Franz Kafka and his Prague Contexts Nekula Marek (2016)

This collection of studies by Marek Nekula examines how Prague shaped Franz Kafkas personality and work. It begins with a critical discussion of Kafkas problematic reception in Czechoslovakia, which started at the 1963 Liblice conference. There, Kafka was rescued from censorship at the cost of rewriting his German and Jewish literary and cultural context in order to highlight the Czech influence on his work. The studies focus on Pragues Jewish social and literary environment, Kafkas German-Czech bilingualism, and his knowledge of Yiddish and Hebrew. His bilingualism is discussed in the context of contemporary essentialist views of the writers language and identity. Nekula also gives particular attention to Kafkas education, examining his studies of the Czech language and literature, as well as his Czech reading and its role in his intellectual life. The book concludes by asking how Kafka read his urban surroundings.