Franz Kafka. Briefe an die Eltern. Aus den Jahren 1922 - 1924

by Franz Kafka

En 1986, un bouquiniste de Prague se vit proposer et acheta trente-deux lettres et cartes postales de Kafka adressées aux membres de sa famille. Le vendeur était un homme qui n'était nullement apparenté à Kafka ou à sa famille, et qui n'avait aucun rapport direct avec elle.Cette nouvelle collection de lettres date des deux dernières années de la vie de Kafka.L'ensemble comprend neuf lettres, vingt-deux cartes postales et une carte postale illustrée. La première a été écrite en 1922 et la dernière, juste avant sa mort, en 1924.

141 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1990

About the author

Prague-born writer Franz Kafka wrote in German, and his stories, such as " The Metamorphosis " (1916), and posthumously published novels, including The Trial (1925), concern troubled individuals in a nightmarishly impersonal world.

Jewish middle-class family of this major fiction writer of the 20th century spoke German. People consider his unique body of much incomplete writing, mainly published posthumously, among the most influential in European literature.

His stories include "The Metamorphosis" (1912) and " In the Penal Colony " (1914), whereas his posthumous novels include The Trial (1925), The Castle (1926) and Amerika (1927).

Despite first language, Kafka also spoke fluent Czech. Later, Kafka acquired some knowledge of the French language and culture from Flaubert, one of his favorite authors.

Kafka first studied chemistry at the Charles-Ferdinand University of Prague but after two weeks switched to law. This study offered a range of career possibilities, which pleased his father, and required a longer course of study that gave Kafka time to take classes in German studies and art history. At the university, he joined a student club, named Lese- und Redehalle der Deutschen Studenten, which organized literary events, readings, and other activities. In the end of his first year of studies, he met Max Brod, a close friend of his throughout his life, together with the journalist Felix Weltsch, who also studied law. Kafka obtained the degree of doctor of law on 18 June 1906 and performed an obligatory year of unpaid service as law clerk for the civil and criminal courts.

Writing of Kafka attracted little attention before his death. During his lifetime, he published only a few short stories and never finished any of his novels except the very short "The Metamorphosis." Kafka wrote to Max Brod, his friend and literary executor: "Dearest Max, my last request: Everything I leave behind me ... in the way of diaries, manuscripts, letters (my own and others'), sketches, and so on, [is] to be burned unread." Brod told Kafka that he intended not to honor these wishes, but Kafka, so knowing, nevertheless consequently gave these directions specifically to Brod, who, so reasoning, overrode these wishes. Brod in fact oversaw the publication of most of work of Kafka in his possession; these works quickly began to attract attention and high critical regard.

Max Brod encountered significant difficulty in compiling notebooks of Kafka into any chronological order as Kafka started writing in the middle of notebooks, from the last towards the first, et cetera.

Kafka wrote all his published works in German except several letters in Czech to Milena Jesenská.

Reviews

[Eingutesomen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Butter und Preisteuerung

[Itsblue · Rating 3 out of 5]

بپرس آب معدنی خوب دارند (فقط از روی کنجکاوی)

[Ivona Svetaljski · Rating 5 out of 5]

" Uostalom, povjerit ću Ti jednu tajnu u koju trenutačno ni sam ne vjerujem ( premda bi me možda u nju mogao uvjeriti mrak što se u daljini spušta oko mene pri pokušajima da radim i da mislim), no koja ipak mora da je istinita ; ja više neću ozdraviti. Baš zato što to nije tuberkuloza, koju se može položiti u ležaljku i izlječiti, već oružje koje će neophodno postojati sve dok sam živ. A oboje ne možemo ostati živi."
Felici Bauer, Zurau 1917.

Posljednja pisma sadrže brojna pisma Felici Bauer ( pozamašno mlađoj djevojci s kojom je dva puta bio zaručen ), Greti Bloch, Marxu Brodu ( a ona uglavnom uvijek počinju s " Najdraži Marx ), izdavačkim kućama..
Njegova veza s Felice se najbolje može iščitati upravo iz ove zbirke pisama jer ih sažima od samog početka njihovog burnog poznanstva.
Najpak, najviše me se dojmio kraj knjige, a to su kratke crtice koje bi zapisivao u sanatoriju Kierling u kom je i umro. Tako bi komunicirao s ljudima oko sebe, doktorima i osobljem.. To su male bilješke koje je zapisivao do svog samog kraja jer mu je bilo preporučeno da ne govori. U potpunosti je ostao dosljedan svom opusu.

" Opet strah. "
" I previše jasno se vidi kako jedan sotonski lijek drugom utire put. "
" Sad želim čitati. "
" Položi mi na trenutak ruku na čelo da dobijem hrabrosti. "
" Svaki ud umoran kao čovjek. "
" Tako odlazi pomoć, a da nije ni pomogla.. "