Franz Kafka: The Poet of Shame and Guilt

Pulitzer Prize winner Friedlander (for The Years of Extermination) elucidates the enigmas and psychological drama of Kafka's life that undergird the complexities of his fiction. He expounds upon Kafka's emotionally fraught and ambivalent relationships to his friends, family, lovers, Judaism, and own body. Despite the careful presentation of minutiae the conclusions Friedlander draws feel reductive and speculative. For instance, Friedlander unequivocally and repeatedly avers Kafka's homosexuality despite admitting that Kafka only romantically pursued woman, and never confessed such desires, even in his diaries. Friedlander's attempt to undermine Max Brod's portrayal of Kafka as a saint provides illuminating material. However, his portrait of Kafka, as an abject melancholic feels equally caricatured; his analysis is more even handed than his deductions. Friedlander highlights the shame and guilt that undeniably plagued Kafka, but also includes biographical details that contradict this claim, such as his youthful carousing with friends, flirting with women, and frequenting nightclubs. Kafka's biography is as complicated and nuanced, dare one say "Kafkaesque" as his literature, and this biography falls disappointingly short in its treatment of these intricacies. Despite such shortcomings, Friedlander's Kafka monograph has worthy moments of provocative insight through a careful mining of the recent release of new material. (Apr.)