Office Writings

Franz Kafka: Office Papers brings together the most interesting of Kafka's business correspondence as a high-level bureaucrat. These correspondences show that, contrary to popular belief, Kafka was not an insignificant civil servant lost among the boring paperwork in the office, taking refuge in his dream world because he was alienated from his daily life, but a skillful lawyer, an intelligent follower of the cause, and a man with innovative thoughts on the social, economic and political issues of his time. It shows that he is a man of ideas.

Examining the parallels between Kafka's office writings and his works, the book argues that the author's two identities, which are assumed to be incompatible, are actually identities that feed each other and cannot be considered separate from each other, and that the novels he wrote at night were inspired by his office correspondence during the day.

The study, prepared by two of the world's most important Kafka experts and one of America's leading human rights lawyers, offers a very different perspective that allows us to better understand Kafka's world.
“This study makes a great contribution to our better understanding of Kafka and his works.”
-Harold T. Shapiro-

“Franz Kafka: Office Papers introduces readers to a surprising new Kafka: a high-level, confident bureaucrat whose legal and literary work are closely intertwined.”

-John Zilcosky-

"This magisterial work fills a gap in Kafka's studies and changes the perception that he was a genius tortured by the contradiction of working in an insurance company during the day and writing novels at night."

-M. McCulloh, Choice-

(From the Promotional Bulletin)

Editor: Zeynep Tür

Dough Type: 2nd Dough

Size: 13.5 x 19.5

First Print Year: 2017

Number of Printings: 2nd Edition

Number of Pages: 600