Franz Kafka

He is considered the great sufferer of modern literature, a brooding existential author. But that is just one side of Franz Kafka; few know that he was struck by legendary fits of laughter, loved slapstick, and integrated many comedic elements in his texts. His friend Max Brod reported how Kafka had laughed so hard while reading the first chapter of The Trial aloud that »he...

Franz Kafka not only wrote prose, he was also passionate about drawing: »Did you know I was once a great drawer,« he wrote about his artistic ambitions, half ironic, half proud, to his...