Kafka’s new novels discovered?! / Nasly se Kafkovy nove romany?!

Franz Kafka has become one of the most influential writers of all times. Most people know that he was born in Prague to a German speaking Jewish family and most people know of his quite unsettling disturbing stories such as the Metamorphosis, The Castle or The Trial. Not very many people know, however, that most of his novels were finished by someone else – his close friend, a fellow writer Max Brod. Dying Kafka actually ordered Brod to BURN all of his writings after he dies but Brod decided to disobey ( a good thing that he did!), finished and publish most of his works later. But that’s not all!

When the Nazis came to Prague in 1939, Brod a and his wife fled to Israel, taking Kafka’s remaining writings along with them. When Max Brod died in Tel Aviv in 1968 the former secretary Esther Hoffe “inherited” them and refused to release them up until her recent death at the age of 101. The whole literature world is impatiently waiting on what other “Metamorphosis” will those new manuscripts reveal. There is a little problem, however. Esther was VERY fond of dogs and cats and her place was kind of dump and ….. unkept (to say it nicely)…not a very friendly place for bunch of important paperwork like Kafka’s already old writings.Let’s just hope that they weren’t found as a part of a kitty litter-box!!!

CZ: Kafka je jednim z nejvyznamnejsich spisovatelu vsech dob. Vestina lidi vi, ze se narodil v Praze do nemecky mluvici zidovske rodiny, a ze psal dosti zvlastni, rozpolcene pribehy jako je Promnena, Zamek a Proces. Moc lidi ale netusi, ze vetsina jeho del byla dokoncena Kafkovym kamaradem Maxem Brodem, ktery je take pozdeji publikoval (umirajici Kafka mu dokonce i nakazal, aby vsechny jeho spisy po Kafkove smrti spalil !!). To ale neni vse, drzte si klobouky: kdyz do Prahy v roce 1939 vtrhli Naciste, Brod s manzelkou a take s kufrem zbyvalich Kafkovych pisemnosti uprchl do Izraele, kde take v roce 1968 zemrel. Kafkovy pisemnost pak “zdedila” Brodova sekretarka, Esther Hoffe, ktera odmitala odevzdat Kafkovy pisemnosti az do sve nedavne smrti (umrela v 101 letech). Dokumenty se tedy konecne nasly v jejim Tel Avivovskem aparmanu, ale ne v pekne kondici: pani Ester totiz milovala pejsky a kocicky, ale v jejich letech se o ne moc nestarala, tak si to dovedete predstavit….doufejme, ze Kafkovy rukopisy neslouzily jako vystylka, kam zvyratka chodila na zachod!!!

Sources

http://newsvote.bbc.co.uk/mpapps/pagetools/print/news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/7498824.stm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Max_Brod