Letters to Family, Friends, and Editors (Franz Kafka)
Encyclopedia
Letters to Family, Friends, and Editors is a book collecting some of Franz Kafka
's letters from 1900 to 1924. The majority of the letters in the volume are addressed to Max Brod
. Originally published in Germany
in 1959 as Briefe 1902-1924, the collection was first published in English
by Schocken Books
in 1977. It was translated by Richard and Clara Winston.
Other letters to the family are collected in Letters to Ottla
Kafka's long, undelivered letter to his father
was published separately. It also appears in Dearest Father
and The Sons
.
The letters to Milena Jesenská
and Felice Bauer are collected in respective volumes. Letters to Felice
also includes Kafka's letters to Grete Bloch.
Franz Kafka
Franz Kafka was a culturally influential German-language author of short stories and novels. Contemporary critics and academics, including Vladimir Nabokov, regard Kafka as one of the best writers of the 20th century...
's letters from 1900 to 1924. The majority of the letters in the volume are addressed to Max Brod
Max Brod
Max Brod was a German-speaking Czech Jewish, later Israeli, author, composer, and journalist. Although he was a prolific writer in his own right, he is most famous as the friend and biographer of Franz Kafka...
. Originally published in Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
in 1959 as Briefe 1902-1924, the collection was first published in English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
by Schocken Books
Schocken Books
Schocken Books is a publishing company that was established in Berlin with a publishing office in Prague in 1931 by the Schocken Department Store owner Salman Schocken. It published the writings of Martin Buber, Franz Rosenzweig, Franz Kafka and S. Y...
in 1977. It was translated by Richard and Clara Winston.
Family
-
- Julie and Hermann Kafka - Parents
- Elli Hermann, née Kafka - Sister
- Valli Pollak, née Kafka - Sister
- Ottla Davidová, née Kafka - Sister
- Josef David - Ottla's Husband
- Siegfried Löwy - Uncle
Other letters to the family are collected in Letters to Ottla
Letters to Ottla
Letters to Ottla & the Family is a book collecting Franz Kafka's letters to his sister Ottla , as well as some letters to his parents Julie and Hermann Kafka. These letters were composed between 1909 and 1924; though Ottla died in the Holocaust, the letters were preserved by her husband and children...
Kafka's long, undelivered letter to his father
Letter to His Father
Letter to His Father is the name usually given to the letter Franz Kafka wrote to his father Hermann in November 1919, indicting him for his emotionally abusive and hypocritical behavior towards him....
was published separately. It also appears in Dearest Father
Dearest Father. Stories and Other Writings
Dearest Father. Stories and Other Writings is a collection of writings by Franz Kafka translated by Ernst Kaiser and Eithne Wilkins with notes by Max Brod...
and The Sons
The Sons
The Sons is a collection of stories by Franz Kafka.In 1913 Kafka wrote to his publisher Kurt Wolff requesting that three of his stories be placed in a single volume:...
.
Friends
-
- Oskar Pollak - Childhood friend and art historian; a 1902 letter to him includes Kafka's oldest surviving work of fiction - "Shamefaced Lanky and Impure in HeartShamefaced Lanky and Impure in Heart"Shamefaced Lanky and Impure in Heart" is the name usually given to Franz Kafka's earliest surviving work of fiction, a short story which he wrote in 1902 and survived only because it was included in a letter to his friend Oskar Pollack.-Background:It is unclear whether "Shamefaced Lanky and...
" - Max BrodMax BrodMax Brod was a German-speaking Czech Jewish, later Israeli, author, composer, and journalist. Although he was a prolific writer in his own right, he is most famous as the friend and biographer of Franz Kafka...
- Closest friend; writer and Kafka's literary executor- Elsa Brod, née Taussig - Brod's wife
- Sophie Friedmann, née Brod - Brod's sister
- Emmy Salveter - Max Brod's friend and possible lover
- Felix WeltschFelix WeltschFelix Weltsch , Dr. jur et phil., was a German-speaking Jewish librarian, philosopher, author, editor, publisher and journalist...
- Classmate; philosopher and ZionistZionismZionism is a Jewish political movement that, in its broadest sense, has supported the self-determination of the Jewish people in a sovereign Jewish national homeland. Since the establishment of the State of Israel, the Zionist movement continues primarily to advocate on behalf of the Jewish state...
- Lise Kaznelson, née Weltsch - Weltsch's cousin
- Irma Weltsch - Weltsch's wife
- Oskar BaumOskar BaumOskar Baum was a Czech music educator and writer.He became blind at the age of 11.- External links :* http://www.aktion-patenschaften.de/autoren/b02.htm...
