Kafka

Author: Murray
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-08-01
Features: Franz Kafka was one of the most original and enigmatic modern European writers, stirring and unsettling. His mysterious and brilliant works, such as The Trial, The Castle, and The Metamorphosis, have captivated generations of readers, leaving countless people shaken. Kafka's life was as unique as his literary imagination: although he never appeared to have experienced any extraordinary events on the surface, he suffered deeply within. Throughout his life, he fought against seemingly insurmountable obstacles: rigorous artistic ideals, poor health, loneliness, work (he was a lawyer at a semi-official workers' insurance company in Prague), strained relationship with his father, complex Jewish identity, the desperate struggle for writing (which ultimately failed), and the desire to marry (which also ultimately failed). By the age of 40, he had already walked this painful life path. This is the first Kafka biography in over two decades, which paints a vivid portrait of the man behind the richly imaginative and unforgettable works. The book revisits Kafka's long and fruitless love affair with Felice Bauer; his passionate but tragic love with Milena Jesenska; and the happy times he spent with Dora Diamant in his final years. Nicholas Murray reads Kafka's novels through an empathetic lens, offering new interpretations of the works of this modernist master. This is the first Kafka biography in over two decades, which paints a vivid portrait of the man behind the richly imaginative and unforgettable works. The book revisits Kafka's long and fruitless love affair with Felice Bauer; his passionate but tragic love with Milena Jesenska; and the happy times he spent with Dora Diamant in his final years. Nicholas Murray reads Kafka's novels through an empathetic lens, offering new interpretations of the works of this modernist master.