Franz Kafka: The Poet of Shame and Guilt

A highly original and engaging appraisal of Kafkas life, work, legacy, and thought

Franz Kafka was the poet of his own disorder. Throughout his life he struggled with a pervasive sense of shame and guilt that left traces in his daily existencein his many letters, in his extensive diaries, and especially in his fiction. This stimulating book investigates some of the sources of Kafkas personal anguish and its complex reflections in his imaginary world.

In his query, Saul Friedländer probes major aspects of Kafkas life (family, Judaism, love and sex, writing, illness, and despair) that until now have been skewed by posthumous censorship. Contrary to Kafkas dying request that all his papers be burned, Max Brod, Kafkas closest friend and literary executor, edited and published the authors novels and other works soon after his death in 1924. Friedländer shows that, when reinserted in Kafkas letters and diaries, deleted segments lift the mask of sainthood frequently attached to the writer and thus restore previously hidden aspects of his individuality.