Kafka Making of an Icon

An authoritative collection of essays celebrating Franz Kafka’s life and work.

Franz Kafka died in 1924 when he was not yet forty-one years old. During his life, he published only seven small books, but he left behind three unfinished novels and a mass of stories, reflections, and personal writings that were published after his death. In particular, his novels, alongside short stories such as The Judgement and The Metamorphosis, have made him one of the most widely read, significant, and influential writers of the twentieth century.

Coinciding with the centennial of Kafka's death, this collection of essays, illustrated with manuscripts, archival material, postcards, and family photographs, contextualizes Kafka in his life and times while showing how his own experiences nourished his imagination. This book is a celebration not just of Kafka’s achievements and creativity, but also of how—even a century after his death—he continues to inspire new literary, theatrical, and cinematic creations around the world.

Ritchie Robertson is a fellow of the Queen’s College, Oxford and the Emeritus Schwarz-Taylor Professor of German at the University of Oxford. His books include German Political Tragedy: The Machiavellian Plot and the Necessary Crime.