Letters to Family, Friends, and Editors (Franz Kafka)

Letters to Family, Friends and Editors
Author(s)	Franz Kafka
Original title	'Briefe 1902-1924'
Translator	Richard and Clara Winston
Cover artist	Anthony Russo
Country	United States
Language	German
Genre(s)	Letters
Publisher	Schocken Books
Publication date	1959
Published in English	1977
Media type	Print, Paperback & Hardcover
Pages	509 p.
ISBN	0-8052-0949-2
OCLC Number	22379406

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.

Contents 1 Correspondents 1.1 Family 1.2 Friends 1.3 Romantic Interests 1.4 Publishers, Writers and Artists 1.5 Casual Acquaintances 2 Conversation Slips 3 References

Correspondents

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

Kafka's long, undelivered letter to his father was published separately. It also appears in Dearest Father and The Sons.

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 Heart"
  • Max Brod - 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 Weltsch - Classmate; philosopher and Zionist
    • Lise Kaznelson, née Weltsch - Weltsch's cousin
    • Irma Weltsch - Weltsch's wife
  • Oskar Baum - Author, music teacher, and organist
    • Leo Baum - Baum's son
  • Robert Klopstock - Close friend, stayed with Kafka through his illness

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 and Felice Bauer are collected in respective volumes. Letters to Felice also includes Kafka's letters to Grete Bloch.

Publishers, Writers and Artists

• • Ernst Rowohlt - Publisher
  • Willy Haas - Prague-born writer and journalist, editor of Herder-Blätter magazine
  • Otto Stoessl - Austrian writer
  • Kurt Wolff - Publisher
  • Martin Buber - Philosopher and religious writer
  • Robert Musil (debatable) - Writer
  • Alfred Kubin - Graphic artist and illustrator
  • René Schickele - 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 Urzidil - 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 Walser)

Casual Acquaintances

• • Director Eisner - Department head at Assicurazioni Generali, where Kafka worked
  • Gertrud Thieberger - Sister of Kafka's Hebrew 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

Conversation Slips

Both German and English editions of the book include a selection from the slips of paper Kafka used to communicate during the last few weeks of his life, when he was advised not to speak.

References

Kafka, Franz. Letters to Family, Friends, and Editors. New York: Schocken Books, 1977. ISBN 0805209492

Works by Franz Kafka Novels The Trial The Castle Amerika Short stories 1902–12 "Shamefaced Lanky and Impure in Heart" "Description of a Struggle" Wedding Preparations in the Country The Judgment Contemplation The Stoker The Metamorphosis 1914–17 "In the Penal Colony" "The Village Schoolmaster" ("The Giant Mole") "Before the Law" "Blumfeld, an Elderly Bachelor" "The Warden of the Tomb" "A Country Doctor" "The Hunter Gracchus" "The Great Wall of China" "A Message from the Emperor" "A Report to an Academy" "A Dream" "Up in the Gallery" "A Fratricide" "The Next Village" "A Visit to a Mine" "Jackals and Arabs" "The Bridge" "The Bucket Rider" "The New Advocate" "An Old Manuscript" "The Knock at the Manor Gate" "Eleven Sons" "My Neighbor" "A Crossbreed" "The Cares of a Family Man" 1917–23 "The Refusal" "A Hunger Artist" "Investigations of a Dog" "A Little Woman" "The Burrow" "Josephine the Singer, or the Mouse Folk" "A Common Confusion" "The Truth about Sancho Panza" "The Silence of the Sirens" "Prometheus" "The City Coat of Arms" "Poseidon" "Fellowship" "At Night" "The Problem of Our Laws" "The Conscription of Troops" "The Test" "The Vulture" "The Helmsman" "The Top" "A Little Fable" "Home-Coming" "First Sorrow" "The Departure" "Advocates" "The Married Couple" "Give It Up!" "On Parables" Short story collections A Hunger Artist (1924) The Complete Stories The Sons The Penal Colony Parables and Paradoxes The Great Wall of China Dearest Father Description of a Struggle Diaries and notebooks The Diaries 1910–1923 The Blue Octavo Notebooks Letters Letter to His Father Letters to Felice Letters to Ottla Letters to Milena Letters to Family, Friends, and Editors Professional writings The Office Writings Bibliography