- Author, music teacher, and organist- Leo Baum - Baum's son
- Robert Klopstock - Close friend, stayed with Kafka through his illness
- Oskar Pollak - Childhood friend and art historian; a 1902 letter to him includes Kafka's oldest surviving work of fiction - "Shamefaced Lanky and Impure in Heart
Romantic Interests
-
- Selma Kohn Robitschek
- Hedwig W. - a letter from 1907 includes a poem Kafka claims he wrote "years ago."
- Minze Eisner
- Tile Rössler
The letters to Milena Jesenská
Milena Jesenská
Milena Jesenská was a Czech journalist, writer, editor and translator, who refused to abandon her Jewish friends and was deported to and died alongside them in Ravensbrück concentration camp....
and Felice Bauer are collected in respective volumes. Letters to Felice
Letters to Felice
Letters to Felice is a book collecting some of Franz Kafka's letters to Felice Bauer from 1912 to 1917. Schocken Books acquired these letters from Felice Bauer in 1955, in addition to roughly half of Kafka's letters to Grete Bloch, Bauer's friend. Additional letters to Bloch were acquired at a...
also includes Kafka's letters to Grete Bloch.
Publishers, Writers and Artists
-
- Ernst RowohltErnst RowohltErnst R. Rowohlt was a German publisher who founded the Rowohlt publishing house in 1908 and headed it and its successors until his death...
- Publisher - Willy HaasWilly HaasWilly Haas was a German screenwriter. He wrote for 19 films between 1922 and 1933. He was a member of the jury at the 8th Berlin International Film Festival.-Selected filmography:* The Burning Soil...
- Prague-born writer and journalist, editor of Herder-Blätter magazine - Otto Stoessl - Austrian writer
- Kurt WolffKurt WolffKurt Wolff was a German publisher, editor, writer and journalist.Wolff was born in Bonn, Rhenish Prussia. Together with Ernst Rowohlt he began to work in publishing in Leipzig in 1908. He was the first to promote and publish the authors Franz Kafka and Franz Werfel...
- Publisher - Martin BuberMartin BuberMartin Buber was an Austrian-born Jewish philosopher best known for his philosophy of dialogue, a form of religious existentialism centered on the distinction between the I-Thou relationship and the I-It relationship....
- Philosopher and religious writer - Robert MusilRobert MusilRobert Musil was an Austrian writer. His unfinished long novel The Man Without Qualities is generally considered to be one of the most important modernist novels...
(debatable) - Writer - Alfred KubinAlfred KubinAlfred Leopold Isidor Kubin was an Austrian printmaker, illustrator and occasional writer. Kubin is considered an important representative of Symbolism and Expressionism.-Biography:...
- Graphic artist and illustrator - René SchickeleRené SchickeleRené Schickele was a German-French writer, essayist and translator.-Biography:Schickele was born in Obernai, Alsace, the son of a German vineyard owner and police officer and a French mother. He studied literature, history, science and philosophy...
- Alsatian writer and pacifist; editor of Die Weissen Blätter during the war years. - Ernst Feigl - Prague-born poet and writer
- Gottfried Kölwel - Poet
- Josef Körner - Literary historian and critic
- Johannes UrzidilJohannes UrzidilJohannes Urzidil was a Czech-German writer, poet, historian, and journalist. Born in Prague, he died in Rome....
- Prague-born writer and journalist, managing editor of Der Mensch - Julie Wohryzek's sister (unnamed) - Sister of Kafka's former fiancée
- Carl Seelig - Writer, critic, and editor (e.g. Robert WalserRobert WalserRobert Walser may refer to:* Robert Walser , Swiss modernist writer* Robert Walser , American musicologist, author and professor...
)
- Ernst Rowohlt
Casual Acquaintances
-
- Director Eisner - Department head at Assicurazioni Generali, where Kafka worked
- Gertrud Thieberger - Sister of Kafka's HebrewHebrew languageHebrew is a Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Culturally, is it considered by Jews and other religious groups as the language of the Jewish people, though other Jewish languages had originated among diaspora Jews, and the Hebrew language is also used by non-Jewish groups, such...
teacher, future wife of Johannes Urzidil - Yitzhak Löwy - Actor
- Ludwig Hardt - Reciting artist, included some of Kafka's writing in his work
- Hugo Bergmann - Former classmate; Philosopher and Zionist
- Else Bergmann - Hugo Bergmann's wife