Kafka Book

The definitive biography of the representative writer of our ageAlthough Franz Kafka (1883â??1924) completed only a small number of works in his lifetime, perhaps no other author has had a greater influence on twentieth-century consciousness. This engrossing biography of the Czech novelist and short-story writer emphasizes the cultural and historical contexts of his fiction and focuses for the first time on his complex relationship with his father.Nicholas Murray paints a picture of Kafkaâ??s German-speaking Jewish family and the Prague mercantile bourgeoisie to which they belonged. He describes Kafkaâ??s demanding professional career, his ill health, and the constantly receding prospects of a marriage he craved. He analyzes Kafkaâ??s poor relationship with his father, Hermann, which found its most eloquent expression in Kafkaâ??s story â??The Judgement,â? about a father who condemns his son to death by drowning. And he asserts that the unsettling flavor of Kafkaâ??s booksâ??stories suffused with guilt and frustrationâ??derives from his sense of living in a mysteriously antagonistic world, of being a criminal without having knowingly committed a crime. Compelling and empathetic, this book sheds new light on a man of unique genius and on his enigmatic works.Nicholas Murray is the author of many books, including biographies of Bruce Chatwin, Matthew Arnold, and Aldous Huxley, a book of poetry, and two novels.Read More