Franz Kafka's Letter to His Father
Working late one evening on some writings, I opened old stuff and found this book on Franz Kafka again. It features a number of his letters, compiled into a sort of personal testimony to form this "biography from within". I remember telling somebody the first time I leafed through some pages years ago, that reading this, particularly the first part - Kafka's letter to his abusive f ather, was so shattering. Never did I find words concerning paternal authority such as "fear" (Furcht) and 'gratitude" (Dankbarkeit) so eloquently yet harrowingly used in German prose as in this letter. The first few lines go: "You asked me lately why I claim that I am afraid of you. As usual, I was unable to think of any answer to your question, partly for the very reason that I am afraid of you, and partly because an explanation of the grounds for this fear would mean going into far more details than I could even nearly keep in mind while talking. And if I now try t...