mene, nematematičara jedva razumljivo, ali razumljivo, zahteva malo angažovanje mozga. Malo odavanja počasti Pragu, malo odavanja počasti iščašenosti i baš dobre reference. Lepa narativna rešenja, sve u svemu, dobra četvorka.

[Dunja Brala · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sind sich Einstein und Kafka 1911 in Prag begegnet? Beide waren da, also möglich wäre es! Einstein ist allerdings noch nicht „Einstein“ und Kafka noch nicht „Kafka“. Und es fehlt jeder Beleg einer Begegnung.

Einstein ist Anfang 30, erfolglos und verschuldet, als er eine Professur in Prag annimmt. Mit Kind und Kegel siedelt er aus Zürich über -sehr zum Unwillen seiner Frau – und wird in vollem Ornat an der ältesten Universität Europas eingeführt. Er hat drei Jobs: Geld verdienen, seine Ehe retten und das Universum entschlüsseln! Kafka hingegen versucht die Verlorenheit der Menschen zu portraitieren. Doch hauptsächlich verkauft er Versicherung.
Krimstein hat nichts weniger als die Geschichte von „Alice im Wunderland“ als Schablone über Einsteins Zeit in Prag gelegt. Wir begegnen hier sowohl dem Kaninchen als auch bekannten Szenen aus dem surrealen Märchen. Und ab und an trägt der Mond Kafkas Züge. Erzählt wird die Geschichte vom „Knochenmann“ den eingeweihte vom Altstädter Rathaus erkennen. Es wäre jetzt vermessen (und gelogen) von mir zu behaupten, dass ich die physikalischen Bezüge, die in diesem Werk erzählt werden, begreifen würde. Was ich aber gut erkenne, ist der absolut geniale Zeichenstil Krimsteins der seiner Graphic Novel zu etwas besonderem macht. Der Cartoonist ist bekannt für seine Karikaturen aus dem „The New Yorker“ . Sehr detailliert und mit liebevollen Details versehen, macht das Lesen und entdecken großen Spaß!

Eine vielschichtige Graphic Novel, die es sich lohnt, mehrfach zu lesen, weil man hier bei einer Wiederholung sicher Neues entdeckt. Ein gelungenes Debüt des Kjona Verlags in diesem Genre. Da würde ich gerne mehr von sehen.

[Paige · Rating 3 out of 5]

Using archival materials, Krimstein pieces together a reasonably plausible account of the year Einstein and Kafka lived in Prague at the same time, right before their careers took off. The book mostly follows Einstein and his family/financial/academic challenges, with just a little sprinkle of Kafka. The common thread between them is their professional struggles and search for truth—Einstein through science and Kafka through writing. The best part of the book was the skeleton narrator, and the worst part was the flat humor. Also, I get that this is primarily about Einstein's life, but it's kind of infuriating that there's no explanation of relativity.

The art style is gritty—sketchy black ink drawings with a bluey-greeny watercolor background that fits the moody tone. Because the panels are sometimes dark and messy, it can be hard to decipher what you're looking at.

I wouldn't say this is a groundbreaking piece of work, but I will say that I can now give you a mostly accurate timeline of one year in Einstein's life.

Thanks @ NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review!

[Lori · Rating 4 out of 5]

I received a copy of the book "Einstein in Kafkaland: How Albert Fell Down the Rabbit Hole and Came up with the Universe. I do not read many graphic novels. This one was pretty good It takes place in Prague in 1911-1912. Both are there for their careers. Einstein trying to figure out the Theory of relativity or how gravity works. Kafka is there to work on his novel. most of the book focuses on Einstein. I also found it interesting that Einstein's wife Mileva is a genius in math and could have had her own career, but had to be a housewife since she was a woman. this book is done with humor. the author brings in other famous scientists some being in ghost form. I found this book interesting to read. Not sure if I still understand relativity but maybe helps a bit more.

[Leonard Singer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Provides a glimmer of what Einstein and Kafka were thinking about the world. But don’t expect any clear enlightenment (if such is possible). Writing and drawings delightfully keep reader’s attention, especially author’s suggested tie of this story to The Adventures of Alice in Wonderland. Bibliography presents many intriguing options.

Don’t buy Kindle version unless you read it on an iPad or similar device. Even then, endnotes don’t link to text which is important for full benefit of this book.

[Megan · Rating 2 out of 5]

I can't tell whether the other people who've read this book are better than me at understanding difficult science, or whether they're just used to going along with science they don't understand. It's been at least 10 years since I read anything about relativity or gravity, but I remember feeling I could follow the logic from the metaphors provided by other books. Here, I felt entirely at sea. Is this because I'm just more aware of and in tune with my ignorance? Or is it that these metaphors fail, that the explanation here is poor?

[Arly · Rating 4 out of 5]

I didn’t understand a good deal of the physics but the art and humor are sooooo creative and well done.

[Ronnie · Rating 3 out of 5]

"Holy crap, how am I going to tell Mileva we have to buy a uniform?"

