The Diaries of Franz Kafka

(Hardback)

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An essential new translation of the author's complete, uncensored diaries-a revelation of the idiosyncrasies and rough edges of one of the twentieth century's most influential writers. "An invaluable addition to Kafka's oeuvre."-The New York Times Dating from 1909 to 1923, the handwritten diaries contain various kinds of writing- accounts of daily events, reflections, observations, literary sketches, drafts of letters, accounts of dreams, as well as finished stories. This volume makes available for the first time in English a comprehensive reconstruction of the diary entries and provides substantial new content, including details, names, literary works, and passages of a sexual nature that were omitted from previous publications. By faithfully reproducing the diaries' distinctive-and often surprisingly unpolished-writing in Kafka's notebooks, translator Ross Benjamin brings to light not only the author's use of the diaries for literary experimentation and private self-expression, but also their value as a work of art in themselves.

Reviews

Essential . . . The new volume, in a sensitive and briskly idiomatic translation by Ross Benjamin, offers revelation upon revelation. Its an invaluable addition to Kafkas oeuvre."
The New York Times

Momentous. . . Life also bursts into literature at the level of form, and in Kafkas diaries even the words are acrobatic. As Ross Benjamin notes in the thoughtful introduction to his new translation, his aim is to capture the extent to which the diaries were a 'laboratory for Kafkas literary production' and thereby catch the author 'in the act of writing.' He has succeeded. Everything in the diaries thrashes . . . [They] are the intimate incisions of an author who could write only by etching words into the flesh.
The New Yorker

Readers will welcome this new edition of the Diaries, complete, uncensored, in a fluent translation by Ross Benjamin, and supplemented with 78 pages of invaluable notes, the fruit of half a century of Kafka scholarship.
J. M. Coetzee, author of Disgrace

Max Brod, Franz Kafkas intimate friend and fellow writer, was, it is now understood, both his savior and his betrayer. Without his rescue of Kafkas at-risk papers, there would be almost no Kafka at all; but in the presence of Brods mediating intrusions as editor, have we ever really known Kafkas authentic voice This new and scrupulously faithful translation of the Diaries brings us, unembellished by theory, the true inner life of the twentieth centurys most complex and enigmatic literary prophet, whose very name has come to us as symbol and vision of innocent vulnerability in the face of irrational force. Yet warns: beware interpretation!
Cynthia Ozick,author of Antiquities

Franz Kafkas inner life has always been a bit of a mystery. The expurgated diaries in their original German and English versions hinted at his complicated, often confused relationship to sex, politics, illness, and being Jewish. This readable new translation of the complete German version of the diary transforms the silent Kafka of a century ago into a Kafka not only of his times but of ours.
Sander Gilman, author of Franz Kafka, The Jewish Patient

Thirty two years after their original publication in German, Franz Kafka's complete Diaries are here in Ross Benjamin's outstanding translation. A boon for the Americanreader! The previous edition of the Diaries was egregiously censored by Max Brod who eliminated whatever, in his misdirected view, could detract from the saintly image of his friend which he chiseled for posterity. Now we have in English some of the most intimate reflections and literary experiments of one of the towering geniuses of modern literature.
Saul Friedlnder, author of Franz Kafka: The Poet of Shame and Guilt

A fresh, unadulterated translation of Kafkas notebooks, dense with introspection and writerly despair . . . The attraction of Kafkas diaries has always been his coruscating descriptions of his existential struggles as a writer and human being. He captures his frustration in ways that are wrenching, vivid, and highly quotable . . . Essential reading.
Kirkus Reviews

Finally! Three decades after the publication of the critical edition of Franz Kafka's diaries in Germany, English readers can now 'catch Kafka in the act of writing,' thanks to this monumental endeavor by translator Ross Benjamin. This new volume offers us Kafka's singular perspective and delivers an expanded window into Kafka's unique personality. The intricately researched and detailed Notes (75 pages of them!) provide us with a wealth of knowledge and context. For those of us in thrall to Kafka the Man as well as the Writer, the Notes add layers of life to Kafka's world and milieu and reveal a new depth and richness to Kafka's humanity. This new volume is an essential addition to the library of every serious student and reader of Kafka.
Kathi Diamant, author of Kafka's Last Love and director of the Kafka Project

A book must be the axe for the frozen sea within us, Kafka famously wrote. In his Diaries, we see him turning that axe on his own psyche, recording his dreams, jotting snatches of overheard dialogue, even drafting stories. For the first time, Ross Benjamins new translation gives English readers access to the entirety of the Diaries, with Kafkas fragmentary structure and idiosyncratic grammar preserved. The result is the most intimate glimpse possible into the process of this singular writer.
Ruth Franklin

Mr. Benjamins translation doesnt just supplant the previous editionit inaugurates a new phase of Kafkas afterlife in English . . . The writing glimmers with sensitivity, and openness to the world.
The Wall Street Journal

RossBenjamin has given the literary world an incredible treasure in this thoughtful edition. Kafka has never been so fully present, both as a man and a writer."
New York Journal of Books

Author Bio

FRANZ KAFKA was born in 1883 in Prague, where he lived most of his life. During his lifetime, he published only a few short stories, including "The Metamorphosis," "The Judgment," and "The Stoker." He died in 1924, before completing any of his full-length novels. At the end of his life, Kafka asked his lifelong friend and literary executor Max Brod to burn all his unpublished work. Brod overrode those wishes. ROSS BENJAMIN's translations include Friedrich H lderlin's Hyperion, Joseph Roth's Job,and Daniel Kehlmann's You Should Have Left and Tyll. He was awarded the 2010 Helen and Kurt Wolff Translator's Prize for his rendering of Michael Maar's Speak, Nabokov, and he received a Guggenheim fellowship for his work on Franz Kafka's diaries.