Putting such lines in the mouth of a youngish Albert Einstein and having an also youngish Kafka say at one point, "My middle name is Freaky" are part of the fun of this wildly comic conjecture that asks: What if Einstein and Kafka actually conferred? Apparently, all that's known for sure is that Kafka attended Einstein's introductory lecture to the Prague public on May 24, 1911. But even if they were never again in the same room, it was a big year for historic figures, and this graphic novel attempts to hit the highlights. Make no mistake, though, it's Einstein's story, and I was left wanting a bigger role for Kafka, who plays a supporting role here, at best. I think my favorite bits unveiled facts about Einstein's wife, Mileva, a Slavic physicist who was better at math than her husband; and Einstein's pedantic critic and apparent nemesis, the Milan-based physicist Max Abraham, who was also better at math. I don't think I'd ever heard the names of either of those. In any case, the story moves swiftly, and I'm pretty sure the words "quantum theory" are never even uttered. The focus is, from the start, how Einstein succeeded during his 15 months in Kafka's hometown to work on his relativistic theory of gravitation, positing that gravity could bend not only time but also space, but the results, even at the end, are murky. On the same page he says, "I've fucking solved gravity, for chrissakes!" he also says, "Oh, and I might be wrong." It's also never quite clear how Kafka's story "The Judgment," written during this same period, "cracked the code of the modern written word," as our 500-year-old skeleton narrator contends. What is very evident, though, is Krimstein's enthusiasm for Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, which Krimstein says is "an uncanny precursor of so many of Einstein's innovations" and to which he pays homage in this book through both text and art.

First line [from "Author's Note: This Much Is True"]:
"The world changed, the universe changed, and you changed as a result of the events that follow."

First line [from the "Overture" section]:
"Gravity's weird."

[Dixie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Liked it so much I plan on buying it.

[Marc-Antoine CL · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5

[Tessa Powell · Rating 4 out of 5]

interesting! less discussion of quantum theory and Kafka than I was hoping for

[Sharon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Informative, entertaining I don’t know what else to say. I loved learning about Einstein and Kafka in Prague. Very clever.

[Terry Pearson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Einstein and Kafka in Prague at the same time.

I don’t normally read graphic novels but this one caught my eye and I wasn’t disappointed.

[Anders · Rating 3 out of 5]

Found this randomly at my library and it looked very promising. I'm a big Kafka fan and what better than a story of another great mind with a limited scope and their relation. Sadly, the book was a dud.

First the good: Really fantastic watercolor and ink illustrations. Very stylized and interesting with shifting outlines and colors. The narrative convention of Alice in Wonderland with a skeleton (from the clock in Prague, where the story takes place) as a narrator that seemingly related to Einstein and Kafka was also cool. The book also seemed very well-researched with lots of citations and facts and a clear narrative of where Einstein went, the people he talked to, and how he moved about Prague.

The bad: None of it really came together. The prose had that affected too clever feel (especially some of the humor). Despite the very fact-based and grounded narrative, neither Einstein's nor Kafka's ideas were well explained and their relation also hinged upon a few sentences of "See? Don't you get it?" I would have preferred an actual attempt at an explanation rather than a cutesy bowing out. Again, both points were pretty well factually cited-Einstein's push for a 4D understanding of physics, Kafka's notions of absurdity and narrative perspective-but failed to be described for what they were. A person reading this book would be able to tell me that Einstein and Kafka achieved these things but wouldn't understand how or why, which I believe could have been easily included. The Alice in Wonderland theming was worth about a footnote.

Rewrite the whole book, keep the art :P

[Kat Attack. · Rating 4 out of 5]

“Einstein, you have to choose. Are you going to live in his universe? Or yours?”

Time is a funny thing isn’t it? Some things feel so long ago while actually being very recent, relatively speaking.

I mean I can do the math, and rationally speaking I can conceptualize that two geniuses (in their own rights) existed in the same space and time. But on the other hand I am unable to grasp that two geniuses lived parallel lives.

Prague. 1911-1912. Einstein and Kafka are living their lives and both trying to answer the most profound questions both searching for new ideas. New truths. Einstein using this time to flesh out his theory of general relativity. Kafka using his time to write his first piece “the Judgment” and carving out what it means to be human.

There are points in this the science gets too dizzying for me, but there’s a beauty in that. While I may not be able to grasp all of Einstein’s ideas, he was challenging the prevailing theories that have stood for thousands of years. He was having to accept a reality he was not familiar with, and would ultimately change his world. Once you know the new, you may be the same person from a DNA perspective, but in terms of cognition, the old you ceases to exist. You are and you aren’t all at the same time.

Ultimately a worthwhile graphic novel you can finish in one sitting. There’s wit thrown in and you get to meet some side characters including Einstein’s wife and his intellectual nemesis Max Abraham, all in accompanying watercolour fluid imagery.

[Robert Meyer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Few books are entertaining to all generations. This is one of the few. 

The often printed New Yorker cartoonist's 200 pages of drawings will delight the preschool child.

The references to literature's Kafka or Carroll, and science's Einstein will interest intellectually curious  people. 

The depth of research contnually showing on the pages will educate and impress all.

The backdrop is at a 1920's Prague coup d'etat when Einstein is convinced to leave Vienna for its university. It was during his short tenure at the school that the theory of relativity entered its adolesence. 


The use of the author's art, combined with New Yorkeresque sarcastic wit, make the normally hard-to-grasp and way-too-dry-to-be-entertainibg topic of physics more than palatable. It is enjoyable. 

I could read this book to my 6-year old grandson and know he'd enjoy it is much as Pokemon. He would enjoy this book as much as I did. Maybe even more. 

This is a very unique and educational use of literature through the artist's hourglass. Others should take note. 

There is something very important within the book's binding. Awards and accolades are sure to follow for this Grinnell College alum. 

Wow. What a book

[Raven Black · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am giving this a four not because it is WOW but because there is a lot going on for the right reader. This has a lot of surreal moments, but all of it is showing us science. In a year's time Einstein became the man we know today... or at least got his start with what would make him a real "Einstein."  Odd illustrations perfectly create an atmosphere of the bizarre, unique, special and magically scientific world of Prague and the mind of one man, but how another was also touched as well by mad greatness. 

[hannah · Rating 5 out of 5]

Now this is my type of book